“Take the backroads, not the highway.” — Minnie Pearl

On Sept. 4, we cut the ribbon on something I believe will change lives: a new, $37 million, state-of-the-art outpatient clinic in Elkins, West Virginia, a part of a broader, nearly $1 billion initiative that WVU Medicine is taking to expand healthcare access across our state.

The WVU Medicine Elkins Corridor Medical Center represents more than bricks, mortar, and medical equipment. It’s a physical expression of our mission to change the trajectory of healthcare in West Virginia by bringing world-class care to places where it has been too hard to find for too long. The 38,000-square-foot center includes 34 exam rooms, two procedure rooms, and a cast room. It offers primary care, lab and infusion services, advanced imaging, and specialty clinics such as heart and vascular, with rapid care soon to follow. But more than that, it offers hope — hope for better health outcomes and a better future.

As I made the drive that morning from Morgantown to Elkins, I didn’t take the interstate. I took the backroads: Grafton Road to Gladesville Road, down the Mountaineer Highway through Newburg, onto Morgantown Pike, and finally into Elkins. It’s not the fastest route, but it’s the one I often choose. Because that drive reminds me why we do what we do.

Along those roads, you see the real West Virginia. You pass homes that have seen better days, towns that are quieter than they once were, and people who have had to make do with less for far too long. But you also see strength, pride, and resilience. You see communities that care deeply for one another. And it becomes clear just how vital access to healthcare is for the people who live there.

This new facility in Elkins is not a standalone project. Less than two weeks later, on September 16, we broke ground on a $200 million patient tower at our easternmost campus in Martinsburg. In Wheeling, we are building a new regional cancer center. In Princeton and Bluefield, we are expanding services and constructing new facilities to strengthen care for the southern part of our state. In Morgantown, we are building a $233 million facility that will allow us to expand the WVU Eye Institute. And in Fairmont, we recently celebrated the reopening and expansion of cancer services at Fairmont Medical Center. That entire hospital had been closed by a previous owner just five years ago, leaving that community in a lurch. Today, it is alive again–providing care, creating jobs, and giving families renewed confidence that they won’t be left behind.

All of these projects are part of that nearly $1 billion investment WVU Medicine is making to expand access to care across West Virginia. Together, they reflect a commitment to connect communities, to meet people where they are, and to never leave rural West Virginia behind. Most importantly, they reflect our mission: to change the health trajectory of our state for generations to come.

Driving the backroads may take a little longer, but it keeps us grounded. It reminds us of the hills we’ve climbed and the ones we still must face. It reminds us of our responsibility. And it reminds us that the road to a healthier West Virginia runs through every town, every hollow, and every family in this state.

And to me, that’s a road worth taking.

Albert L. Wright Jr. is the President and CEO of WVU Health System.