Children's Health

shows two adults providing applied behavior analysis, otherwise known as ABA therapy, with two young people.

Lawmakers want to make it easier for children with autism to get therapy

February 24, 2021 by Rose Hoban Leave a Comment

Lawmakers want to make it easier for children with autism to get therapy - North Carolina Health News

Two new bills would reduce constraints on the therapists’ practice, but will it produce the desired results?

By Rose Hoban Samuel Robinson, a 9-year-old with autism spoke into the microphone at the legislative building Tuesday morning, calling out greetings, “Hi Tina,” to good-natured laughter from lawmakers and families in the press conference room at the North Carolina General Assembly building. His father Kyle Robinson choked up when he talked about the fact […]

shows an older Black woman with three young children on a couch, the kids are reading

The COVID-19 learning gap

February 11, 2021 by Melba Newsome Leave a Comment

The COVID-19 learning gap - North Carolina Health News

Remote learning in the pandemic has laid bare inequities in access to broadband and learning resources, making it difficult for rural, poor and minority communities to keep up.

By Melba Newsome This story is supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and co-published by NC Health News, the Charlotte Post and the Charlotte Observer. Every day when Oscar Barrett picked up his three young children from his mother’s house, his first question was “how was school today?” Most times […]

shows a freckle faced boy in a mask to prevent COVID transmission sitting at a school desk with a notebook and pen.

Coronavirus Today – Feb. 10 – Teachers, child care workers eligible for vaccines Feb. 24; Still more demand than doses; Lawmaker update

February 10, 2021 by Anne Blythe Leave a Comment

Coronavirus Today – Feb. 10 – Teachers, child care workers eligible for vaccines Feb. 24; Still more demand than doses; Lawmaker update - North Carolina Health News

After pushing for schools to hold in-person classes, Gov. Roy Cooper moves teachers and other school employees to the head of the line of essential workers.

By Anne Blythe and Rose Hoban Teachers, child care workers and others who work in North Carolina’s elementary, middle and high schools can mark Feb. 24 on their calendars as the day they are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in this state. Gov. Roy Cooper and Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and […]

A cross stitched pattern of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19,a round shape with spikes coming out of it.

A look back at 2020’s biggest story: The COVID-19 pandemic

December 30, 2020 by Editor

A look back at 2020’s biggest story: The COVID-19 pandemic - North Carolina Health News

NC Health News staffers have published more than 350 stories about COVID in 2020. We take a look at the many ways, large and small, that COVID has affected North Carolina and its population and pull out some of the larger themes we saw emerge.

By North Carolina Health News staff COVID’s ascent in rural areas sheds light on longstanding disparities The pandemic may have begun in cities and population centers, but as the months wore on, it took hold in rural areas across the state in various ways. The first shockwaves of the pandemic in rural North Carolina began […]

Cottage Grove activists, from left, Sel MPang, Verna Torain and Patricia Macfoy stand beside the sign for Bingham Park. Photo credit: Greg Barnes

In a Greensboro community, a city park sits atop a toxic landfill

December 29, 2020 by Greg Barnes

In a Greensboro community, a city park sits atop a toxic landfill - North Carolina Health News

State officials plan to clean up and restore Bingham Park in the Cottage Grove community beginning next year. Residents say the state of the park reflects racial and environmental inequities.

By Greg Barnes The city of Greensboro still mows the grass, but it’s not much of a park anymore. The cement on the basketball court buckles and crumbles. Graffiti mars the backboard at one end, the rim missing on the other. Weeds poke through a baseball diamond. A light pole leans precariously nearby, the victim […]

Steve North and Amanda Martin of the Center for Rural Health Innovation, which administers the Spruce Pine-based MY Health-e-Schools program.

School-based health centers fill rural provider vacuum

November 17, 2020 by Melba Newsome

School-based health centers fill rural provider vacuum - North Carolina Health News

Making healthcare available to students, faculty and staff on campus is vital to well-being in rural areas.

By Melba Newsome Growing up in a small town in central Wisconsin, many of Steve North’s relatives and friends assumed he would follow his father into medicine but North had other ideas. He earned a liberal arts degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993 but, instead of applying for medical school, he applied for […]

Strawberry plants, using plastic ground covers, which help prevent weeds. Photo courtesy NC State University

More farmworker women are bringing their children to work during the pandemic

November 16, 2020 by Hannah Critchfield

More farmworker women are bringing their children to work during the pandemic - North Carolina Health News

Throughout this year’s agricultural season, migrant farmworkers have struggled to find child care for young kids who would usually spend their days in classrooms.

By Hannah Critchfield Throughout most days this autumn, Olga would wake up early and head to a pumpkin patch in Swain County, in the westernmost region of North Carolina. She’d hoist the 10-to-20-pound decorative gourds, destined for Halloween carvings and carefully crafted social media photoshoots, into nearby bins. Her 9-year-old daughter Aracely would sit along […]

We see Jayla, age 11, hugging her sister Bailey, age 5, before they were pepper sprayed at a voting rights rally on Oct. 31 in Graham, North Carolina.

Pepper-sprayed on their way to the polls: What is pepper spray’s impact on children?

November 3, 2020 by Hannah Critchfield

Pepper-sprayed on their way to the polls: What is pepper spray’s impact on children? - North Carolina Health News

The effects of the chemical may be more dangerous for children and medically vulnerable people — and the pandemic might just make things worse.

By Hannah Critchfield On Halloween Day, Melanie Mitchell brought her two daughters and her 61-year-old mother to what she believed would be a family-friendly event — a march to the polls in her hometown of Graham, North Carolina. “I don’t take my kids to protests, but this was only for voting. That was our whole […]

three girls are dressed as a banana split - complete with a large yellow banana made out of carboard that goes around all three of them and tall white hats that look like whipped cream

Should kids trick-or-treat in 2020? How to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

October 22, 2020 by Anne Blythe

Should kids trick-or-treat in 2020? How to celebrate the Day of the Dead. - North Carolina Health News

Duke physicians weigh in on celebrating Halloween and Dia de los Muertos as COVID-19 surges.

By Anne Blythe Halloween is on the horizon and many families are wrestling with the idea of letting their kids deck themselves out in costumes and go trick-or-treating. Pandemic fatigue has set in at many households, making many nostalgic for the days when the little kids could parade around as little Elsas, fearless Spidermen, witches, […]

shows a tile wall, each tile has the handprint of a child and some text on it as a proxy for child abuse

Pandemic increases hardships on families, children

September 30, 2020 by Taylor Knopf

Pandemic increases hardships on families, children - North Carolina Health News

Some experts worry the coronavirus pandemic may be contributing to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which could have lifelong consequences.

By Taylor Knopf Child advocates are worried that increased hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic could have long-term negative physical and mental health impacts for kids. In July, 30 percent of North Carolina adults with children reported that they were behind on their rent or mortgage payments and/or they could not afford enough food for […]

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