Ballad Health honors a select group of team members each year with the Scott and Nikki Niswonger Servant’s Heart Award, the organization’s highest honor. These recipients have been recognized by their peers for displaying the heart of a servant by going above and beyond the normal call of duty in helping others at work and in the community. Over the coming weeks, Ballad Health will feature the 2024 Servant’s Heart Award winners through videos, stories and photos — and has opened the nomination process for the 2025 awards.
Whether through medicine or mentorship or managing a public pollinator garden, Karen Elmore, MD, has dedicated her life to serving those around her.
As a physician, she has impacted thousands of lives in Southwest Virginia with her medical expertise and compassionate demeanor. As an educator, she invests much of her time training the next generation of healthcare professionals. On numerous occasions, she has gone to great lengths to personally assist people in various ways — people who now credit much of their success to Dr. Elmore.
When Dr. Elmore first moved to the Appalachian Highlands in 2004, she dedicated herself to treating medically underserved populations at the Southwest Virginia Community Health Services clinic in Saltville. Her career placed her on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, where she focused her work on implementing compassionate pain management strategies while attempting to limit the harm caused by the overprescription of opioid pain medications.
She helped found Emory Internal Medicine, with the help of Johnston Memorial Hospital. The clinic served the community while also acting as the Student Health Center for Emory & Henry College, where it continues serving the Emory community to this day. Dr. Elmore would go on to open Mountain Laurel Internal Medicine to help with physician staffing in Abingdon, where she currently serves her community.
When Ballad Health began a residency program to grow physician staffing within the organization, Dr. Elmore immediately stepped up to take on the dual roles of assistant program director and supervising physician for the outpatient residency clinic. Dr. Elmore’s work as a healthcare educator continues to benefit Southwest Virginia as the program grows and transforms residents into community practitioners. The clinic continues serving patients with complex medical needs who might not otherwise be able to afford treatment.
Additionally, Dr. Elmore serves on many community boards, including the Wellspring Foundation, which is dedicated to enhancing the health and wellbeing of people in the region.
Outside of her commitments as a healthcare professional, Dr. Elmore takes every opportunity to help others around her. One coworker adopted a child with special needs, and Dr. Elmore wasted no time helping her colleague navigate the special education services system for her child. The child is now accommodated within the public school system and is thriving.
During the months of isolation at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Elmore started a native plant garden in a local park to attract pollinators and other beneficial, native insects. She views this project as a way to encourage other people to plant native species and understand their benefits to the local ecosystem as well as enjoy their beauty.
Dr. Elmore has been married for 27 years, raised two children and treasures a beloved circle of close friends. She is always finding ways to help her fellow community members, whether through her expertise as a medical professional, her passion for public education or just helping a friend in need with her servant’s heart.
Nominate someone for 2025!
Do you know someone who has the heart of a servant and deserves recognition for their great work? If so, nominate them for the 2025 Servant’s Heart Award through the nomination form that is now open through Tuesday, Dec. 31!
