School of Medicine professor Dr. Ryan McCarthy created a project called Healthcare is Human to address looming stereotypes surrounding healthcare in Appalachia.

The exhibition, created alongside portrait photographer Molly Humphreys,  consists of authentic photographs of healthcare workers paired with candid, in-person interviews.

The photographs are accompanied by original poems written by Renée Nicholson, Randi Ward, Torli Bush and West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman.

“It allows people to give something open, honest and authentic,” McCarthy said. “Then, when we pair that with these really honest, beautiful artistic images, it really sets our project apart from so many other things.”

Nicholson, also the director of the Humanities Center, worked alongside Sally Brown, WVU Libraries exhibits coordinator, McCarthy and Humphreys to tell the story of each subject. McCarthy said, oftentimes, healthcare workers are too busy doing their job to truly share what it's like.

“For people who want to do it, they say ‘That was the first my family heard about why I did this’ or ‘My family heard my interview and really understood what it was like to do this or work at a hospice center or a mass vaccination event,’” McCarthy said.

The second exhibition of the project is currently on display in the Pylons Commons at Health Sciences for the remainder of the academic year.

McCarthy created Healthcare is Human in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to humanize and honor healthcare workers.

The project invites providers to share a piece of who they are and why they do what they do.

Humphreys said the images picture different types of healthcare workers, from people who process lab work and deliver mail to people who answer the phones and work as nurses, to invite viewers to slow down and question who the workers really are.

With McCarthy and Humphreys being West Virginia natives, he said the project hits close to home.

“We are ignored. We are lampooned. We are made fun of. We are stereotyped. We are not understood well at all,” McCarthy said.

The Healthcare is Human team also produced a film showcased in the William A. Neal Museum, located inside the Health Science Center. The film features original music composed by Robert Sears and Jared Sims of the College of Creative Arts.

After almost five years of operation, McCarthy said the project aims to continue sharing the stories of healthcare workers in small Appalachian towns and show that healthcare is human.

To learn more about Healthcare is Human, visit the Humanities Center’s website or follow its Instagram page.