State officials and lawmakers visited Roanoke on Friday to hear from residents about the region’s most pressing health challenges. The meeting marked the final stop in a 12-city tour designed to inform Virginia’s application to the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion initiative created under the federal spending bill passed in July.
Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, and Dels. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, and Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery County, joined Lanette Walker, who serves as the deputy secretary of health care finance in the governor’s office, at the meeting. Cheryl Roberts, Virginia’s Medicaid director, and other state agency staff have also participated in the sessions.
They are part of the Rural Health Care Transformation initiative, launched by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to assess community health needs across the state. Southwest and Southside localities that were part of the tour include Norton, Bristol, Wytheville, Danville and Lynchburg…