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North Carolina Health News
Three county commissioners sit in on Atrium Health board meeting; ‘the public meeting didn’t seem very public’
Three Mecklenburg County commissioners attended the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority board meeting on Tuesday after reading a Ledger/NC Health News article this week — and all said afterward that it bothers them that the public board doesn’t give the public a chance to speak. Commissioners Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, Elaine Powell...
Lawmakers look for solutions to avoid looming child care funding crisis
One thing the coronavirus pandemic showed is how crucial the child care sector is to the overall economy of the state. Health care workers, grocery store clerks, food processing workers, sanitation crews and many others needed a safe place for their young children as they helped keep essential services running.
Feds cite Asheville’s Mission Hospital for ‘immediate jeopardy,’ HCA division president tells staff
Mission Hospital has been officially informed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that it is in “immediate jeopardy” related to deficiencies in care, according to an internal email obtained by Asheville Watchdog. The finding is the most severe sanction possible for a hospital and starts...
Atrium Health: A unit of ‘local government’ like no other
To an outsider, Atrium Health might look no different than its Charlotte competitor Novant Health. Like other nonprofit hospital chains nationwide, both have gobbled up community hospitals, specialty clinics and physician practices in their quest to grow. But Atrium has a key advantage: It is a “unit of local government.”...
North Carolina once led the way in early childhood policy and investment. Five other states are showing us how to do it again.
When North Carolina led the nation in early childhood policy and investment at the turn of the century, the consensus behind its approach was that investing in early childhood was an investment in our state’s future. Thirty years after the creation of Smart Start, North Carolina has become the...
Service dog training program changes lives of incarcerated men, people with disabilities
In June, Jennifer Pegram got her “sidekick” Leonard, a service dog, to assist with her mobility. She has cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects her movement, balance and coordination. In the just over six months they’ve spent together, Pegram said Leonard, a black labrador retriever, has already been...
Take heed, oral health providers say: No weed or gummies before your trip to the dentist.
The thought of going to the dentist’s office and having tartar scraped off your teeth might send chills through you similar to those caused by the screech of fingernails on a chalkboard. There’s a word for that: dentophobia. Here’s something dentists want their patients to know as they...
North Carolinians embrace nonalcoholic beverage boom during Dry January
North Carolinians who participated in Dry January — a monthlong sabbatical from booze with proven health benefits — had plenty of nonalcoholic alternatives to pick from this year. Gone are the days when O’Doul’s and club soda were the only alcohol-free options at the bar. Many taprooms and...
New, grant-funded health care high schools aim to help address N.C. staffing shortages
At Duke Health, annual openings for nurses hover around 5,000. For nursing care assistants, the hospital system sees more than 1,200 openings. The list goes on and on: certified medical assistants, 350 openings; respiratory care practitioners, 170; medical lab scientists, 170; clinical research coordinators, 100; surgical technicians, 100. The health...
Shortage of correctional officers leaves prison staff stretched thin
About six years ago, Wendell Powell, then a lieutenant managing staffing at Granville Correctional Institution, had at least 41 correctional officers working per shift. That was the minimum staffing standard — one he said he could easily meet. But Powell said those numbers plummeted over the past few years.
Charlotte leaders urge Atrium to consider working with charity that abolishes medical debt
At-large Charlotte City Council member Dimple Ajmera is urging Atrium Health to consider working with RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit that buys unpaid medical debt and forgives it. Ajmera said she reached out to Atrium CEO Gene Woods last month after reading a Charlotte Ledger/NC Health News article about...
From PFAS to gerrymandering: activists strategize solutions at North Carolina summit
Community activists often don’t have the luxury of working on one problem at a time — environmental, political and health care issues, for instance, often arrive on their doorstep bundled together. “The same areas that are impoverished, the same areas that have these environmental issues, have low political...
Charting a plan to stave off looming health care workforce shortages
When Jessica Aguilar had an acute gallbladder attack last year, she had no choice but to bring her 12-year-old twins with her to the emergency room at 3 a.m. The boys, who are both on the autism spectrum, are somewhat familiar with trailing their mother to adult spaces. Aguilar, a single parent, has approval for some Medicaid caregiving services for her sons, but more often than not over the past three years she has been unable to find a caregiver.
Congenital syphilis —an ancient scourge — claimed the lives of eight NC babies last year
Last year, congenital syphilis led to six stillbirths in North Carolina and two neonatal deaths, according to preliminary data. Syphilis, a bacterial infection transmitted by sexual contact, is typically seen more often in men. In recent years, however, it has been on the rise in women — and therefore, babies.
Medicaid expansion bringing swift benefits in North Carolina
Lori Kelley was decorating her Concord home for Christmas when she pierced her finger on a shard of glass from a broken ornament. It seemed like a minor injury at first. Kelley wasn’t in pain, and the glass hadn’t cut deeply enough to draw blood. “I totally ignored it,” she said.
Conditions at Asheville’s Mission Hospital pose ‘immediate jeopardy to patients’ health and safety,’ state investigators report
Mission Hospital risks losing Medicare and Medicaid funding because of deficiencies in care that were so severe, state inspectors concluded last month, that they “posed immediate jeopardy to patients’ health and safety,” Asheville Watchdog has learned. “Immediate jeopardy” is the most serious deficiency possible for a hospital....
Dental care changes proposed nationally could reshape NC health insurance benefits
This might not be something on the tip of your tongue in everyday conversation, but it’s important — especially when it comes to thinking about overall health. Your mouth is where the digestive process begins. It also is a key part of your respiratory system. Those things might...
Limited state staff struggles to enforce nursing home rules in NC
Randel Herring used to drive from Garner to Wilmington multiple times a week to see his son at NorthChase Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Thirty year-old Jeremy sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2020 near Wilmington. He has needed full-time care ever since. The long drives from the Triangle to the...
Experts of color gather to tackle the maternal health gap for Black people
Ten days after Jonisha Brown gave birth to her second son, she was sitting at home talking with a “well-wisher” who came to see her and the new baby. All of a sudden, she said, she felt a strange pressure in her chest. It was a feeling Brown,...
Could floating plant islands help remove PFAS from waterways in the Cape Fear Basin?
The cultural practice of harvesting woodland plants and herbs for medicinal purposes along the Cape Fear River Basin is a risky proposition for tribal communities like the Cape Fear Band of the Skarure Woccon tribe — especially in the years since GenX, a class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, started to be released into the river.
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Founded in November 2011 as a North Carolina nonprofit, NCHN is an independent news organization devoted to covering health care in the state.
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