Published: July 17, 2009 02:36 am      

Walker leaving DHHR for new GO HELP post

CHARLESTON — West Virginia Health and Human Resources Secretary Martha Walker is leaving the post to take on the state’s latest stab at improving health care access, Gov. Joe Manchin announced Thursday.

Walker will become the acting director of the Governor’s Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning, or GO HELP, on Sept. 1.

Lawmakers created GO HELP this year to pursue ways to improve and expand West Virginia’s health care system, while coordinating with existing programs and services.

Manchin spokesman Matt Turner said the governor sees Walker, a former state senator who has headed DHHR since Manchin took office in 2005, as the best choice for getting this new effort off the ground.

“The dedicated employees and the many programs they administer touch the lives of every West Virginian,” Walker said in a statement. “I have learned a lot from them. I am ready for a new challenge and this opportunity will allow me to continue the work of coordinating health care reform on a state and federal level.”

Replacing Walker at DHHR will be Patsy Hardy. The Parkersburg resident helped run several West Virginia hospitals. Her 24-year career includes terms as chief executive of St. Joseph’s in Parkersburg and the former Putnam General in Hurricane.

Hardy currently operates a Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership in Ohio, Turner said.

“Patsy is an expert in health care services and business management and I am extremely pleased that she has accepted this position,” Manchin said in Thursday’s release.

The change comes as Congress debates a national health care plan, and West Virginia grapples with rising health care costs along with other states.

Walker’s DHHR has at times sparred with public interest groups and legislators over elements of West Virginia’s health care system, particularly its Medicaid program. But a leading lawmaker on the subject endorsed the move Thursday.

“Martha has done a good job under very trying circumstances,” said House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne. “She’s going to take a lot of institutional knowledge to the position.”