News briefs: Health care vigil, honoring an Asheville pioneer

LISTEN TO THIS: Vintage radios and many other artifacts that shed light on the history of transmitted sound are on display at the Asheville Radio Museum, which is open Saturday afternoons throughout the summer. Photo courtesy of the Asheville Radio Museum

Vigil will mourn lives lost

On Wednesday, June 5, at 7 p.m., a vigil to remember people who have died without health insurance as a result of North Carolina’s Medicaid coverage gap will be held at the Vance Monument in Pack Square. The event is one of 20 organized by the N.C. Justice Center’s Health Advocacy Project to take place simultaneously around the state.

North Carolina is one of 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid following the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. As many as 500,000 people making between 40% and 100% of the federal poverty level in the state have no access to government support for health insurance.

“Some of the highest numbers of uninsured North Carolinians who would be eligible for Medicaid under Medicaid expansion live in Western North Carolina,” said Brenda Murphree of Indivisible Asheville/WNC in a press release about the event. “Most of the people in the gap are adults working in industries our economy depends on, such as construction, food service and sales. Our state must close the gap.”

For more information, visit healthcarevigil.com.

City collects input on building naming

The city of Asheville invites community members to weigh in on the proposed renaming of Asheville’s police headquarters to honor Lt. Walter Evan Robertson Sr., who died on April 25.

During his 28-year tenure at the Asheville Police Department, Robertson became the first African American officer to reach the rank of lieutenant. He was also a decorated Vietnam War veteran and a lifelong resident of Asheville. To respond to the survey, visit avl.mx/64s.

Summer fun for radio lovers

The Asheville Radio Museum, located in room 315 of A-B Tech’s Elm building, will be open to the public 1-3 p.m. Saturdays through August.

According to a press release, “Visitors can hear old-time radio shows, see and listen to 1920s radios, learn about Asheville’s first radio station in 1927 (WWNC), learn to spell their names in Morse code, see World War II bomber radios and a German propaganda radio. There’s also a 1910 Edison phonograph to hear, plus dozens of amateur radios, CB radios, scanner radios and so much more.”

Admission is free. For more information and directions, visit avlradiomuseum.org.  

OLLI hosts end-of-life planning seminar

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Mission Health Partners will hold an advance care planning workshop 7-9 p.m. Thursday, June 20, in the Reuter Center on the UNC Asheville campus.

The workshop will feature a panel discussion focused on end-of-life considerations, including communicating your treatment wishes to loved ones and to medical personnel, ethical and legal issues, the uses of advance directives and advice on handling conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

The event is free and open to all. For more information and guidance on materials to bring, visit avl.mx/64t.

 

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About Virginia Daffron
Managing editor, lover of mountains, native of WNC. Follow me @virginiadaffron

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