The phone number 855-PEERS-NC is staffed by certified peer support specialists 24/7. Peer support specialists are people in recovery who have a mental health and/or substance use disorder and can provide nonclinical support based on their lived experiences.
Adults may qualify if they earn up to 138% of the federal poverty limit, which is about $20,000 a year for a single person and about $34,000 for a family of three.
The majority of the June 2 CIBO meeting focused on plans for the Sweeten Creek Mental Health and Wellness Center, a 120-bed hospital that will provide behavioral health services.
One of just three day centers for people with brain injuries — and the only one in all of western North Carolina — Hinds’ Feet Farm in Asheville shows the benefits of holistic community-based services.
Recommendations to build bigger jails in North Carolina often come from the same firms that land jail design contracts, reports Jordan Wilkie of Carolina Public Press. Consultant methods may stack the deck in favor of big investments in jail construction.
At its meeting of Tuesday, Aug. 3, the county Board of Commissioners will vote on a more than $665,000 budget amendment to support regional vaccination efforts. The money includes a new allocation of $75,000 from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as over $590,000 in unspent funds from last fiscal year.
Patients and providers pivoted to online appointments during pandemic lockdowns. Some in Western North Carolina want the option to extend permanently.
As one of the most vulnerable populations for COVID-19, farmworkers are key candidates for vaccination. Organizations in Western NC counties work to get shots to transient groups.
Now that North Carolina gyms are allowed to open at 75% indoor capacity, studio owners and fitness enthusiasts share their thoughts about returning to the gym.
A year after the Buncombe County Detention Facility expanded its medication-assisted treatment program, Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller says it’s time to put the successful service “in four-wheel drive.”
“Our biggest problem right now is that millions of people want a shot, but we only have hundreds of thousands of doses,” said Gov. Roy Cooper at a Jan. 27 press conference. “There will be a time when everyone can get one, and we want to make sure everyone can access it as quickly as possible.”
Starting Friday at 5 p.m., North Carolina will move into a modified stay-at-home order, requiring most people to remain in their homes from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. All businesses will be required to close by 10 p.m.; all on-site alcohol consumption must end by 9 p.m.
Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chair Brownie Newman and Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer updated their own executive orders on Nov. 25, outlining local plans to enforce the face covering mandate and commercial capacity limits.
Interventions by ‘strike teams’ help manage outbreaks at nursing homes; COVID-19 cases mount at Mission Health; St. Luke’s hastens test results through a partnership.
The coronavirus pandemic may have slowed reporting of tick-borne diseases in the state, but the insects are more prevalent than ever and are heading south, some carrying relatively new diseases.
Based on antibody tests from six areas of the U.S., the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are an additional 10 coronavirus infections for each reported case of COVID-19. Xpress sought to determine if a similar pattern of hidden cases might hold true for the area’s coronavirus infections.
With more numbers than ever, it can be hard to understand the magnitude of the pandemic in North Carolina. N.C. Health News created three charts to help make sense of coronavirus in the state.
As “congregate living settings,” migrant farmworker camps have been listed as high-risk locations for virus transmission — not just by counties throughout Western North Carolina, but by state health officials and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Carolina Public Press and other news media organizations filed a lawsuit May 28 to obtain public records relating to state’s tracking and handling of COVID-19 crisis.
Four nursing homes and long-term care facilities in Buncombe County are now experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, announced Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, the county’s interim health director, at a May 18 press conference. The county has not yet disclosed the names of two of the facilities reporting outbreaks.
County officials said Aston Park Health Care Center and Deerfield Retirement Episcopal Skilled Nursing Home both had active outbreaks of the disease, defined by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services as two or more lab-confirmed cases in staff or residents. They did not share the specific number of cases reported for each outbreak.
