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North Carolina Health News
Rx for reading: Pediatricians incorporate books into checkups to promote early literacy
GREENSBORO — At the Cone Health Mom+Baby Combined Care clinic in Greensboro, reading is part of every child wellness check. At a recent checkup, family medicine physician Kimberly Newton read from “It’s Bath Time” to a 4-month-old patient. “That’s a donkey. That’s a pig,” she read...
Will mask mandates and COVID-inspired workplace rules continue to stir political furor?
Much has changed in the four years since SARS-CoV-2 sent the world into a tailspin with emergency declarations, school and business shutdowns, and raging debates about who sets public safety measures and how they intersect with — or conflict with — personal freedoms. Although COVID-19 is still around,...
Grantmakers program aims to empower small community-based organizations to tackle environmental justice initiatives
Letha Smith is an advocate in her Davidson community, running a small nonprofit organization working, in part, on environmental issues. Smith’s plans include applying for tax-exempt status so her business can be recognized as a charitable organization and she can qualify for more grants and donations. It’s a sizable...
NC pharmacists stepping up to provide contraception services after passage of 2021 law
At least 1,309 pharmacists in 91 counties across North Carolina have trained over the past two years to prescribe hormonal contraception to consumers who walk into their pharmacies. They also are confirmed as providers with the state’s Board of Pharmacy. While not all of these pharmacists have started to...
Too much need, too few resources to meet all of the demand for substance use treatment in NC prisons
Nearly eight out of 10 people entering the North Carolina state prison system in fiscal year 2021-22 had a substance use disorder in need of treatment, according to a report from the Department of Adult Correction. Those numbers come from screenings done as people were coming into the system. But...
Crooning for a Cure: The star-studded song that changed NC’s health care landscape
No matter where you went in the early months of 1947, the song “It’s All Up To You” was inescapable. A recording of the song by Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore played in heavy rotation on the state’s radio stations and jukeboxes. The swinging big band tune’s lyrics appeared on the front pages of local newspapers. Copies of the song’s sheet music were distributed to public schools, where students were required to learn and perform it.
NC 988 Lifeline staff make crucial connections for callers in crisis
CONTENT WARNING: This article references suicide. Please take caution when reading. If you need mental health support, please consult this page for resources. The first thing you notice when you walk into the 988 REAL Crisis Center in Greenville is how peaceful it feels. And quiet. That’s intentional, said Tracy...
At a loss: NC rape crisis centers struggle as federal funds dry up
There are cubicles but no distinct offices, the room a hum of soft voices and the scratching of pens on paper. The overhead fluorescent lights are off, and the natural light gives the wide space a calming, rather than corporate, feel. Across the white walls, bright signs draw the eye:...
Task force to focus on social media algorithms, gun storage education to help keep NC kids safer in 2024
In 2024, North Carolina’s leading child health and welfare advocates hope to build on some of last year’s successes and tackle other threats to children in the state. The Child Fatality Task Force, which is made up of volunteer experts in child health and safety, state agency leaders, community leaders and state legislators, has been working since 1991 to prevent child death and promote child well-being.
Our reporters look into their health policy crystal balls for 2024
By Will Atwater, Jaymie Baxley, Anne Blythe, Rachel Crumpler, Jennifer Fernandez, Rose Hoban and Taylor Knopf. Politics is likely to take center stage in the coming year since races for president, governor and high-level elected state offices will be on the ballot. With all the campaigning as a backdrop, some...
What else grabbed your attention in 2023? North Carolina’s top health topics.
For hundreds of thousands of North Carolina residents, 2023 will be the year the state finally expanded Medicaid and gave them access to health care that had eluded them for more than a decade. Much more was going on in the health care world in 2023, as North Carolina Health...
Medicaid expansion is off to a strong start in NC
Nearly 273,000 people were enrolled in Medicaid on Day One of the long-awaited expansion that started Dec. 1, according to data released last week by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Hundreds of thousands more low-income North Carolinians will begin the new year eligible for health insurance under...
North Carolina’s top health topics for 2023
For hundreds of thousands of North Carolina residents, 2023 will be the year the state finally expanded Medicaid and gave them access to health care that had eluded them for more than a decade. Much more was going on in the health care world in 2023, as North Carolina Health...
Do NC nursing homes have enough nurses?
LaWanda Mason admitted her mother to Huntersville Health and Rehabilitation Center outside Charlotte in May 2019, after she had a stroke. Mason’s mother needed a feeding tube for hydration and nutrition, and could only eat soft foods fed to her by staff. Mason visited often and said she noticed the center seemed short-staffed.
Formerly incarcerated people, family member reflect on the highs and lows of the holiday season
Gathering with family. Decorating. Viewing Christmas lights. Baking. Unwrapping presents. Eating a festive meal. These activities define the holiday season — a favorite time of the year — for so many folks. They eagerly await Christmas for months, flipping into a festive mood as early as the day after Halloween.
Consolidation to reshape NC’s mental health system
Two state-funded businesses that manage behavioral health services for low-income residents say they will consolidate to create a single organization to serve 46 counties across eastern North Carolina. Trillium Health Resources will take control of Eastpointe Human Services under the agreement, which was signed Saturday by the companies’ CEOs. The...
High Point University changes deans before welcoming first students to NC’s first private dental school
Less than three months after High Point University held a groundbreaking ceremony for what will be the first private dental school in North Carolina, the founding dean has left; one of his assistant deans has been promoted to fill the post. It’s not clear why Scott De Rossi, the founding...
Second chances for formerly incarcerated women grow on this farm in Alamance County
Mona Evans left prison on May 2, 2022, after almost five years spent behind bars. She traded the clanging doors, constant supervision and sterile environment of Anson Correctional Institution in Polkton — a town about one hour east of Charlotte — for a quiet 13-acre farm in rural Alamance County.
NC woman petitions health insurer after company approves — then rejects — her infusions
When KFF Health News published an article in August about the “prior authorization hell” that Statesville resident Sally Nix said she went through to secure approval from her insurance company for the expensive monthly infusions she needs, we thought her story had a happy ending. That’s because, after...
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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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