Newsroom
July 2, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Sara Crawford Marketing and Communications Director Harris Regional Hospital & Swain Community Hospital Phone: Office: 828.631.8894 Cell: 828.507.7173 Email: sara.crawford@medwesthealth.org
Read more
June 30, 2020
The Trump administration announced a rule on Friday, June 12, 2020 that will remove the protections for people who are transgender in healthcare. The date the rule was released coincides with the 4th anniversary of the massacre at Pulse Night Club (a gay club in Orlando, FL), during Pride Month, and at the end of a week where two Black transgender women were murdered.
Read more
June 26, 2020
To help ensure EVERYONE is able to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election, here are a few reminders of the absentee voting procedure you can follow this year if you are at all uncertain about voting in person come November.
Read more
June 25, 2020
June 25, 2020, Asheville, NC- The Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation (WCMSF) based in Asheville, NC is always working to help advance our mission of increasing access to quality and affordable health care, address health inequities, and promote wellness in Western North Carolina. We accomplish this through our charitable programs including Project Access®, WCMS Interpreter Network (WIN), and Healthy Healer Programs.
Read more
June 22, 2020
Last Wednesday, June 17, 2020, WCMS Board Members, Dr. Mark McNeill, Dr. Sarah Cash, and Dr. Rick Bunio along with Physician Member, Dr. Constance Sewell, WCMS CEO, Miriam Schwarz, and WCMS Association Program Director, Nadia Z. Mazza, attended a meeting with Director of Legislative Relations of NCMS, Sue Ann Forest, to discuss recent developments in legislation as they pertain to healthcare.
Read more
June 15, 2020
FROM CAROLINA PUBLIC PRESS:
A federally qualified community health center is planned to offer primary care services for Western North Carolina’s rural Plateau region, which includes parts of Transylvania, Jackson and Macon counties. Seen here, a similar primary care clinic operated by Blue Ridge Community Health Services in Rutherford County. Photo courtesy of Blue Ridge Community Health Services
Read more
June 15, 2020
FROM THE JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE:
“Hey there—just checking on you and letting you know I’m thinking of you.”
“I know words don’t suffice right now. You are in my thoughts.”
“If there’s any way that I can be of support or if there’s something you need, just let me know.”
Read more
June 15, 2020
Recent acts of racial violence are painful reminders that structural racism has serious consequences for Black and Brown Americans. Persistent health inequities have created a crisis within a crisis, and we are seeing individuals and communities of color bearing a disproportionate burden of job losses, serious illness, and deaths associated with COVID-19. These national trends are also showing up in our WNC communities, which makes our health equity work more important than ever.
Read more
June 15, 2020
WHO WE ARE:
OUR VISION is to serve as a dynamic physician/physician assistant community dedicated to a healthy, vibrant western North Carolina (WNC).
OUR VALUES are integrity, inclusion, and innovation.
OUR PARTNERS include Independent Physicians, Employed Physicians, Physician Assistants, Community Leaders, Sponsors/Businesses, Donors/Funders, Health System Leaders, Practice Managers, Patients, and Western Carolina Medical Society (WCMS) employees
Read more
May 27, 2020
May 26, 2020, Asheville, NC- The Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation (WCMSF) based in Asheville, NC recently was awarded $500,000 from the Duke Endowment over a two -year period for its Project Access® (PA) program. The Duke Endowment supports thirty (30) similar sites across North and South Carolina and has been a long-time supporter of WCMSF’s Project Access program.
Read more
May 20, 2020
FROM MAHEC:
SAMHSA has recently awarded the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) a two-year $4 million grant to provide vital services for people with serious mental illness and substance use disorders across 18 counties in Western North Carolina.
Read more
May 13, 2020
FROM MOUNTAIN XPRESS:
A recent survey of 295 primary care practices in the state conducted by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services found that 34 practices already have closed (11.5%) and 121 practices (41%) have reduced hours due to the decline in patient visits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This crisis has raised several painful questions for our region, the state and the nation as a whole. Yet the most important question we face is this: How long will we wait to fix what is broken so we’re better prepared the next time?
Read more
May 6, 2020
Asheville, NC (May 5, 2020)—On April 27, Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) welcomed Susan Mims, MD, MPH, to chair the newly established Department of Community and Public Health at UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC.
Read more
May 1, 2020
The Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation (WCMSF) based in Asheville, NC recently was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC) based in Asheville. The grant was issued as part of the CFWNC’s Emergency and Disaster Relief response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Read more
April 28, 2020
FROM MAHEC:
MAHEC family physicians and opioid treatment educators Blake Fagan, Shuchin Shukla, and Susan McDowell, have recently joined the Opioid Response Network (ORN) as prescriber consultants to assist healthcare providers in implementing office-based services for the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder.
Read more