Even before COVID-19, WVU Medicine in the Eastern Panhandle was making big changes. At the start of 2020 the region’s largest healthcare system was adding robotic surgery capability to its Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg and starting construction of a new medical office building on newly-acquired land in Shepherdstown... Read the Full Story >>
Public Health
Outdoor Fun Around the Eastern Panhandle
Here in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, we are blessed with an abundance of outdoor recreation opportunities. When The Observer asked, we jumped at the chance to spotlight a few of our favorite activities for the fall. Read the Full Story >>
It’s OK to Ask for Help
The Brian O’Neill Jr Foundation has a simple mission: to empower individuals and their families to help prevent suicide in youth and young adults. For Lee O’Neill, the president of the foundation, this mission is personal. Read the Full Story >>
Pandemic in the Panhandle
Reidy observes that there is sometimes almost too much news coverage. “Every little new suggestion gets equal weight because it’s new — every drug that might work or something that might work. With new treatments, it takes time to find out what really does work — things like antibody testing and how long people are immune. It’s hard because we want answers now. Read the Full Story >>
From This Point Forward
My name is Josh. I’m 39. I’ve been sober just about nine months. I live in Chicago. I know the editor of this paper, Mike, and he encouraged me to write this—for various reasons, many of which you probably already know. Mainly because, apparently, this publication works hard to help addicts and their loved ones Read the Full Story >>
CEG Receives $500K Grant to Bolster HIV Fight in West Virginia
A new $500,000 grant will support CEG’s efforts to improve HIV prevention, testing, screening, and treatment in the state. Read the Full Story >>
Understanding the Connection Between Loneliness and Addiction
I couldn’t move. I had reached the point where I could no longer continue living a life marred in addiction. It wasn’t simply a matter of being sick and tired of being sick and tired—I was, in a tangible way, killing myself. I laid on the floor of my wretched trailer apartment under a blanket, Read the Full Story >>
WVU Medicine Lands Facility in Shepherdstown
WVU Medicine plans to build a 10,700-square-foot medical office building (MOB) located on Route 45 west of downtown Shepherdstown near Sheetz, which will house two physician’s office suites—one for primary care and one for specialists. Read the Full Story >>
Addiction and Emotional Trauma in Childhood
The dynamic between my father and me was distant and unpalatable on so many levels—not the least of which was our contrasting physical statures. He was over 350 pounds for as long as I remember and I, having topped out in adulthood at 5’ 6” and 130 pounds, was always minuscule in his presence. Instead Read the Full Story >>
Charles Town Comes to Terms with the Loss of Justice Taylor
In the early hours on October 5, as the morning sun emerged through the clouds on an overcast fall day, the body of Justice Taylor was found in the loading area at the rear of Jefferson County Community Ministries (JCCM) on West Washington Street. Slumped in his wheelchair, it was a harsh end to a Read the Full Story >>
Observer Contributor Co-Develops Memorial Site for Opioid Victims
If you or someone you love has lost someone to the opioid crisis, then it’s worth your while to check out "All Our Hearts"—an online memorial project developed in part by Observer contributor and Jefferson County native Lena Camilletti. Read the Full Story >>
Wellness Center at WVU Medicine Celebrates 20 Years
The Wellness Center at WVU Medicine Berkeley Medical Center (2000 Foundation Way, Martinsburg) is celebrating its 20-year anniversary. Since opening its doors in the fall of 1999, it has doubled in size and expanded services to meet the needs of the community. The Center, located in the Dorothy A. McCormack Center on the Berkeley Medical Read the Full Story >>
Substance-Use Disorder & Person-First Language: Why It Matters
How we perceive and treat people with substance-use disorder has a direct impact on access to treatment and long-term recovery for this community. The language we use to identify this disease is crucial in addressing solutions for people experiencing it. Read the Full Story >>
Understanding Mental Health by Tearing Down Some Walls
Diagnosing mental health disorders isn’t one of those easy professions, like, for example, brain surgery or rocket science. Enviably, those two specialties have clear and visible parameters for measuring success and failure, whereas defining “mental health” is fluid and debatable, at times dependent on functional and social norms. The diagnostic manual that defines criteria for Read the Full Story >>
A Deep-Dive Into Anger, Abuse, and Resurrection with Debut Author Timothy J. Hillegonds
A Chicago native, author Timothy J. Hillegonds stepped foot in Shepherdstown for the first time in 2012, and found himself smitten from the start. Seven years later, he readily calls Shepherdstown his second home, and by getting to know West Virginia’s oldest town as intimately as he has, he’s also become familiar with the Mountain State’s unfortunate connection to the nationwide opioid epidemic. Read the Full Story >>