Mar 6, 2024 3 min read

By Jeff Kotula

The Washington County Chamber of Commerce recently hosted more than 300 business leaders at our annual State of the Economy meeting sponsored by Community Bank. The event featured three main themes reflecting important aspects of our economy – the states of health care, key economic indicators, and energy.

Brook Ward, president and CEO of Washington Health System, provided an overview of the changing landscape of the health care industry and the challenges those transformations present to independent health care systems, especially in rural counties like Washington County.

Ward provided a candid account of a comprehensive study that led the organization to seek the proposed affiliation with a larger system. Although the primary goal of the health system board has always been to maintain their independence, the results of their analysis forced them to confront a difficult decision – either find a partner or downgrade health care in our county. Wisely, the health system chose to affiliate with world-renowned UPMC, which will ensure quality health care and advanced services for our county residents for years to come.

Two distinguished Washington & Jefferson College economics professors, Dr. Robert Dunn and Dr. Zachary Klingensmith, examined various key performance indicators and trends that shape our economic outlook. Their data-filled presentation provided an overview of our economy from a national, regional, and local perspective. Although their demographic data provided a slightly sobering look at regional and local population decline since the 1970s, modest growth in our county over the past two decades provided optimism.

Additionally, they pointed out that our county’s stable and diverse economy along with our affordable cost of living and high quality of life provides Washington County with a bulkhead against some of the fluctuations seen in the wider economy. However, the challenge to our future progress is our stagnant birth rate and lack of natural population growth, which makes it difficult to expand our economy. We need to attract more residents from outside our region, not just from Allegheny County.

Increasing our population is a goal the Washington County Chamber of Commerce identified last year in our Washington Forward initiative. It is something that deserves continued attention, particularly considering the program’s final presentation. Shawn Bennett of Battelle, Denise Brinley of TRC Companies, Mike Starck of EQT, and Melanie White of Allegheny Science & Technology represented ARCH2, a consortium of private companies, governments, institutions, and community organizations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that are developing an inter-connected, full-value chain hydrogen hub. They covered the challenges of forging a new industry and the nearly $1 billion in support provided by the federal government to assist in developing and commercializing new technologies to create jobs and opportunities in our region.

It was very clear throughout all three presentations that the strength of Washington County is our people, who have made our community an excellent place to build a career, family, and life. But it is equally important we recognize obstacles to our growth and resolve them with the same intensity that we have demonstrated in overcoming past challenges. Our people are our future.

Jeff Kotula is the president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Promotion Agency.