A year after the storm, the WNC Health Policy Initiative, in partnership with the NC Center for Health and Wellness, has launched a study to explore how health system leaders navigated the challenges of Hurricane Helene: what worked, what didn’t, and what must change to strengthen our regional response in future crises. Through interviews and qualitative research, the team is gathering critical insights to shape smarter, more resilient practices for health organizations, communities, and governments across WNC. In this episode, our research team shares how this study was developed, why it matters, and what they hope to achieve.

The Western North Carolina Health Policy Initiative (HPI) has launched a new podcast series that takes a deep dive into a new WNC HPI research project exploring what we can learn about our region’s healthcare response in the days and weeks following Hurricane Helene’s devastating landfall across Western North Carolina on the evening of Sept 27, 2024.

This project is one of 21 Helene-focused research efforts supported by the North Carolina Collaboratory, and is driven by team members from across the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness (NCCHW) and UNC Asheville’s Health Sciences department who are working to capture this critical piece of our region’s recent history.

On September 26 Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina, destroying homes, businesses, roads, and entire towns. Recovery has been ongoing in intervening months, but there are still years - perhaps decades - of recovery ahead of the region.

Policymakers and communities in Western North Carolina need to think and plan strategically when it comes to restoring housing in a fair and equitable way across a region already struggling with wage, housing and resource disparities. In today’s podcast, we hear from Andreanecia M. Morris, New Orleans housing advocate and Executive Director for HousingNOLA, about what Western North Carolina can learn from the lessons of communities who’ve fought hard to come back from similar disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, to ensure that our region is able to truly “build back better” by creating a housing environment that is WNC Strong, both for the immediate future and in perpetuity.

Western North Carolina nonprofit JMPRO Community Media has launched the WNC Hurricane Helene Audio Storyline podcast. It’s purpose is to hear what people are saying and promote solidarity, build a qualitative account of the strengths and challenges of regional disaster response, let others know what it has been like for residents, and encourage long term support of the region.

On Oct 4th, Dogwood Health Trust announced more than $30 million dollars in initial funding for Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Western North Carolina to support deployment of resources and response to urgent needs, assessment, navigation and legal services associated with FEMA response and maintaining critical health services across the region.