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North Carolina Health News
Swim program aims to keep kids safe in the water, and becomes a national model
Growing up in land-locked Oklahoma, learning to swim wasn’t a high priority in Rebecca Pearson-Yates’ household. Nonetheless, the Greensboro mother of five made sure her children took lessons. Her youngest daughter, who will be 5 next month, started classes at the YMCA in the spring. “It’s just necessary...
N.C. House wants to spend opioid money on multiple abstinence-based recovery centers, while experts stress access to medication
Near the end of the recently recessed legislative session, the N.C. House of Representatives made an extensive budget proposal on how to spend part of the funds received by North Carolina as part of a nationwide settlement over the marketing of opioid drugs. North Carolina will receive $750 million of...
New program aims to ease summer hunger for N.C. children
Madhu Vulimiri, deputy director of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child and Family Well-Being, says summer is often the “hungriest time of year” for food-insecure households. It can be an especially harsh season, she said, for low-income families that rely on the...
DHHS audit of mental health agency finds millions in payments to executives, law firm ahead of merger
Weeks before one of North Carolina’s state-supported behavioral health management agencies merged with another one in eastern North Carolina, there was a flurry of questionable financial activity that led to more than $4 million in payments to two top executives and back pay to the law firm that counseled the organization, according to allegations made in an internal audit conducted by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Safe and stable housing is a foundation of successful recovery
Amy Drum has a new grandbaby she’s eager to get home to see. Drum, who lives in the town of Lincolnton, in North Carolina’s Piedmont region, had been free of heroin and methamphetamine for a good while before relapsing. It was pretty rough going for a time. She eventually got into treatment.
Expert: Rural hospitals are particularly vulnerable to increasing cyberattacks targeting health care facilities
A policy paper examining cybersecurity and threats found that cyberattacks at health care facilities have increased more than 125 percent since last year, with rural hospitals being especially vulnerable. Jenny Niblock, chief clinical officer at Citizens Health in Colby, Kansas, is co-author of. “Cybersecurity: A path to increase rural health...
Rip currents and bacterial threats among summer concerns at North Carolina beaches
Now that summer is here, hordes of people are flocking to the North Carolina coast, looking to pause life’s hustle and bustle in exchange for a few relaxing days filled with cool breezes and feet-lapping waves. But for some who visited the coast in June, the experience was anything...
North Carolina unveils plan to incentivize hospitals to forgive medical debt and beef up charity care
In an initiative that appears to be the first of its kind nationwide, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper and state health officials unveiled a plan today to boost federal payouts to hospitals that take specific steps to ease the burden of medical debt for low-income patients. To participate, hospitals would have...
One year into new abortion limits, N.C. patients and providers struggle to shoulder the load restrictions bring
Katherine Farris has been an abortion provider for more than 20 years, and she says that this past year has been the hardest of her career — by a long shot. Not her first year of practice when everything was new. Not the year she stepped into the role of chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic to supervise clinic operations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Not the years she navigated COVID protocols to keep her staff and patients safe.
Future of Mission Health could hinge on what happens over the next month
July could serve as an important turning point in the saga of HCA and Mission Health. Affiliated Monitors’ series of public meetings concerning HCA’s hospitals across Western North Carolina wrapped up recently. The deadline for Dogwood Health Trust to deliver its opinion to the NC Attorney General’s office about whether HCA breached its Asset Purchase Agreement is fast approaching.
Rallying call for disability rights in N.C. draws national response
Just as in Marvel comics, when a superhero summons the team with the “Avengers assemble!” rallying cry, one member of the national disability rights group ADAPT put out a call — and advocates from across the country responded with collective force. This past week, people with disabilities...
Child care advocates protest at state legislature over funding shortfall
The N.C. General Assembly has passed about $67 million to keep child care providers afloat for the first half of the fiscal year. The state Senate on Thursday afternoon approved an amendment to Senate Bill 357 that included the funding, which the state House had approved the day before. “It’s...
‘Something from a horror novel’: U.S. Senate slams owner of N.C. psych hospitals
A U.S. Senate report released last week accused four of the nation’s largest behavioral health companies of putting profits above the safety and treatment of children placed in their care. The blistering report — Warehouses of Neglect — is the result of a two-year investigation by Senate Finance Committee...
Mask bill questions swirl as N.C. lawmakers weigh veto override
Update: The N.C. House of Representatives voted 70 to 46 late afternoon June 26 to override the governor’s veto of House Bill 237. Among other things, the legislation regulates when and where face covereings can be worn in public. The state Senate has yet to vote on whether to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s June 21 veto.
Communities across N.C. work to curb suicides amid worsening mental health crisis
CONTENT WARNING: This article references suicide. Please take caution when reading. If you need mental health support, call or text the national suicide and crisis lifeline — 988 — or consult our mental health resources page. Rik Emaus came home one afternoon in August 2021 to find his...
Deaths on the railroad tracks can torment train engineers
When a train barrels toward a pedestrian on the tracks, it’s almost always too late for the engineer to stop. A strike — so often fatal — can happen in mere seconds, but for a train driver, the collision and the fallout from it can haunt them for a lifetime.
Mission nurses call for management to address workplace violence
Choked. Hit. Kicked. Thrown against walls. Nurses at HCA Healthcare-owned Mission Hospital face a steady stream of assaults and violence in their workplace and say management needs to do more to prevent their physical injuries and emotional trauma. The violence is so prevalent that nurses called Asheville police 25 times...
N.C. Senate budget would fund child care centers for nine months
The North Carolina Senate released a budget proposal June 19 for the coming fiscal year that would put funding toward child care needs and maintain last year’s budget’s 3 percent raise for state employees. The $31.4 billion dollar proposal comes after the House released their own budget plan...
What is xylazine, and is it increasing overdose deaths in N.C.?
Louise Vincent experienced xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, a couple years ago. The drug, commonly called “tranq,” caused wounds on her arms that haven’t fully recovered, she said, and she was ashamed of their appearance. “It was the most horrible thing I ever experienced,” she said of the...
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