NEWS RELEASE – October 19, 2023
ARH Foundation Launches Year-Long Wellness Campaign Featuring ARH Providers
October 19, 2023 – Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) Foundation Executive Director Angela Bailey has kicked off her year-long journey to health with an insightful weekly blog, Living Well with Angela Bailey. The blog will feature written entries and video journals that give viewers an inside look at being a patient of ARH providers across Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia.
Bailey explains that the idea for the blog originated, “While watching a video of myself, I realized I wasn’t healthy, yet I was promoting healthier communities. I needed to update screenings and make lifestyle changes to change my health.”
Bailey says she knew she would need guidance and support for this adventure and that starting with ARH was the first logical step. “I have complete trust in our providers, and I know that while this will be a difficult journey, it’s one that I need to take,” she stated.
During this journey, Bailey will provide a transparent, insightful look into what getting physically and mentally healthy is like. She will feature her ARH providers and share the patient experience. Bailey lost her beloved husband, Michael, in December 2022, and she shares her struggle of moving through the grieving process.
“For the last ten years, I put all my focus on my husband and his health—like so many others do, as we care for those we love,” Bailey said. “My health suffered during this time, and I’m looking forward to sharing the journey back to living well with the readers,” she continued.
Bailey hopes to use Living Well to create a community of people working towards their health goals. “I will be sharing how I am working to change my life through health care provided by ARH, changes in diet, exercise and so much more,” Bailey stated before continuing, “I will share each adventure in the hopes that perhaps I will help others, but also that readers might help me by being my accountability partners.”
Appalachian Regional Healthcare President and CEO Hollie Phillips is excited to see Bailey’s commitment to improving her health and sharing it with others. Phillips says, “Making a conscious decision to become a healthier version of yourself is one of the most important decisions you can make. We’re so happy to support Angie’s decision and commitment to doing what it takes to make that happen, and we’ll be following her blog. We hope her story inspires others.”
Phillips continues, “We’re offering many different benefits for our employees to get healthier, like free gym memberships, farmers’ markets in our hospitals, employee gardens, healthier choices in our cafeterias, and more.”
Phillips says, “Part of the ARH mission is to improve health and promote well-being in our communities, and ARH team members make up our communities.”
Visit https://www.arh.org/arh-foundation/living-well to learn more about Living Well with Angela Bailey.
The ARH Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Appalachian Regional Healthcare and works to further healthcare, education, and community involvement in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.
###
Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH), is a not-for-profit health system operating 14 hospitals in Barbourville, Hazard, Harlan, Hyden, Martin, McDowell, Middlesboro, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, West Liberty, Whitesburg, and South Williamson in Kentucky and Beckley and Hinton in West Virginia, as well as multi-specialty physician practices, home health agencies, home medical equipment stores and retail pharmacies. ARH employs more than 6,500 people with an annual payroll and benefits of $330 million generated into our local economies. ARH also has a network of more than 600 active and courtesy medical staff members. ARH is the largest provider of care and the single largest employer in southeastern Kentucky and the third-largest private employer in southern West Virginia.