HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WOWK)– Cabell County, West Virginia Mountains of Hope and FaithHealth Appalachia teamed up to help fight a big problem in a simple way.

According to WV Mountains of Hope, the West Virginia Cancer Coalition, Cabell County is in the top 10 counties with the highest rate of melanoma skin cancer.

So, FaithHealth Appalachia, in partnership with WV Mountains of Hope, applied to get Licenses to place free sunscreen dispensers across eight parks and pools in Cabell County, including at Ritter Park in Huntington.

Rory Chapman, the executive director, says that it’s a simple solution to a big problem.

“Prevention of something as serious as melanoma is as simple as sunscreen, just putting it on,” said Chapman. “But a lot of people forget it when they put it in their bag, and they or, you know, sunscreen ain’t cheap these days, and it can be hard for some people to even afford it. So we’re happy to provide this to the community because it not only helps keep people healthier, it also, you know, helps them be a little bit more frugal with their resources so that they can spend it on other things that they may need.”

Chapman says it takes a village to take care of the community.

“Ultimately, prevention is worth a pound of cure. As the saying goes, and if we can play a role in helping to prevent it, then we’re, you know, preventing something from happening. That could have devastated someone in the future,” said Chapman. “But it takes multiple agencies. It takes multiple organizations working together to, you know, not just be the one that gets it all done, but you know, finding others to help pick up the slack where we might not have the capacity to do so is what really makes you makes it happen.”

Mountains of Hope has a similar program that runs in Summers and Lewis Counties. Since the placement of the dispensers, Chapman says other Counties have reached out expressing interest in the dispensers as well.