WNC Wellness review: UNC Health Care gives universities $20 million

The University of North Carolina Health Care System will give $20 million to the state’s universities to help plug gaps after the legislature cut a collective $414 million from university funding for the next year. ” – [The Business Journal] 

Grants awarded for WNC school-based health centers:

More Henderson County middle and high school students will have access to mental health counseling thanks to technology and a federal grant. Blue Ridge Community Health Services was awarded $160,000 to purchase “telemental health” equipment that will allow counselors at other locations to communicate with students at all the middle and high schools.” – [Asheville Citizen-Times] 

• Haywood County doctors doubly vested in health care venture with MedWest:

A new $9.3 million surgery center in Haywood County is being financed with equity put up by 20 doctors in the community who invested capital in exchange for a real estate interest in the project.” – [Smokey Mountain News] 

Asheville’s Health Adventure moving to Biltmore Square Mall:

The Biltmore Square Mall is getting a new tenant, and the financially troubled Health Adventure is getting a new lease on life.The nonprofit children’s museum and health education operation, which filed for bankruptcy this spring in the wake of its failed plans for a new museum, will move into Biltmore Square Mall this fall. The Health Adventure will take over the former Goody’s clothing store in the mall, according to Jason Wells, vice president at Park Ridge Health, which has become a partner with the Health Adventure.” – [Asheville Citizen-Times] 

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health announced the Buncombe County Department of Health will receive a portion of $1.6 million in federal grants allocated to North Carolina for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, a provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The grant will be used to expand the county’s Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program, which was implemented by the Buncombe County Department of Health in 2009. ” – [Mountain Xpress] 

The FDA issued a strong warning that will go on labels for three widely used drugs that treat anemia for cancer and dialysis patients: Procrit, Aranesp and Epogen, saying the drugs cause stokes and cardiac problems and speed the growth of malignant tumors. Fortunately for these patients there is a safer therapy available that effectively increases blood cell production: Chinese medicine.” – [Care2] 

Hospital President and CEO W. Carl Martin said the estimated impact of the proposed cuts to Morehead is $1.1 million. He is urging citizens to contact their Congressional representatives and tell their leaders not to cut Medicare and Medicaid.” – [digtriad.com] 

The five-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, will be administered by the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute at UNC and will be shared among researchers at nine U.S. universities that have all done key HIV research. The National Institute of Mental Health is co-funding the research.” – [MedCity] 

Please submit WNC health & wellness info to: mxhealth@mountainx.com

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About Wade Inganamort
• Partner / Digital publisher @ Hukilau.us • Heavy reader, screenwriter, and information liaison currently enjoying the small-town life in North Carolina •

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