Echoes of Resilience: Mountain Voices on Health and Justice will tell West Virginians’ stories
Originally published January 29, 2026 in West Virginia Watch.
For generations, West Virginians have been talked about — rarely talked with. Too often, our state is reduced to a political talking point, a cautionary tale, or dismissed outright as a “lost cause.” But anyone who calls this place home knows a different truth: West Virginia is defined not by what has been taken from us, but by the resilience, creativity, and care we show one another in the face of challenge.
That belief is at the heart of Echoes of Resilience: Mountain Voices on Health and Justice, a new initiative from West Virginians for Affordable Health Care. This project begins with a simple premise: lasting health justice starts when people are trusted as experts in their own lives — and when their stories are treated as essential evidence in public conversations about health care.
Echoes of Resilience builds understanding and support for reproductive justice and Medicaid in West Virginia through storytelling, trusted messenger engagement and cultural tradition. It recognizes that health care policy is not abstract. It determines whether someone can access contraception, receive cancer screenings, get prenatal and postpartum care or afford preventive services that keep families healthy and communities strong.
The Affordable Care Act made historic progress toward health equity by requiring most health plans to cover a broad range of preventive services without cost-sharing. These protections expanded access to essential care — such as contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections, breast and cervical cancer screenings, maternal depression screenings and breastfeeding services and supplies — particularly for women, children and LGBTQ+ people whose needs had long been underserved by private insurance.
These gains were not accidental. For decades, the U.S. health insurance system reflected a narrow vision of who “deserved” coverage, shaped by World War II–era employment practices that centered white-collar male workers. The ACA’s preventive services requirements helped correct that imbalance, ensuring more people could access care that supports long-term health and economic stability.
In West Virginia, where Medicaid plays a critical role in covering families, these protections have been especially important. Preventive care saves lives and reduces long-term costs. Vaccines, tobacco cessation and access to family planning are proven to improve outcomes while lowering overall health spending — benefits that resonate across political and geographic lines.
Yet today, these protections are increasingly unstable. Court challenges and federal administrative changes have begun to undermine the systems that determine which preventive services must be covered, creating uncertainty for patients and providers alike. While these shifts may feel distant or technical, their impacts are deeply personal — felt most acutely by those already navigating barriers to care.
That is where Echoes of Resilience: Mountain Voices on Health and Justice comes in.
At the heart of the initiative are five Community Health Stewards — West Virginians rooted in their regions — who serve as trusted messengers and listeners. They will meet people where they are: on front porches, in salons, churches and corner stores. Through conversation and relationship-building, they will collect first-person stories about reproductive health, justice and the role Medicaid and preventive services play in everyday life.
A local photographer will document these stories through a raw, unfiltered portrait series that centers dignity rather than stereotype. Midway through the project, the portraits will debut in a traveling art exhibit hosted in cultural centers and galleries across the state, creating space for reflection and dialogue. Over time, our hope is the portraits will be transformed into a collective quilt — honoring Appalachia’s long tradition of storytelling through craft and standing as a living testament to shared resilience.
Alongside this community-based work, a statewide media and storytelling campaign will amplify these voices, connecting lived experience to broader public understanding of health and justice. This approach does not tell people what to think; it invites them to listen, learn and recognize the human stakes behind health policy decisions.
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care is proud to partner with Takeiya Smith, founder of the Young West Virginia Power Building Movement and a grassroots organizer for racial, economic and social justice, and Kaylen Barker, a longtime reproductive justice advocate and policy strategist. Together, their leadership bridges policy knowledge, organizing and lived experience — ensuring this work remains grounded, inclusive and forward-looking.
West Virginia is not a lost cause. We are a state of caregivers, culture-bearers, and problem-solvers. Echoes of Resilience: Mountain Voices on Health and Justice celebrates the strength that already exists here and helps ensure it is seen, heard, and valued.
By the end of this project year, the goal is not simply to have collected stories or hosted exhibits. It is to have strengthened a foundation for long-term civic engagement — one rooted in lived experience, cultural pride and informed participation. When people understand how health care systems affect their lives, they are better equipped to engage in their communities and contribute to meaningful public dialogue.
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care invites neighbors across the state to take part — by listening, by sharing experiences, by attending exhibits, and by helping ensure that conversations about health and justice reflect the voices of those most impacted.
Health equity does not begin in courtrooms or capitol buildings. It begins in our communities, in our stories, and in our willingness to hear one another. Echoes of Resilience is an invitation to do just that — and to help shape a healthier, more just West Virginia for generations to come.
