Despite substantial healthcare spending, chronic illnesses remain the biggest threat to premature death and disability, particularly among working-aged individuals. These trends undermine our economy and threaten long-term fiscal and economic well-being in our region, state, and nation. In response, the 2024 WNC Legislative Caucus is committed to addressing three pressing healthcare policy issues: Social Care Delivery Systems, NC Medicaid Expansion, and Workforce Development.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Learn more about regional and national data, educational and support information, opportunities engagement, and other resources relating to mental and behavioral health needs, impacts, challenges and solutions.

North Carolina, like the rest of the United States, is facing a massive healthcare workforce shortage. With the state in need of nurses, caregivers, behavioral health specialists, physicians, and public health workers, a number of initiatives across the state are seeking to increase our healthcare workforce. 

While some collaborations are looking big picture…in WNC…other initiatives are exposing students to the healthcare field and are building pathways for those students to enter that workforce. One program led by the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness (NCCHW), Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), and the Dogwood Health Trust, in partnership with a number of universities in that region, have connected students to the critical field of healthcare with the Student Health Ambassador (SHA) program.

North Carolina ranks 39th in the nation for access to mental health care. Four million state residents — two in every five North Carolinians — live in an area with a mental health professional shortage and the situation is worse in rural counties, which have only 0.58 psychiatrists to every 10,000 people, compared to 1.79 per 10,000 in urban ones. 

While the APA indicates that telehealth can be especially effective for depression, ADHD, and PTSD, not all mental health conditions are equally suited for telehealth.  However, with such a severe mental health provider shortage in the region, doctors and patients — especially those in rural Western North Carolina — have to rely on telehealth, provided they have sufficient internet access. (Reprinted with permission from Carolina Public Press)

On April 17, 2024, the North Carolina Primary Care Payment Reform Task Force released it’s report on recommendations to increase the amount of expenditures that North Carolina payors (insurance companies, prepaid health plans, etc.) devote to promoting and providing primary care (aka “care aimed at prevention, wellness, and treatment for common illnesses”)

Social drivers or social determinants of health are the nonmedical conditions and experiences that help contribute to a person's whole wellbeing. In this episode of the HPI podcast, we’ll be learning about the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a program that uses Medicaid funds to address critical housing, food security, transportation, safety needs of qualifying individuals. Expected to be expanded in November of 2024, this pilot represents a new direction for healthcare funding in N.C. and may influence health policy nationwide.

Home to over 70 different languages and high levels of illiteracy, communication barriers in healthcare facilities make accessing healthcare difficult for a large portion of Western North Carolina.

To learn more about language access in our region, NCCHW's audio producer Andrew Rainey speaks with Buncombe County’s Language Access Coordinator, Aaron Vidaurri, the Health Access Programs Manager at the WNC Medical Society Interpreter Network, Rosalia McHattie, and co-founder of the Cenzotle Language Justice Cooperative, Monse Ramirez, in 'Part 2' of this WNC HPI podcast miniseries.

Despite substantial healthcare spending, chronic illnesses remain the biggest threat to premature death and disability, particularly among working-aged individuals. These trends undermine our economy and threaten long-term fiscal and economic well-being in our region, state, and nation. In response, the 2024 WNC Legislative Caucus is committed to addressing three pressing healthcare policy issues: Social Care Delivery Systems, NC Medicaid Expansion, and Workforce Development.

Home to over 70 different languages and high levels of illiteracy, communication barriers in healthcare facilities make accessing healthcare difficult for a large portion of Western North Carolina.

To learn more about language access in our region, NCCHW's audio producer Andrew Rainey speaks with Buncombe County’s Language Access Coordinator, Aaron Vidaurri, the Health Access Programs Manager at the WNC Medical Society Interpreter Network, Rosalia McHattie, and co-founder of the Cenzotle Language Justice Cooperative, Monse Ramirez, in 'Part 1' of this WNC HPI podcast miniseries.

Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed January as Radon Action Month to raise the public’s awareness of radon, promote testing and mitigation for radon, and reduce the risk of lung cancer from radon. Testing is the only way to know if you or your family is at risk, and residents can order a free test kit, while supplies last, at radon.ncdhhs.gov. Read our featured blog post and radon PSA to learn how you can reduce your risk in WNC.

Join us on April 13, 2024 for the Western North Carolina site of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ 10th Annual Women’s Health Awareness Conference, featuring FREE health screenings, health education sessions, healthy living sessions, and health resources, plus exhibitors from many regional community partners who support women’s health in WNC. Hosted at MAHEC’s Biltmore Forest campus in conjunction with the WNC Health Policy Initiative.

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month! Did you know that North Carolina consistently ranks in the top 10 states for reports of human trafficking? Learn more about human trafficking around the world (and closer to home), what you can do to help those being victimized right now, and how you can join the fight to end human trafficking in NC and beyond.

Brad Allen, Executive Director of the NC Senior Games, reminds us of the importance of finding an exercise and balance program to stay strong and independent, such as swimming, walking, playing pickleball, doing tai chi and more! Find what works for you and watch some amazing Senior Games folks on the track, including a 99-year old winner!  Explore StandingStrongNC.org to find local exercise programs and other steps to prevent falls. #StandingStrongNC

The Standing Strong NC campaign raises awareness of the impact of falls in North Carolina and the simple steps that people can take to prevent falls and save lives! Watch our public service announcements and explore StandingStrongNC.org to find action steps that you can take! #StandingStrongNC

The Standing Strong NC campaign raises awareness of the impact of falls in North Carolina and the simple steps that people can take to prevent falls and save lives! Watch our public service announcements and explore StandingStrongNC.org to find action steps that you can take! #StandingStrongNC

This Thanksgiving, Americans will waste ~312 million pounds of food at a cost of over $600M - enough to feed every hungry person in the U.S. for a week.

Emma Olson, Associate Director of the NC Center for Health and Wellness (NCCHW), presented a short film depicting the impact and experiences of community health workers (CHWs) across Western North Carolina as a Lightning Talk at The Imagining America 2023 National Gathering: Radical Reckoning – Invoking the Elements for Collective Change.

Nov. 11-18 2023 is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. This week, across the country, schools, towns, municipalities and community organizations host events, activities, and programs to promote the relationships and shared work being done to combat hunger and homelessness, and to support those efforts by engaging volunteers and the community in active work to address those situations.

North Carolina’s population is rapidly aging. By 2028, 1 in 5 residents will be over age 65, and by 2038 most North Carolina counties will have more residents aged 60+ than those under age 18. This signifies major changes in the health care needs of our state for which families, communities, medical providers, and policymakers must prepare.

A new report, A Place to Thrive: Creating Opportunities to Age Well in North Carolina, from the North Carolina Institute of Medicine’s Task Force on Healthy Aging recommends 30 actionable strategies for improving social connections, falls prevention, food and nutrition security, and mobility to support healthy aging for all North Carolinians. 

Education on sexual violence and human trafficking is a key strategy for improving the health and wellbeing in our region. In this installment of the WNC HPI podcast, producer Andrew Rainey speaks with Rita Sneider-Cotter, the Executive Director of OurVOICE, about sexual violence and human trafficking in WNC, the intersection of social determinants of health and trafficking, and what’s being done in our region to address this critical issue.