Peruvian rural health exchange
In April, senior leaders from Atlas traveled to Peru with the West Virginia National Guard as part of a rural health exchange with the Peruvian Ministries of Defense and Health. The exchange was organized under the auspices of the National Guard’s State Partnership Program. Participants included national rural health experts from Atlas, Georgetown University, the National Rural Health Association, and the West Virginia National Guard.

Sponsoring women’s wellness retreats
Atlas partnered with the West Virginia University National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health to present the sixth annual Women on Wellness (WOW) Retreat in Fairmont, WV, in July. More than 100 women attended the retreat, which highlighted women Veterans and military family members. Atlas President Mark H. Chichester, and Senior Vice President Hilda Heady, were on hand and organized a cross-generational panel of women Veterans from the community. The WOW retreats help women lead healthier lifestyles through movement and exercise classes, discussions on patient/physician communication, financial management, aging, and other women’s health issues. Atlas was proud to be a partner and sponsor of this event and continues to work towards increasing services and care for women Veterans.

Supporting Veterans through Honor Flights
As part of Atlas’ ongoing commitment to Veterans, employees participated in several Honor Flight events during 2010. Honor Flight is a non-profit organization that honors U.S. Veterans by flying them to Washington, DC, to take part in public events and recognize them for their service and sacrifice. Atlas employees welcomed Veterans at Reagan National Airport, visited with their families, and thanked them for their service to the country.

Teaching service learning at Georgetown University
President Mark H. Chichester and CEO Ryung Suh serve as faculty preceptors for the Georgetown University Service-Learning Program and worked with two dozen medical students to address health disparity populations, to include women Veterans, homeless Veterans, and incarcerated Veterans. As part of Georgetown University’s Veterans Rural Health course, taught by Senior Vice President Hilda Heady and CEO Ryung Suh, graduate students took a field trip to rural Petersburg, WV, to tour Grant Memorial Hospital. Dr. Suh and Ms. Heady are committed to educating and engaging students in support of Veterans health initiatives, and in particular, their work focuses on important health disparity issues faced by rural communities. This trip gave both students and Atlas staff the opportunity to experience firsthand the challenges rural hospitals and health centers face in serving their communities and Veterans.

Donating coats to area homeless Veterans
During the 2010 holiday season, Atlas donated over 175 coats and sweaters to benefit area homeless Veterans. The coats were received by ZIPS Dry Cleaners, and prepared and delivered to the Washington DC VA Medical Center. The coats were distributed at the Winterhaven Stand Down event on January 22, 2011. This annual event provided homeless metro area Veterans access to health care, employment services, housing support, and other services to help them improve their situations. Atlas efforts were complemented by the kindness of the Town of Fairmount Heights, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC, where residents donated more than 100 coats and sweaters.

Continuing to serve and protect our nation
Atlas CEO Ryung Suh and Vice President Brent Gibson deployed overseas as part of a military exercise to combat and eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Dr. Suh and Dr. Gibson serve in the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) Consequence Management Unit and serve as experts in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosive threats.