West Virginia Models and Innovations
These stories feature model programs and successful rural projects that can serve as a source of ideas. Some of the projects or programs may no longer be active. Read about the criteria and evidence-base for programs included.
Evidence-Based Examples
Helping Kids PROSPER
Updated/reviewed January 2023
Updated/reviewed January 2023
- Need: An approach to support sustained, quality delivery of evidence-based programs for youth and families in rural communities.
- Intervention: PROSPER, a program delivery system, guides communities in implementing evidence-based programs that build youth competencies, improve family functioning, and prevent risky behaviors, particularly substance use.
- Results: Youth in PROSPER communities reported delayed initiation of a variety of substances, lower levels of other behavioral problems, and improvements in family functioning and other life skills.
Effective Examples

Updated/reviewed August 2022
- Need: To address the oral health needs of low-income uninsured and underinsured residents in rural Appalachia.
- Intervention: An oral health education program was implemented in Appalachian Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
- Results: This program increased oral health visits in the area and provided residents with valuable information on oral health resources and services.
Community-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program
Updated/reviewed February 2021
Updated/reviewed February 2021
- Need: More evidenced-based chronic lower respiratory disease management options for rural Appalachia patients, where lung disease rates are among the highest in the country.
- Intervention: Implementation of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programs in 2 Federally Qualified Health Centers and a Critical Access Hospital in West Virginia.
- Results: Improved health outcomes for patients with chronic lower respiratory disease, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Community Health Worker-based Chronic Care Management Program
Added May 2020
Added May 2020
- Need: Improve healthcare access and decrease chronic disease disparities in rural Appalachia.
- Intervention: A community health worker-based Chronic Care Management program demonstrated such a level of success in a single West Virginia county that it was further scaled for implementation in a multi-center, 3-state area of Appalachia.
- Results: When analysis of the disseminated program's results also demonstrated improved health outcomes and decreased healthcare costs, sustainability became possible due to innovative financial reimbursement models.

Updated/reviewed December 2019
- Need: A cost-effective approach to help rural patients with hypertension learn to manage their condition.
- Intervention: Community volunteers trained as health coaches provided an 8-session hypertension management training program to hypertension patients older than 60, with an optional supplemental 8 sessions focused on nutrition and physical activity.
- Results: Just 16 weeks after the program, participants had improved systolic blood pressure, weight, and fasting glucose, greater knowledge of hypertension, and improved self-reported behaviors.
Other Project Examples
Camp Mariposa
Updated/reviewed August 2022
Updated/reviewed August 2022
- Need: To help children whose family members are struggling with substance misuse.
- Intervention: A year-round program provides mentoring as well as substance use prevention education.
- Results: In 2021, Camp Mariposa served a total of 76 youth in its three rural locations in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Spit It Out-West Virginia
Updated/reviewed January 2022
Updated/reviewed January 2022
- Need: In the years prior to 2008, McDowell County, West Virginia, had high rates of tobacco use.
- Intervention: The Spit It Out-West Virginia program (2008-2010) was created to increase access to tobacco cessation and prevention resources.
- Results: Hundreds of people were provided with tobacco cessation efforts, 5 workplaces became tobacco free, and tobacco control efforts continue today.


Updated/reviewed December 2021
- Need: To reduce deaths due to opioid overdose in rural southeast West Virginia.
- Intervention: The Community Connections, Inc. Rural Health Opioid Program trained and certified first responders, healthcare staff, and laypeople in naloxone administration.
- Results: From October 2018 to September 2021, the program provided direct education to 638 individuals, trained 821 providers, and distributed 4,023 Narcan kits.

Updated/reviewed February 2021
- Need: To decrease illicit drug and alcohol use in the Central Appalachian region of Kentucky, where many schools had no type of prevention curriculum.
- Intervention: Using engaging simulations and presentations, the project delivers substance use prevention education to middle school and high school students.
- Results: Post-test surveys show that thousands of students are reached through the "On the Move!" project and gain positive knowledge on the dangers of substance use.

Updated/reviewed September 2020
- Need: Coordinated approach to healthcare delivery in central and southern West Virginia.
- Intervention: Creation of a nonprofit organization that focused on quality and collaboration.
- Results: With an ability to provide services that meet the evolving needs of patients, providers, and communities, the organization provides unique services, such as a credentialing service and web-based data sharing care management tool.
Last Updated: 1/5/2023