Our visit to Granville County included a visit to Granville Medical Center. Granville Health Center CEO John Snow greeted us in the lobby of the 62-bed not-for-profit hospital in Oxford.

The mission of Granville Health is to accelerate healing and inspire hope for the communities they serve. Snow shared inspiring stories of his staff going the extra mile during COVID-19 to serve the needs of their community, but according to him, this was nothing new for their workforce.

“We have the values of rural North Carolina embedded in our DNA. We are providing access to high quality health care when and where it wouldn’t happen without us,” declared Snow.

We were joined by Angela Thomas, the Dean of Health Sciences for Vance-Granville Community College (VGCC). Thomas and the team at Granville Health work closely together to educate health care workers to meet the needs of the health system.

Thomas noted that the VGCC approach to health care is to focus on building students’ expertise in conjunction with both the needs of companies and the needs the students have in their personal lives. Most importantly, they are working to develop a culture of continuous, lifelong learning in their students – and encouraging the companies in their region to support the approach in words and in deed.

Our conversation continued over pastries from locally owned, Oxford-based Strong Arm Baking. Tony Cozart, Chair of the Granville County Commissioners, and Harry Mills, the Granville County Economic Director, shared their perspective on the economic future of Granville County and the surrounding region.

One advantage for Granville County according to Cozart is proximity. Proximity to both I-85 and the Triangle provides residents, companies and institutions with opportunities while retaining the benefits of life in a rural community.

All the participants had a common message: You don’t have to leave Granville County to serve. Snow summed it up by saying, “You can serve your community locally and have a life well-lived.”