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RECLAIM HEALTHCARE WNC

RECLAIM HEALTHCARE WNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Vision Statement: WNC residents again trust they will receive quality care at Mission Health. 

Mission Statement: Uniting and empowering WNC to hold HCA accountable for safe, high-quality care and positive patient experiences.

Board Members

Missy Harris

  • Missy is a native of WNC and serves as co-pastor of Circle of Mercy Congregation in Asheville, NC. She worked as a Chaplain and as a Family Support Liaison with LifeShare of the Carolinas at Mission Hospital for 6 years.

Bob Bednarek

  • Bob is a retired seasoned healthcare executive was over 50 years of experience. He has led several western North Carolina hospitals and has served on their boards.


    He brings an in-depth understanding of hospital operations and governance.

Larry Kirschner

  • Larry Kirschner is an Asheville resident and co-founder of HOA Loan Services, which helps homeowner and condominium associations nationwide navigate the HOA loan process. He brings more than 30 years of investment and commercial banking experience to the work, and has served on community association boards himself.

Julie Mayfield, BOARD CHAIR

  • Julie represents North Carolina Senate District 49, which includes all of Asheville and much of Buncombe County. First elected in 2020, she serves on multiple committees, including the Health Care Committee. Prior to serving in the Senate, she served on Asheville City Council from 2015-2020.

  • Miriam has been a WNC resident for 32 years. She worked at Western Carolina Medical Society as CEO for 14 years and retired in 2022.

Julie Montanea, BOARD Secretary and Treasurer

  • Julie moved to Asheville in 2004 and worked for Buncombe County as a Human Services Planner Evaluator, before retiring in 2014. Community organizing and volunteering have been a big part of Julie’s life, and she came to Reclaim with 25 years of volunteer work as treasurer for various groups.  With a BS in Statistics, a Master of Public Health degree, and a bizarre love of spreadsheets, she is also an enthusiastic member of Reclaim’s Data Team.

Denise Champagne, BOARD MEMBER

  • Denise is an executive coach and organizational consultant who has spent her career helping leaders build strong teams and effective organizations. She previously worked with senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies and later served as Program Director at The Conference Board. Denise is proud to support Reclaim Healthcare WNC and is passionate about ensuring that local healthcare is safe, reliable, and something our community can trust. 

Jim Barrett, BOARD MEMBER

  • Jim Barrett bio to come.

Anne Cortes

  • Anne didn't set out to be a healthcare advocate. She arrived there through experience—as both patient and caregiver, learning, often the hard way, how healthcare systems affect real lives. 

    Her hope: that we build a healthcare system where caring for someone you love doesn't require sacrificing your financial future, your mental health, or your own wellbeing—where patients and families have access to quality, trusted care in environments that heal rather than harm, and can focus on what matters most: the best possible quality of life together.

Kathey Avery, BOARD MEMBER

  • Kathey Avery graduated from WCU in 1983 with Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, working at Mission Hospital for over 30 years specializing for over 20 years in oncology nursing.

    Avery a founding member of the Health Equity Coalition formed to address community concerns about the sale of Mission. 

    In 2019 Avery formed Avery Health Education and Consulting LLC and in 2020 founded and is CEO of Institute for Preventive Healthcare and Advocacy (IFPHA). Avery helped develop Community Health Worker (CHW) initiative for the state of N.C.  Awards include Lillian Carter Award for Exemplary Nursing from Modern Healthcare Magazine in 2017, Land of Sky Regional Council’s, Carol McLimans Trailblazer Award, 2021, Asheville’s MLK Association, Rosa Parks Award and in 2022, the prestigious Ella Baker Brilliance Award by the Tzedek Social Justice Fund 2023.

Suzanne Landis, MD, BOARD MEMBER

  • Suzanne Landis MD, MPH is a retired board certified Internist and preventive medicine/public health physician with a lifelong interest in access to quality medical care and in teaching medical residents at MAHEC, here in Asheville. She helped start (wrote initial grants and recruited the physicians and hospital) Project Access in 1995, a charitable health care program for low income uninsured persons, where physicians and the hospital donate their services. Project Access, administered by the Western Carolina Medical Society, continues through today as an important part of the health care landscape in our region. She has also been instrumental in the training of over 500 family medicine and internal medicine residents at MAHEC, 60% of whom stay to practice in our region.

Jennifer Young, BOARD MEMBER

  • Jennifer Young currently serves on the Weaverville Town Council and is a Registered Nurse with 33 years’ experience, specializing in emergency and critical care education. She has participated in numerous statewide nursing committees, held a position as Field Auditor for the North Carolina Department of Revenue, currently serves on the Buncombe County Audit Committee, and operates her own small business. As a descendent of Western North Carolina’s original settlers (1755), Jennifer volunteers as a chaplain for both the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team and the National Law Enforcement Ministry.  She also co-leads a Caregiver’s Support Group and is an active advocate for patients and nursing professionals.

  • Jeri Legeay has practiced law since 1994, in the areas of business law and health care law. She has represented health care providers, managed care organizations, patients, and numerous business clients, and she previously taught a business law and ethics course at UNC Asheville as adjunct associate faculty.  She is a member of the State Bars of North Carolina and Michigan.

Nansi Greger-Holt

  • Nansi has been a RN for over 45 years and a Nurse Practitioner for over 25 years. Retired from Duke and UNC, Nansi currently provides advocacy and geriatric care management. She actively volunteers with AARP to deliver health education in the community and promote access to quality and safe healthcare.

  • Jacquelyn is an Asheville native and the former Director of Health Careers and Diversity Education at the NC Area Health Education Center and Program Director of the Medical Mentoring Program (MMMP). She serves on the leadership team for equity, diversity and inclusion and the advisory community for MMMP. Her healthcare background spans more than forty years with special interest in health parity, culturally appropriate care, and workforce equity and inclusion. She is an active advocate for social, gender and economic justice and values the experience of mentoring and working with marginalized youth; underrepresented students of color, first-generation college students and students in the rural areas of WNC.

    Jacquelyn has served on numerous boards and commissions in Asheville and Buncombe County. One of her guiding quotes is “If people knew better, they would do better.”

Robert Kline, MD

Jacquelyn Hallum

  • Dr. Kline completed his family practice residency at MAHEC in 1986. He practiced in the area until retiring in 2017. He was on the Mission hospitals board for 6 1/2 years and served as vice chief of staff for four years before that. He now volunteers at a local free clinic one day a week. Robert is committed to doing anything he can to help restore the remarkable quality and morale we once had at Mission Hospital.

Allen Lalor, MD, BOARD MEMBER

  • Dr. Lalor worked as an Emergency Medicine Physician at all of the Mission Health Emergency Departments for 27 years before retiring in 2022. He is a graduate of Brevard High School (1982), and his family has lived in WNC for 50 years. Dr. Lalor credits all the Mission Health medical teams, and nurses in particular, with making him a better doctor and a better person. He is horrified by the conditions under which the current staff have to work.

Nancy Waldrop, BOARD MEMBER

  • Nancy Waldrop is a lifelong resident of Western North Carolina, Nancy spent 30 years as a teacher  in Buncombe County Schools after graduating from Western Carolina University with a BS and Masters degree in Education.  After leaving a full time job in education, she became a full time community volunteer.  Currently, she serves as the chairman of the Buncombe County Planning Board and President of Leadership Asheville Forum, among other organizations where she devotes her time. Nancy enjoys being an active community member and is honored to be part of the Reclaim Healthcare WNC effort.

Advocates

Jeri Legeay

Marvin Rogers

  • Marvin is retired after a 35 year career as a corporate and finance attorney focusing on renewable energy. Marvin was a partner with McGuireWoods LLP in Charlotte, NC for most of that time and practiced in Houston, Texas prior to that. He received his BS from Davidson College and his JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Marvin and his wife have lived in Spruce Pine since 2017.

Bruce Kelly, MD, BOARD MEMBER

  • Dr. Kelly is a 1983 graduate of the MAHEC Family Medicine Program. He spent over 30 years deeply involved at Mission Hospital caring for patients and serving in multiple leadership roles, among these leading efforts in Bioethics and Palliative Care. He finished his career as Assistant Chief of Primary Care at the Charles George VAMC, retiring in 2022. Dr. Kelly is a founding member of Reclaim Healthcare WNC.

Miriam Schwarz, BOARD VICE CHAIR

Aaron Sarver, CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR

  • Aaron has lived in Asheville since 2009. For six years he worked as Communications Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality traveling across the South in the fight for LBGTQ equality. From 2019 to 2024, he worked as Director of Public Affairs for Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller.

  • Steve Legeay holds a Ph.D. in Sociology. He has taught undergraduate sociology courses at several different universities.

Steve Legeay

  • Dr. Messino founded Messino Cancer Centers as a medical oncology practice in 1990, with a vision to provide quality cancer care with compassion and kindness and in consideration of the whole patient. Dr. Messino expanded his practice to include medical oncologist and advanced practitioners to serve at state-of-the-art locations throughout WNC.

Michael Messino, MD, BOARD MEMBER

Bob Rose, BOARD MEMBER

  • Bob Rose is one of the most accomplished sports public relations executives in the country, Bob Rose offers more than 40 years of experience and expertise to clients.  Working for high profile organizations ranging from Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the Olympics and world-renown universities such as Stanford and UC Berkeley, Rose has earned widespread acclaim for his innovative and ground-breaking PR initiatives.

Maureen Copelof, BOARD MEMBER

  • Maureen Copelof is a retired U.S. Navy Captain with 30 years of active service.  She retired from the Navy in 2009 and returned home to Brevard, NC. She was elected to Brevard City Council in 2017 and elected Mayor in November 2021 and again in November 2025.  As Mayor she has championed the need for affordable, accessible and high-quality health care for her community and has been a vocal advocate for systemic change in the Mission Hospital system.

Liz Twardon, MD

  • Liz, a former daily newspaper reporter with the Detroit News for 10 years, pursued medicine as a second career after spending a year in India on a Rotary Fellowship, mostly volunteering at impoverished clinics run by Mother Teresa and Dr. Jack Prager. She earned a medical degree from Harvard and spent the past 30 years caring for patients of all ages as a Family Physician, mostly trying to keep them out of the hospital. She has lived and practiced in Asheville since 2005 and retired in 2025 from a solo DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice. She joined Reclaim to support efforts to ensure all patients receive quality compassionate health care in our community. 

Karen Sanders, MSN, RN, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC

  • Karen Sanders, MSN, RN, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC, Holistic RN Pt Advocate, founder of RN Patient Advocacy NC, PLLC, and the Holistic RN Patient Advocacy Training Institute®, has a BSN from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, and MSN from UNC-Chapel Hill. Karen has over forty years of nursing experience in diverse clinical, education and leadership positions including Critical Care, Nursing Education, Case Management, and Clinical Informatics. With a passion for helping others, Karen helps patients and families navigate the dysfunctional, healthcare system with less stress and more peace of mind.  Passionate about helping others, Karen teaches “Become an Informed Consumer Advocate for Your Healthcare,” to older adults at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC.  Karen has also co-led the Asheville Death Café for the last 11 years at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  

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