Business Call - April 2024

Chamber Holds Ribbon Cutting for MCHC in Knott County

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce facilitated a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 for Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation’s (MCHC) new Knott County Dental Clinic and Knott County Pharmacy, at 1970 Highway 160 S in Hindman, KY. The celebration featured free food and prizes for those who attended.

At 1 p.m. MCHC CEO, Mike Caudill, made a few remarks and introduced the clinic’s dentist, Justin Cornett, DMD, and the lead Pharmacist, Joe Higdon, Pharm. D. up to the podium, along with Chamber President & CEO, Jordan Gibson, to officially cut the ribbon. MCHC’s Knott County Dental Clinic offers a range of services such as preventative care, restorative work, dentures, and extractions. The Dental Clinic is available to serve residents of Knott County and surrounding counties and accepts both private insurance and Medicaid. Dr. Cornett is a resident of Knott County and a recent University of Louisville graduate who has been practicing dentistry for about a year.

The Knott County Pharmacy boasts a machine that can

prepackage prescriptions in unit doses, labeled with the day and time they are supposed to be taken, which can help patients such as stroke victims keep track of multiple medications. Dr. Higdon and the pharmacy staff can serve anyone—they are not limited to just MCHC doctors.

“We’re tickled to be able to provide these services for Knott County residents and beyond,” said MCHC CEO, Mike Caudill. “As former residents, we’re very glad to be back. This is just the beginning for all we intend to do for Knott County to prosper.”

“We’re happy to celebrate MCHC’s growth in Knott County,” said Chamber President & CEO, Jordan Gibson. “The Dental Clinic and Pharmacy will make a huge impact in this region, and we’re excited to support the success of MCHC’s mission in keeping Eastern Kentucky residents healthy.”

For more information on MCHC, please visit www. mchcky.com.

Patton Leadership Visits Johnson County

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Patton Leadership Institute (PLI) held its seventh session in Johnson County on Thursday, April 4, 2024. The cohort visits a different county each session. PLI will visit Letcher County on May 2, 2024. The cohort met at the Big Sandy Community and Technical College Mayo Campus in Paintsville where they received a welcome from Chief Workforce and Marketing Officer, Rachelle Burchett. Director of Business/Industry Development, Joyce Wilcox, let the group on a tour of the Dental Assisting Program facilities, followed by tours of the Construction Technology and Welding Technology facilities. Rachelle Burchett then led the group through a condensed version of her highly sought-after Communications Training: It’s Not Personal, It’s Personality, where the group learned about their different communication styles and how to most effectively work with those of different styles from their own.

The cohort then travelled to East Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute (eKAMI), where they learned about how Eastern Kentucky is home to cutting-edge robotics manufacturing courses that can offer those who are returning to the workforce or who do not want to take the college route a quality education and the opportunity for employment once they have completed the 20-week program. Executive Director, Barbie Bussey took the group on a tour of the expansive facilities and spoke with the group about the important work eKAMI does for the region.

Blake Moss, Public Administration Specialist for the Big Sandy Area Development District, said, “Taking part in PLI is such a great opportunity that helps me succeed in my daily work because we work closely with a lot of the organizations that PLI visits. Touring eKami today was such an interesting experience because it displays that eastern Kentucky does have the capabilities to attract good jobs in manufacturing and has many

stakeholders working hard at developing a skilled workforce for the modern economy.”

To end the day, the group met with Paintsville Tourism Director, Jeremiah Parsons, at the US 23 Country Music Highway Museum where they heard about tourism in Johnson County and to tour the museum.

Days!! | April 18-20, 2024

Chamber Holds Regional Competition of National Civics Bee at Mountain Arts Center

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce held the regional competition of the National Civics Bee at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg on Thursday, April 25, 2024. The next stage of the competition will be at the state level held at the Kentucky State Fair in August. The first-place winner of the state competition will then travel to Washington, D.C. to compete on the national level for a chance to win a grand prize valued at $50,000.

The live competition featured seventeen 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students from 6 Eastern Kentucky counties who all had previously written essays about a problem they see in their community that could be solved using civic principles. The regional competition on Thursday began with two rounds of civic-based

multiple choice quizzes that the students answered on Samsung tablets provided by event sponsor, Appalachian Wireless. Other event sponsors include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, double kwik, and Mountain Arts Center.

The top five highest scoring students then went into the last round of the competition where they were asked to summarize their essays in three sentences and then answer questions from the event’s judges, who were Darlene Howell, Director of Customer Relations at Appalachian Wireless; Tina Terry, Director of Academic Programs & Dual Credit at Big Sandy Community and Technical College; and Dr. Tyler Syck, Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of Pikeville. Emceeing the event was Dalton Hatfield,

Director of External Affairs for Appalachian Regional Healthcare.

The third-place winner took home a $125 cash prize, the second-place winner took home a $250 cash prize, and the first-place winner, 8th grade student at Pikeville Independent Schools, Javan D., took home a cash prize of $500. All three students received trophies and will go on to compete at the state level. Each student who competed went home with the tablets provided by Appalachian Wireless and a $25 gas card from double kwik.

“Your event was excellent. I have been to many over my 18 years of teaching, this was one of the most memorable,” said Rhonda Gross, a contestant’s mother, and teacher at Hayes Lewis School in Leslie County. “My kids had a blast and were overwhelmed with joy with the tablet and gas cards. Thank you so much for

your diligence in making this event possible for my students.”

“As a chamber committed to empowering our community and nurturing future leaders, we are proud to participate in the National Civics Bee®,” said Tiffany Coleman, Director of Accounting and Special Events. “This competition not only promotes civic education but also instills in our youth the values of citizenship, responsibility, and active engagement. We believe that by supporting initiatives like the National Civics Bee, we are investing in the prosperity and vitality of our community for generations to come.”

For more information on National Civics Bee and how you or your student can get involved, please visit our website at www.sekchamber.com/nationalcivicsbee.

Chamber Member of the Month: Eastern Telephone & Technologies

Pulling into Eastern Telephone & Technology’s parking lot, the building is nondescript and low key, tucked away behind the UPIKE Sports Plex in Coal Run Village. Walking in, the front waiting area seems like any other, quiet, brightly lit, I see several awards displayed that the company has earned, one of them I recognized: the 2023 Lon B. & Mary Evelyn Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award that Eastern Telephone President Darrell Maynard won at the Chamber’s last Annual Awards Night. Something grabs my attention: speed-walking down the hall comes Karen Roberts Prater rushing to greet me with a big hug and a warm “Hello!”

Karen corrals everyone in the office to come have their picture taken. We have Darrell Maynard, the head honcho, who, by the way, is the reason we here in Eastern Kentucky still have the 606-area code, but I’m getting ahead of myself. More on that later.

Frank Dawahare, Director of Customer Relations, also joins for the picture, along with several others of the office staff; all jokingly complaining about having their picture taken, but Karen tells them to suck it up and smile. 3…2…1…*snap* “Okay we’re done, everyone get back to work!”

The energy in the office is a balance of serious work, and jubilant fun. In my experience, it’s hard to NOT have fun around Darrell and Karen. The two took me on a tour around the office, where they showed off ancient telephones and telegraphs, as well as Darrell’s very first telephone that he had when he first started Eastern Telephone & Technologies, over 40 years ago—still in its box and in pristine condition. We also played around on the old switchboard, with Karen pretending to be the operator!

Darrell Maynard started Eastern Telephone & Technologies in the early 80’s to provide commercial telephone systems and computer services to businesses through Eastern Kentucky. The company is Appalachian through-andthrough—when asked about their vision, they said, “Eastern strives to provide technology solutions by serving the business community the service they deserve without reliance on outsiders who do not have a vested interest in our community and who sometimes do not specifically understand our heritage.” Appalachia is a special place, and Darrell Maynard understands that. Back in the 90’s when the big telephone companies wanted to change our area code, he stepped in to make sure that didn’t happen. Here’s The story goes: During Governor Paul Patton’s Administration around the year 1998, Darrell heard of the situation in which the 502area code would be split between the Louisville Metro area and Southwestern Kentucky. Realizing that the 606-area code could likely be next, he began to advocate for Eastern Kentucky to keep the 606-area code. He discussed his concerns with then-Pike County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kitty Baird who shared his concerns. He then made arrangements to meet with Governor Patton to discuss this, as well as the representative from the Public Service Commission and basically anyone else who would listen. The new 859-area code was assigned on August 9, 1999, and went into service on April 1, 2000 being located in the city of Lexington and the central portion of Kentucky; thus allowing all of Eastern Kentucky to remain in the 606 area code. So today, be a little extra proud of our 606-area code that we call home. And whenever you dial those three digits, be sure to think about Darrell Maynard and all those crazy, kooky, hardworking, caring, and dedicated folks over at Eastern Telephone & Technologies.

Chamber Hold Lunch & Learn with One East Kentucky’s Colby Kirk

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce held a Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, featuring guest speaker, Colby Kirk, President & CEO of One East Kentucky.

There were networking opportunities over lunch catered by Moe’s and the meeting was well attended by several members of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, as well as representatives of Big Sandy Area Development District and Eastern Telephone & Technologies. WYMT was also present.

Colby began his presentation by explaining the origins of One East Kentucky, how it was established under the Southeast Kentucky Chamber, later growing into its own entity. He outlined the three main strategic initiatives of One East Kentucky, which are Industry Recruitment and Retention, Capacity Building, and Strategy Development. In terms of Industry Recruitment, Colby says that One East Kentucky is engaging with international investors and businesses that are seeking to expand into the US market. One East Kentucky seeks to market the region’s industrial sites to foreign investors in countries like South Korea and Japan to encourage investment in Eastern Kentucky.

One East Kentucky is working on a cutting-edge software that will be hosted on their website later this year that will be able to show on an interactive map all the industrial sites in our region. Colby says that this software will be able to create custom listings for each site, and can even show a virtual building, demonstrating to investors what the site could potentially look like. Colby also showed in his presentation the potential in Martin County for an

incubator for foreign direct investment, where several businesses that are gaining their foothold in the US can share office space and warehousing facilities. One East Kentucky sees downtown revitalization as important as industry recruitment to economic development. Recently, 6 cities in Eastern Kentucky have been approved for funding to receive strategic planning for downtown revitalization: Inez, Prestonsburg, Hazard, Pikeville, Whitesburg, and Jenkins.

Colby explained that One East Kentucky’s work is vital to this region by highlighting the fact that since the COVID-19 pandemic, 95% of all jobs that are incentivized in Kentucky are outside of Eastern Kentucky. He noted that the communities where the least number of jobs are being announced are those with the highest levels of unemployment and persistent poverty. Colby proposed a solution by allowing for increased tax incentives for investing in our region, and lowering the incentive in areas where there is already an abundance of jobs.

“We’re so grateful to Colby for taking the time to speak for us today,” said Katie Belt, Programs & Media Manager for the Chamber. “His commitment to the betterment of Eastern Kentucky is inspiring and the work he and One East Kentucky does is vital to this region. The Chamber is excited to continue to support these efforts.”

Southeast Kentucky Chamber members can view a recording of the presentation, and a selection of past presentations, by logging into the Member Information Center at: business.sekchamber.com/login.