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.

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.

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.

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.

A lack of reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food can have significant impacts on health and wellbeing. And this is especially true when it comes to children who need a steady intake of nutritious food to grow healthy bodies and develop healthy minds.

In North Carolina, however, one in six children are food insecure, and over 1.6 million North Carolinians live in a food desert - areas where healthy foods are not accessible. And since 2012, the number of food deserts in NC has only increased.

In this installment of the HPI Podcast, we speak with Marianne Weant and Alecia Sanders of the NCAH about food insecurity, the School Meals for All Campaign, and what we learned from implementing a similar program in NC during COVID, along with the political challenges and both state and local considerations for a more permanent implementation of this program.

Radon occurs naturally all across Western North Carolina, and can pose serious health risks. Learn more about your radon risks by visiting the North Carolina Radon Program website.

Learn how innovative programs like MAHEC’s Maternal Health Innovations Grants and Medicaid’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot are addressing WNC’s “maternal healthcare deserts,” high maternal mortality rates, and resulting increased healthcare costs. Featuring the Region 1 Perinatal Nurse Champion, Katlyn Moss (BSN. RN).