Marcus Stone is the new executive director of the Martinsville Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness, succeeding Barbara Jackman, the coalition’s founder, who is retiring.
The coalition was founded in 2005 to promote health, reduce health risk factors and increase access to medical services, primarily for the uninsured and underserved in the MHC area. Initial funding came from The Harvest Foundation.
The coalition operates two Federally Qualified Health Centers: Bassett Family Practice, opened in 2008, and Ridgeway Family Health, opened in 2017. It also has held community outreach events such as free exercise classes and classes on topics such as nutrition and diabetes care, until public events were canceled at the start of the pandemic.
“We provide health care to the community on a large spectrum, from people who have no resources or income to people who have insurance,” Stone said. “We provide care to all of them and make it available to them to keep our community healthy.”
