MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Ascend West Virginia program is expanding to attract healthcare professionals to the Mountain State with a $2.4 million grant through the Rural Health Transformation Program announced last week by Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
Ascend’s Danny Twilley, who serves as the assistant vice president of economic, community, and asset development for the Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative, said this program is for all types of health care professionals. The recruitment plan is broken down into the Ascend WV Healthcare and a plan for recent graduates from accredited health care programs from any of the higher education institutions across the state, First Ascent, and a statewide program focused on the non-Ascend areas of the state.
“This isn’t just for doctors and nurses; this is for radiology techs, and this is for licensed social workers working in a health care environment,” Twilley said Tuesday on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “We know that school nurses are really important, and we can recruit all those types of positions.”
Ascend Healthcare is one of four grants announced in recent weeks by Morrisey as part of the Rural Health Transformation Program. State Health Secretary Dr. Arvin Singh told state lawmakers Tuesday six more grant awards will be announced soon.
“What is even more important is what these organizations and awards represent,” Singh said. “They are real projects moving forward, real services being delivered and real investments reaching West Virginians.”
The Ascend WV program launched in 2021 and has since received more than 90,000 applications. Over the life of the program, it is estimated that as many as 1,500 workers and families now call the Mountain State home. Now, the program will be deployed to address the shortfall in health care workers. Twilley cited a 14 percent projected shortfall for clinicians and 19 percent for registered nurses across the state.
“We are the only program in the country that runs multiple locations, and we have what we think is the industry-best retention rate of 96.4 percent of the people we have been able to attract to the state of West Virginia have stayed,” Twilley said.
Ascend WV is strictly an incentive program completely separate from the hospitals and health care institutions across the state. The combination of financial incentives, recreation access, and community engagement opportunities helps add value to the quality of life for those coming to the state.
“We’re trying to be like the icing on the cake,” Twilley said. “We’re trying to be the one that seals the deal, but we’re also trying to be the ones that help them stay in the state because that’s just as important as getting them into the job.”
The First Ascent program offers similar incentives to recent graduates in health care fields across the state. The program gives these Ascenders career development opportunities and experience coordinators that develop exclusive adventures, group adventures, and some financial incentives.
“If you want to stay and serve in West Virginia after you graduate, this program will help you stay in the state and help create that sense of community, purpose, and belonging,” Twilley said.
Twilley said they are working closely with the West Virginia Department of Tourism, as they have since the inception of the program about five years ago. The forward-facing tourism department engagement across the country via mass marketing and social media is a big part of the reason they’ve received more than 90,000 applications over the life of the program.
“They’re really going to help us with the marketing on the Ascend Health Care side because they know those individuals that really are interested in West Virginia,” Twilley said. “Those 92,000 applications we’ve received have been largely due to the partnership with the state and tourism.”
Applications for the programs will be accepted beginning Sept. 23.