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Duke University School of Medicine

Participants in a falls prevention workshop look at photos of common household hazards around a white table.

To prevent senior deaths from falls, NC providers turn to exercise and home-proofing

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To prevent senior deaths from falls, NC providers turn to exercise and home-proofing - North Carolina Health News

Deaths following falls is on the rise among seniors. But keeping up strength and mobility can prevent falls, as can making homes safer for those at risk, say North Carolinians working to counter the trend.

By Thomas Goldsmith The family tragedy often unfolds something like this — Cousin Lily, who’s 88, falls at home in August and enters the hospital with a broken hip. By Thanksgiving, Lily is gone; dead following complications. People sometimes don’t realize that Lily could still be living and that older people, in general, can increase […]

A person in a sports cap holding a needle box to be packed away and delivered to needle exchange participants. Dunlap says they meth use never went away in Haywood County.

Even as opioids ravage WNC, mountain folks say meth never went away

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Even as opioids ravage WNC, mountain folks say meth never went away - North Carolina Health News

While the current conversation surrounding drug use is dominated by opioids, residents in North Carolina’s Appalachians say meth has always been there.

By Liora Engel-Smith Jesse-Lee Dunlap goes where not even the mail carrier does. The Haywood County resident, who works with the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition, routinely navigates into dirt pathways so narrow they hardly count as roads. On a recent afternoon, Dunlap maneuvered a white rental van up one such trail, squeezing up a steep […]

A man leans down with a stethoscope to listen to a child's lungs or heart.

After Florence, Medical Relief Team Serves Migrant Farmworkers

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After Florence, Medical Relief Team Serves Migrant Farmworkers - North Carolina Health News

Migrant farmworkers often live in poor housing conditions, have little access to health care, and high rates of workplace injuries and illnesses. Natural disasters exacerbate these problems.

By Taylor Knopf Hurricanes typically hit poorer, more vulnerable populations the hardest. So a week after Florence, a medical mission team based out of Toledo, Ohio traveled to eastern North Carolina specifically to serve migrant farmworker communities. Hurricanes or natural disasters tend to worsen existing health care and housing issues for farmworkers, said Justin Flores, […]

shows a pink piggy bank wearing stethoscope and the listening end of the stethoscope is on a dollar bill, spending, money

Study: Fewer Cancer Patients Uninsured after Obamacare Implemented

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Study: Fewer Cancer Patients Uninsured after Obamacare Implemented - North Carolina Health News

The study from Duke University found that patients in states that expanded Medicaid were about half as likely to be uninsured and unable to pay for cancer care.

By Taylor Knopf A recent Duke Cancer Institute study found that the number of uninsured cancer patients dropped by half in states that chose to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The expansion particularly benefited minority and low-income patients living in expansion states. North Carolina is one of 19 states that have not expanded […]

Data-Driven Environmental Detective

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Data-Driven Environmental Detective - North Carolina Health News

Duke scientist and collaborators hunt for health risks in records collected for other purposes in North Carolina By Catherine Clabby Assessing how your zip code affects your health or your life expectancy is a tough puzzle. But analyze the right population-scale data, and lots of it, and important clues will emerge. That’s what Julia Kravchenko […]

Though many plastic manufacturers now advertise BPA-free products, the chemical is not widely banned in the United States.

Study: BPA Can Activate Breast Cancer Cells

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Study: BPA Can Activate Breast Cancer Cells - North Carolina Health News

A study from Duke University researchers offers new evidence of BPA’s dangers By Stephanie Soucheray It’s everywhere, lining metal cans, in sippy cups, on receipts from the store: It’s BPA, a chemical used to make plastics and epoxy resins. BPA has been in the news the last two years as the Food and Drug Administration […]

Hemp oil advocates celebrate their bill's victory at the General Assembly.

Legislators Respond to Plea on Hemp Oil Bill

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Legislators Respond to Plea on Hemp Oil Bill - North Carolina Health News

A bill to make it possible for the families of children with epilepsy to get an experimental hemp extract is near final passage in the General Assembly. By Jasmin Singh Tears fell from Sherena Ward’s eyes as a Senate committee pushed North Carolina one step closer to the legalization of hemp oil for her daughter […]

Dzau To Leave Duke Medicine for U.S. Institute of Medicine

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Dzau To Leave Duke Medicine for U.S. Institute of Medicine - North Carolina Health News

A statement from Duke University Medicine News dated Feb. 19, 2014 DURHAM, N.C. – Victor J. Dzau, M.D., chancellor for health affairs at Duke University and president and chief executive officer for the Duke University Health System, has been named president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Dzau will be leaving Duke on June 30, […]

pllls and dollar bills

Out-of-pocket Costs Hinder Cancer Healing

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Out-of-pocket Costs Hinder Cancer Healing - North Carolina Health News

Studies from several Triangle researchers show challenges for patients. By Stephanie Soucheray It’s the ultimate rubbing of salt in the proverbial wound: A cancer diagnosis leads to a treatment that could save your life, but paying for that treatment could cost you thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses each month that your insurance doesn’t cover. […]

Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos demonstrating how her agency would like to "bend the cost curve" on health care costs. Image courtesy News 14 Carolina.

Top 10 N.C. Health Care Stories of 2013

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Top 10 N.C. Health Care Stories of 2013 - North Carolina Health News

Health care in North Carolina was often the big story in 2013, from Medicaid to the Affordable Care Act to controversy surrounding North Carolina’s health and human services secretary Aldona Wos and some of her hires. But these weren’t the only hot topics in North Carolina’s health care scene this past year. Issues ranged from […]