By Jessica Walker The student-athletes on UNC-Chapel Hill’s baseball team have received negative messages from fans expecting certain performances before. But now that sports betting is legal in North Carolina, as of March 11, the messages and pressure from sports bettors may increase. Carter Hicks, the baseball director of player and program development, said that […]
Posted inOral Health
Making a case for oral health care and more access to dentists
By Anne Blythe If a group of dentists, policymakers and health care analysts got their way, North Carolina would do some revamping of its oral health care infrastructure to make routine cleanings and preventative care more accessible to hundreds of thousands of people. If routine dental care were more accessible to large segments of the […]
Posted inSubstance Use
Parents of overdose victims press lawmakers for better Good Samaritan laws
By Jennifer Fernandez GREENSBORO — Randy Abbott lost his daughter to a drug overdose in 2015. No one called for help in time. Diannee Carden’s son died from a heroin overdose in 2012. No one called for help in time. As North Carolina continues to lose more people to overdoses every year — a record […]
Posted inMental Health
Planting the seeds for a care farm to help people with mental health needs
By Rose Hoban The impulse to retreat to nature to improve and sustain one’s mental health has a long history — from the times of Hippocrates, who’s often credited with saying “nature is the physician of diseases,” to Henry David Thoreau who voyaged into the woods to “live deep and suck out all the marrow […]
Posted inMental Health
Former NC psych hospital staff allege they were told to falsify patient records
This article was co-published with WRAL-TV. By Taylor Knopf Days after her 21st birthday in March 2023, Mo Hatcher found herself short of breath and dizzy, feeling helpless at what she described as minor inconveniences to most people, but major events for her. Hatcher had a history of anxiety, but her panic attacks had become […]
Posted inMental Health
Former employees say short-staffed NC psych hospital rife with violence, abuse
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article mentions self-harm, suicide, sexual assault, violence and psychiatric hospitalization. If you need mental health support, call or text 988 or consult this resources page. This article was co-published with WRAL-TV. By Taylor Knopf In June last year, 11-year-old Henry picked up a sharp object and threatened to harm himself and his […]