Read our Coronavirus Coverage Here

North Carolina Health News

News. Policy. Trends. North Carolina.

Donate Now

Additional Thanks

A Duke University researcher compared surgeries performed in Medicaid expansion states to those in states that did not expand the program and found devastating economic circumstances for patients. #nchealth #medicaid #ncga northcarolinahealthnews.org/2…

Categories

Raleigh

Shows a black board that writes "Your blackness is welcome here." Behind it are three young children walking by and two tents displaying vegetables

These Black farmers provide more than healthy food

by

These Black farmers provide more than healthy food - North Carolina Health News

The Black Farmers’ Market draws entrepreneurs and shoppers on a mission for more racial equity and a sense of community.

By Chiung-Wei Huang

Dawn Henderson just had a fruitful shopping trip to the Black Farmers’ Market in Durham.

Her bag was packed with meat and vegetables. Often on her trips to the Durham site, which is open once a month, she picks up one of the many types of honey and desserts available there.

Visiting farmers markets is part of Henderson’s routine, and she really likes the concept of the Black Farmers’ Market. That’s why she has become a regular at the one in Durham.

“I like the space, in terms of the way it spreads,” she said. “I like the diversity of offers. Go there and you can pick up dinner and a dessert.”

Fresh produce and the diverse array of merchandise are not the only things on Henderson’s mind when she goes out to support and encourage local Black farmers. There are more than 46,000 farms in North Carolina, only three percent of which are owned by Black farmers, about 1,500 farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Black Farmers’ Market has been set up to address some of those inequalities in North Carolina.

The focus on supporting Black farmers intensified after George Floyd’s death on a Minneapolis street sparked a global movement to stamp out racial inequalities and injustices there and elsewhere.

The Black Farmers’ Market in the Triangle area of North Carolina holds events twice a month in Raleigh and Durham. It grew out of Black August in the Park, an annual event organized by a sister organization in 2015.

Entrepreneurs at the different tables and tents in Durham are as enthusiastic about the Sunday afternoons as the shoppers.

Learn more: Black Farmers’ Market

Durham – every second Sunday of the month, from 1-4 p.m. 

Where: Golden Belt Campus • 930 Franklin St. 

Raleigh – every fourth Sunday of the month, from 1-4 p.m.

Where: Southeast Raleigh YMCA • 1436 Rock Quarry Road 

Go local, grow local

For her part, Henderson makes it a point to visit the market because of the history of farming in her family. Her great-grandfather was a sharecropper on an Arkansas farm owned by white people.

Difficult circumstances forced him to leave that farm.

Several generations later, Henderson, who received her doctorate in psychology from N.C. State University, knows how challenging it can be for a Black farmer through her family’s stories.

After many years of working at universities throughout North Carolina, Henderson is based in Durham now and has the ability to work from home. She also has tried her hand at growing things, but on a much smaller scale than a farm.

“We have tried growing cucumbers, tomatoes, basil and watermelon,” she said.

She thinks it’s important to give Black farmers her business. Growing produce could, for the farmers and their customers, mean more than being self-sustaining. 

Family of four on four acres

Immanuel Jarvis, the co-founder of Jireh Family Farm, has pastures filled with chickens, pigs and cattle. He says his farming mission is to help diversify food sources locally and underscore the costs for small farmers to produce pasture-fed meats compared with mass farming.

“Even if you only have a backyard, and you only have grass to grow tomatoes,” he said, “you can do things with the overall supply of food in our country.”

When Jarvis lost his brother-in-law to colon cancer, he and his family changed their diet and focused more on where their food came from. They wanted to “take what’s good for their body,” said Jarvis.

The average size of North Carolina farms is about 180 acres, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Jireh Family Farm, which started six years ago when Jarvis and his family purchased a 60-year-old farm on four acres of land, started out modestly, raising chickens. Over time, they’ve added other animals. 

Shows four people talking over a white board in a tent
Immnuel Jarvis (right, in red shirt) talked to market goers about pasture-fed meat from Jireh Family Farm. Photo credit: Chiung-Wei Huang

In addition to the meat and free-range eggs they sell at market, they also educate others through summer camps and classes about the importance of nutrition and understanding the connection between the food on their plates, nutrition and farming. 

Attending the Black Farmers’ Market is one way that Jarvis and his family try to be a beacon for that message.

“By sitting as a real life demonstration in my house, a small family with only four people, little by little we can grow and support our loved ones,” Jarvis said.

Sweet business

Nasira Abdur-Razzaq, owner of Bull City Confectionaries based in Durham, also wants to share a similar message at the market. 

She discovered her baking talent when she made cakes for her school-aged children to take to class with them. What started as a mother simply baking for her children’s classmates, turned into something much larger. 

Now she creates a variety of cakes for catering services around Durham and Chapel Hill.

“It was interesting to me that something like that happens and from that one small thing,” she said. 

Shows a bakery woman in her bright pink apron with boxes of sweets piled up on a table
Nasira Abdur-Razzaq, a Bull City baker, began her bakery service three years ago. Photo credit: Chiung-Wei Huang

Standing in her colorful booth, brightly decorated with pink and green, Abdur-Razzaq enthusiastically greets visitors walking by in the market. She has samples to lure shoppers to her table. Many times, they stop, take a taste and buy one of her sweets to take home. 

“A lot of people have been turned off by cake because there’s an overwhelming amount of processing,” she said. “I learned the perfect balance between just enough to feel pleasant when people take that bite.”

Baking the treats is a side passion for Abdur-Razzaq. She also works a full-time job as an event planner for a local health corporation. 

As a business owner, the Black Farmers’ Market creates an opportunity for her to connect to different people than she would encounter in her full-time job.

This is also true for Henderson, the shopper who enjoys the opportunity to meet farmer vendors through weekend markets. 

“It’s great to see people doing the work and just being entrepreneurs,” said Henderson. “I believe that Black people can be whoever they want to be, because we can do whatever we want to do,” she added.

Catching a buzz

Henderson recalled meeting with a female beekeeper whose son came along to the market with her.

“The little seven-year-old boy brought me in talking about the elderberry-infused honey custard,” she said. “I was in awe when hearing these stories!”

North Carolina beekeepers make up about 12 percent of the total population of beekeepers across the country, according to Buncombe County Beekeepers Club in western N.C. 

Samantha Foxx, owner of Mother’s Finest Family Farm, two and a half acres of growing space in Winston-Salem, enjoys being a Black female beekeeper.

“I saw a lack of representation inside of the world,” she said. “I’m happy to be part of it. It’s a driving force for me.”

Operating a local business in Winston-Salem, one and half hours away from Durham, has not stopped Foxx from making the drive.

Providing access to healthy food drives her, too.

“When I see people needing food, my color is eliminated from the situation,” she said. “This should be something that everybody has.”

“We really have to love this because that’s pretty much our whole weekend dedicated to serving other people,” she added.

Shows a variety of vegetables and honey syrup displayed in a tent. By the side of the table is a Black boy curiously looking at the products
A variety of vegetables and honey syrup are available at Mother’s Finest Family Farm tent. Photo credit: Chiung-Wei Huang

Appreciating the many benefits

Through farming and agriculture, these Black entrepreneurs aim to teach North Carolinians that no matter the professions, life can be self-sustained and self-contained. 

“The quality of my life has completely changed. I feel full of purpose,” Foxx said. “I dance around with the beautiful things that I see every day and I think this is such a rewarding life.”

“It’s all what you put into it,” added the Bull City baker Abdur-Razzaq. “Bad days do not determine you. Just one good day, maybe something exciting happens, and it can completely change your life.” 

“Everything takes a lot of work and patience, in order to be able to see the rewards,” Jarvis said. 

Henderson described her moment of joy at the dinner table, when she pulled the knife through the chicken she bought from farmers, amazed by how lean they were compared to what the grocery stores offer.

“Oh, look!” she exhaled.  

In a barbershop a man is standing and trimming another mans hair. The other man is sitting in a chair.

Vaccine and a haircut? Could be!

by

Vaccine and a haircut? Could be! - North Carolina Health News

The owner of The Bar Ber Shop in Raleigh, a community hub that often addresses public health concerns, says he’s up for hosting COVID vaccine clinics.

By Mona Dougani

Walk into Reggie Winston’s barbershop, and you’ll know immediately that you’ll get more than just a haircut.

A small studio set up in the back left corner of the shop pipes soft R&B music that pulses underneath the buzzing of electric clippers, the chop-chop of scissors, the whir of blow dryers, and the occasional chatter. 

Clients of all ages are greeted with a smile as they come in, and kids pick out Hot Wheels cars and toy dinosaurs to take home. House rules listed on the wall remind you that you’re more than just a client: You’re family. 

Located in Raleigh and founded in 2014, the Bar Ber Shop, named to highlight the bar inside the shop, creates leaders, according to Winston, who’s the owner and brains behind the operation. 

Winston has mentored people that start their own barbershops, he said. 

“Here, we don’t just pay,” Winston said. “We want to help shape and build people up by starting on the inside of that person. ‘Today, we groom the character of tomorrow’s leaders.’ That’s been our motto.”

In addition to providing traditional services and encouraging future entrepreneurs, Winston jumps at any opportunity to serve his community. He has partnered with organizations such as the American Heart Association, Wake County Public School System and Wake County Public Health Center to host blood pressure checks, to host screenings for sexually transmitted infections and HIV, food drives and more at his shop. 

Shots at the shop? 

So when Winston heard that on June 2, President Joe Biden’s administration announced partnerships with 1,000 Black-owned barbershops across the nation to host vaccine clinics, with the goal of 70 percent of the population vaccinated by July 4, he was in support of the initiative. 

With some conditions. 

The Bar Ber Shop is not one of the shops the Biden administration partnered with, but Winston is open to holding vaccine clinics.

“If they say, ‘Reggie, we want to come and really educate people on what the vaccine is, how it works, and offer it to them if they want.’ I’m cool with it,” Winston said. “I don’t want them to force my customers or force my barbers to influence the customers to get the vaccine, [but] if they wanted to make it available here, I’m all cool for it.” 

Winston expects his customers and employees to follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks, he said, but he does not plan on making vaccines a requirement to enter or to work at his shop. He understands why some people might not want a vaccine yet. 

“There’s going to be a lot of trust that’s needed to be rebuilt for low income and minorities,” Winston said. “I know, my mother, she was born in the 60s, she has older sisters that have been through some things.  

“I’ve seen some things, that’s just one generation ago. We’ve learned a lot from that last generation, and there is going to be some hesitancy.”

Addressing those on the fence

When you first walk into the Bar Ber Shop, you will see salon chairs with people getting their hair done. To right there is a bar with chairs.
When you walk in the Bar Ber Shop, this is what you will see. Photo Credit: Mona Dougani

In March, the administration of vaccines was lower in communities of color in the state, with Black North Carolinians accounting for 21 percent of the population and COVID-19 cases, but only roughly 16 percent of the population that was vaccinated. 

As of June 14, the total number of Black North Carolinians vaccinated was 640,950, or 18 percent of the population, overall, an increased proportion of the population since March, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services vaccine dashboard. 

Winston and other barbers across North Carolina could help increase vaccination numbers. 

According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, barber shops not only provide traditional hair services, but are often places where Black people congregate to  discuss important community issues. 

“Outside of a pastor or a faith leader we’re [the] number one influencers or impactors in our community,” Winston explained. “A lot of people can’t tell their faith leader everything that they’re dealing with or have experienced, but they feel like they can tell that to us and our advice go[es] a long way.” 

‘We have those conversations.’ 

Winston grew up in Zebulon and Wendell with five siblings and a fierce drive, knowing what it’s like to rely on others for help. 

“US Foods service was my dream job. And it was my dream job because I grew up really, really in poverty, right?” he recalled. “Five kids, low income, government assistance, everything, you know, pretty much everything in school.”

After high school, Winston worked 60 to 70 hours a week at a food distribution company but decided a decade ago to pick up the clippers.

He hasn’t looked back. 

Since the vaccines have been rolled out, Winston has shared what he knows about vaccines with his clients and listened to their mix of positive and negative responses. 

“The people in my chair, and the people that I actually see and speak to, we have those conversations,” Winston said.  “‘I’ll ask, ‘Have you done it? Are you considering it? What are your thoughts on it?’ I can’t change the person’s mind, I can just only give them my story.” 

Sharing his story has propelled some clients to join the vaccination effort.

“It definitely happens without even having to tell them to do it,” Winston said. “‘Reggie, did you take the vaccine?’ ‘Yeah, I’m feeling good. I can’t wait.’ Some people start thinking, ‘I do want to go out. Yeah, Reggie did it so [can I].’” 

‘We are essential’

On June 10, Gov. Roy Cooper announced that his administration had set up a $4 million lottery program to encourage more North Carolinians to get vaccinated. Winston said he thought the chance to win $1 million in one of four drawings this summer might move some of those not vaccinated off the fence, but he said time will tell. 

Though Winston personally jumped at his first chance to get the vaccine, when thinking about the Biden administration initiative he wishes the federal and state governments had seen the value of barbers sooner in the pandemic. 

“I think if they’re going to push that in North Carolina, they should do something to really help take care of the barbers, or the barber shops that are getting involved and not just only rely on them when they need us to give something,” he said. “We are essential. Take care of the barbers and stylists, don’t just ask them for help, give them some funding or some grant money or whatever to stay in business and be able to continue to make change in the community.”

At the end of the day, Winston has two dreams in mind: To be the best husband and someday have children of his own that he can nurture, while also empowering the community. At the Bar Ber Shop, he does just that.

Two men with masks on conversing behind a counter.
James Anthony (left) who works at the Bar Ber Shop, and Reggie Winston (right) conversing about work. Photo Credit: Mona Dougani
shows four people posing for a formal photo, two seated, two standing behind them. The two seated people are residents at a group home for people with intellectual / developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injury.

Proposed bills would bump up pay for people caring for NC’s most vulnerable

by

Proposed bills would bump up pay for people caring for NC’s most vulnerable - North Carolina Health News

Lawmakers look to address the staffing crisis and increasing pay for those working in direct care facilities. This could help patients with various conditions receive the care they need.

By Mona Dougani

In 2004, two weeks after her high school graduation, Brittany Stone was driving to pick up her younger sister from vacation Bible school during a storm. She hit a pothole and lost control of her vehicle. In the accident, she suffered a traumatic brain injury. 

Seventeen years later, Stone has landed a place at Whittecar Group Home in Raleigh, where she and five other residents get the help they need to live their lives. For the most part residents at the group home can take care of their basic needs, but Stone, for example, has trouble washing her back and hair because of tremors. She uses a walker to get around, but she does chores around the house. She can’t drive or run to the store independently. 

The people who help the six residents live their lives start at a salary of $11.50 an hour. For Lutheran Services Carolina, the agency that runs Whittecar, it has been challenging to hire employees to help those with conditions similar to Stone’s. This year, with the pandemic, has been a particular challenge, especially since there needs to be a staff member at the house 24 hours a day. 

Rholanda Artis, the program director for Whittecar, said the low wages turned away some potential employees. 

“We had a job fair back in March,” Artis said. She said they had six job candidates. “It went okay, but the pay– they just didn’t want the pay.” 

“When we said $11.50, and that was because of their experience, some had no experience, some had experience, and when I went up to $13.00, they said, ‘I just can’t make a living off that,’” Artis said.

Starbucks pays better

Across North Carolina, the average hourly pay of direct care workers is roughly $5 an hour lower than retail jobs at corporations such as Target, Walmart, Starbucks and Costco, according to Karen McLeod, head of Benchmarks, an umbrella advocacy group for organizations that provide care for children and families. With an average pay rate of $10.31/hour for direct care workers, it is challenging to hire and retain staff.

House Bill 665 addresses the staffing crisis impacting care for individuals with disabilities, and House Bill 914 focuses on increasing the pay for long-term care workers. Both bills passed through the House Health committee Tuesday with overwhelming support, which bodes well for facilities like Whittecar. 

Rep. Tim Moffitt (R-Hendersonville), the primary sponsor for HB 914, has a personal connection to that bill. Moffitt’s younger brother has severe autism, he told the committee, and Moffitt is the direct caregiver for his brother during homestays for about 60 days each year. 

“It’s an important role. It’s a role that I treasure. It’s an appropriate role for an older brother, and we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Moffitt said. 

For a long time, Moffitt said he didn’t know how much his brother’s care providers received. 

“When I found out what the wages were, candidly, I was embarrassed,” Moffitt said. “These direct care workers are so valued in our lives. We haven’t really appropriately valued them from a compensation standpoint. 

four people sit in a couch talking. They're sitting in a comfortable looking, but spare, living room.
Shari Webb (l) and Rholanda Artis (r), both employees at the Whittecar Group Home, share a moment with residents Brittany Stone and Mike Johnson. Photo credit: Mona Dougani

“So I’m on a mission. I’m on a mission to make sure that we have enough resources to appropriate to that group of direct care providers to where they can take care of those that are most vulnerable in our society. That’s their role. It’s our role as policymakers to make it happen.”

The Support Our Direct Care Workforce bill, would provide a Medicaid rate increase for the agencies that employ these direct care workers in a variety of settings:

  • Workers who support people with disabilities on the Community Alternatives Programs for Children and for Adults;
  • Workers supporting Medicaid recipients on the state’s Innovations Waiver program;
  • Workers providing care for traumatic brain injury survivors;
  • Personal care services providers;
  • Workers at intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF/IIDs), including ICF/IID-level group homes;
  • Home health providers;
  • Nursing home employees;
  • Workers at a variety of residential behavioral health facilities.

The lowest payer

Adam Sholar from the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association said that about two-thirds of all nursing home residents in the state receive Medicaid reimbursement. He also explained that Medicaid reimburses for care at the lowest rate of any other payer. He argued it’s the main factor contributing to nursing shortages in the state and he said he’d like to see more funding from Medicaid. 

Medicaid’s low rate, “really constrains what we’re able to pay in wages,” Sholar said. He said that in the cost report data submitted to federal agencies, he can see that many facilities operated at a net loss in recent years. 

Medicaid reimbursement is set by the state, and state dollars pay for a third of costs, with federal matching dollars making up the difference.

“We’re doing as much as we can to increase wages to try to attract more caregivers into the profession,” he said. “It’s the Medicaid piece of that we need to see meaningful movement from. We need increased funding from the Medicaid program.” 

McLeod said about 92 organizations have banded together to push for passage of HB 914, ranging from providers of direct care to people with disabilities to mental health agencies to advocacy groups. 

“We brought all the industries together,” McLeod said. “What’s been happening prior to this, is each of our industries would go after money specifically for our independent agency. We reached out to all the different industries and said, we’re just robbing Peter to pay Paul, we all share the same workers and will have a much greater voice, and people will understand how important this need is in the crisis we’re in if we do a collective bill.”

With support from the 92 agencies and the movement of the bill to the Senate, some challenges that Artis and others at other residential facilities face will be mitigated.

two women sitting on different chairs laugh. One looks at the other. You can see that there's someone just off camera.
Shari Webb (r) and Rholanda Artis (l), both employees at the Whittecar Group Home, share a laugh with resident Brittany Stone. Photo credit: Mona Dougani

“Here, it’s home”

Reps. Gale Adcock (D-Cary) and Hugh Blackwell (R-Valdese) both expressed concern about how the money in the bill would be appropriated. One mechanism is through putting the measure in its entirety into the state budget, which has yet to be written. Another way to push for the pay increases would be to pass HB 914 and HB 665 as standalone bills. 

“I don’t like being even remotely a harbinger of doom, but we lost this last time,” he said, referring to the state budget in 2019 that contained increases for direct care workers. That budget was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper in a disagreement with the legislature over Medicaid expansion. “We need to be sure we don’t lose it again, if there’s consensus on this, and we’re going to do it, seems to me the sooner we do it the better.”

“If we tie something that’s critical like this to that budget, we could be tying it to an anchor and dropping it off the boat,” Adcock said after the meeting. “That’s not what we want to do.”

That’s not what they want either. 

For Artis and other employees at Whittecar, increasing wages could mean less overtime and  more staff and could alleviate stress for their workers who sometimes need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. 

Despite the challenges of the work, Artis said the residents are like family. Her co-worker Shari Webb sat on a couch next to Stone, the two of them giggling as Webb elbowed Stone in the ribs.

“I’ve lived in Greensboro,” Stone said, referring to one of her previous homes. “It’s a lot nicer [here.]” 

“We’re here because we love what we do,” Artis said. “That’s what we want to promote here, and that’s what we want to bring in is someone that’s going to treat them the same way that we treat them.”

Though both HB 914 and HB 665 had an easy path through the House committee Tuesday, the future of long-term care facility worker pay and retention remains to be determined by the full House of Representatives and the Senate in the coming weeks. 

NC Health News editor Rose Hoban contributed to this story.

Correction: This story originally stated that the Whittecar Group Home was run by Easter Seals UCP of North Carolina and Virginia.

Legislative Building in Raleigh

Democrats, Republicans present competing budget, tax plans at the legislature

by

Democrats, Republicans present competing budget, tax plans at the legislature - North Carolina Health News

Republicans lead with a proposal to cut income and corporate taxes, while Democrats emphasize spending on infrastructure, health care.

By Rose Hoban

In dueling press conferences at the General Assembly building in Raleigh on Tuesday, lawmakers floated their proposals for how to allocate state dollars for the upcoming state fiscal year that starts July 1. 

Gov. Roy Cooper presented his $27.3 billion spending plan in late March. And usually by this time of the legislative work session, lawmakers in the Senate and the House of Representatives have presented their chambers’ budget proposals and have retreated behind closed doors to negotiate which line items in their budgets will prevail in the final state budget.  

As in so many things, this year is playing out differently at the legislature, but some things remain consistent: Senate Republicans presented a plan for cutting taxes, including a sunset of the corporate tax by 2028, with a firm “no” when it comes to the possibility of expanding Medicaid. 

“We’re in … still the effective, but beginning stages of Medicaid transformation and I think we should give that an opportunity to work,” said Senate Finance Committee Chair Paul Newton (R-Mt. Pleasant), who anchored the Republican’s press conference. 

Newton referred to a separate Medicaid policy of moving from a fee-for-service-based program to one where private insurance companies are paid a flat per-patient fee to deliver services to about 1.7 million of the state’s 2.4 million Medicaid beneficiaries. 

For their part, Senate Democrats have presented a plan to beef up broadband, add slots to both pre-K and to the Medicaid Innovations waiver that provides enhanced services to people with disabilities. 

And Democrats called on their legislative counterparts to expand Medicaid. 

“We can’t afford to wait any longer,” said Sen. Mike Woodard (D-Durham). “We’ve waited eight years around here for expansion. We’ve waited. We’ve talked about transformation for five years, transformation is on our doorstep, it’s time to go ahead and expand now.” 

Republicans’ plan

The Republicans’ opening gambit is a wide reduction in taxes for individuals and families, reducing the personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent down to 4.99 percent, and increasing the level at which a person pays no income taxes at all from $21,500 to $25,500. 

“We also propose increasing the child tax deduction across the board by $500,” Newton said during the press conference. “A family earning less than $40,000 per year would receive a $3,000 deduction per child, and the amount decreases higher up the income chain until it reaches zero for a family earning more than $140,000.”

Newton argued that for families of four earning less than $38,000, their state taxes would be reduced by about half. According to a tax calculator published by the state Department of Revenue, a family with two adults and two dependent children earning that amount would see about $340 come out of their current state tax tab of $683. 

The same family earning the state median income of $54,000 would see, on average, a 21 percent, or $314 tax cut from their current state tax burden of about $1,500. And a family earning $218,000, which is four times the median income, would see about a $700 reduction, or 6.9 percent, in state taxes. 

Newton said this cut would trim state revenues by about a billion dollars a year and argued that the plan would mostly benefit lower income families. He argued that their plan to phase out the corporate tax, which currently is the lowest in the Southeast, by 2028 would reduce state revenues only by about a half a billion annually. 

While health care is not a large part of the Republican’s tax cut package, there are some aspects of the plan that could affect health. The plan would make it easier to deduct out of pocket medical expenses for people who have a lot of them. 

Currently, in order to deduct copays, coinsurance and other out of pocket health care expenses, a person needs to spend more than $10,000. Under the Republican plan, that floor would be lowered to $7,500 per year in spending. 

All told, that would lower state revenues by about $23 million per year.  

One other small provision included in the tax plan is an increase in excise taxes paid by online sellers of cigars. However, the plan does not contemplate changing the tax rate on cigarettes. At $.45 per pack, North Carolina has the third-lowest cigarette tax rate in the U.S.

Democrats talk budget

In the afternoon, Democrats took to the same podium to talk up their plan to invest some of North Carolina’s state surplus in infrastructure and education, with no talk of tax cuts. 

Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Greensboro) ticked off a number of Cooper’s budget priorities, which include programs to connect people with housing, transportation and food assistance. Their plan also included rental assistance and initiatives to create housing for people with disabilities. 

Cooper’s budget plan also would increase the number of Medicaid Innovations Waiver slots by 520, taking only a nibble at the 15,000, ten year waiting list for services for people with disabilities. 

But the big priority for Democrats was to increase access to health care through expanding the Medicaid program, a policy that was made possible by the Affordable Care Act. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the state’s current uninsured rate stands at about 12.9 percent, several percentage points higher than the national average of 10.4 percent. 

“Based on the American Rescue Plan, we would receive an additional $1.7 billion dollars in federal funds to support this expansion without the state covering any cost share up to six years,” Robinson said. “There is no excuse in our minds and there should not be any excuse in the minds of our colleagues in terms of it’s time to move forward.”

A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund found that expansion would create about 83,000 jobs in North Carolina, with 43,300 of those jobs in health care. The analysis predicted that expansion would reduce the number of uninsured people by about 379,000, with several hundred thousand others moving from private insurance onto the Medicaid rolls. All told, the state’s Medicaid enrollment would increase by more than 600,000 people. 

The Commonwealth Study, which was produced by economists from George Washington University, estimated that enacting the policy would generate some $5.9 billion in annual federal spending in the state and result in about $141 million in additional tax revenue, at a cost of $628 million per year. 

When asked about the Republicans’ idea of waiting to see how the transformation of Medicaid to managed care would proceed before pushing for expansion, Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue (D-Raleigh) said Democrats have been waiting for eight years already.

“We can save rural hospitals and we could increase the ability to do telemedicine and various other things,” he said. “And then you look at this year, when the national government has put so many sweeteners and know that they are paying us to expand Medicaid paid the full cost in the early years.”

Blue said he hoped his Republican senate colleagues would be willing to reach across the aisle to compromise and create a budget that Democrats could vote for. 

“We’re hoping that we have a budget that does not have so many poison pills, and we can’t swallow it. And I don’t know what those poison pills might be,” Blue said. “I’m certainly hoping that we don’t get any of those big surprises that we haven’t been alerted to up to this point.”

Coronavirus Today – May 19 Here’s how Gov. Cooper wants to spend $5.7 billion in federal COVID funds; A dose of fun with your vaccine

by

Coronavirus Today – May 19 Here’s how Gov. Cooper wants to spend $5.7 billion in federal COVID funds; A dose of fun with your vaccine - North Carolina Health News

Gov. Roy Cooper describes federal coronavirus relief aid as ‘transformational.’

By Anne Blythe

Gov. Roy Cooper issued his plan Wednesday for how he would like the state to spend the next $5.7 billion coming to North Carolina from the federal government for coronavirus relief and recovery, describing the injection of American Rescue Plan Act funds as having the potential to bring revolutionary change to the state. 

As vaccinated people shed their masks and ease back into life with fewer restrictions on where they can go, crowd sizes and who they can be around, Cooper reminded North Carolinians of the many inequities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic.

“This pandemic brought us a once in a generation challenge and these funds have brought us a once in a generation opportunity,” Cooper said. “Let’s use them to make transformational change for our state.

“Simply put: We can revolutionize North Carolina. We can train workers, educate students, connect communities, and improve health.”

In presenting his spending plan, Cooper divided it into five themes and funding amounts associated with each. They were:

  • $1.379 billion for Assisting Individuals and Families Hardest Hit;
  • $2.335 billion for Upgrading Infrastructure;
  • $1.010 billion for Preparing the Workforce;
  • $680 million for Promoting Business Development and Innovation; and
  • $312 million for Positioning Government to Best Serve North Carolinians.

While none of the categories directly mentions health, the governor’s proposed plan for spending the federal funds would direct millions of dollars to local public health departments, early childhood programs, wellness promotion, food security, affordable housing, eradicating lead and asbestos in child care facilities and schools, investing in broadband infrastructure that can open access to telehealth, and academic research.

Among the proposed investments are:

  • $300 million to expand pre-K education and child care access to children from birth to age 5.
  • $160 million for lead and asbestos testing and remediation in schools and child care facilities;
  • $50 million for the Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative, or READDI, at the UNC-Chapel Hill to help develop therapeutics for COVID-19 and other viruses that could be pandemic threats.
  • $10 million to Winston-Salem State University for research and infrastructure at its Center for Excellence for the Elimination of Health Disparities.
  • $15 million for the NC Policy Collaboratory to set up a research grant program for Historically Minority-Serving Institutions.
  • $100 million to the State Health Plan to offset costs incurred from the pandemic such as for testing, vaccinations and treatment for COVID-19.
  • $65 million to the state Department of Health and Human Services, the state Department of Administration and state Department of Public Safety to provide grants to vulnerable individuals and families affected by COVID. Those people would include people at risk of becoming homeless, young people transitioning out of the state’s foster care programs, the elderly, people with disabilities and their caregivers, domestic violence victims and children in the juvenile justice system.
  • $50 million to improve ventilation and other health and environmental concerns at state Department of Health and Human Services facilities, as well as at those run by the Department of Public Safety.
  • $18 million to North Carolina’s seven state-recognized American  Indian tribes to help with community needs caused by the pandemic. None has received federal COVID-19 relief funds directly.

Cooper also proposed investing $250 million in grants of either $250 or $500 that would be distributed to low- and middle-income families with children.

North Carolina legislators included a similar grant program in their spending plan for a previous round of federal COVID relief funds sent to the state from money appropriated by Congress in December. All families with children, under that plan, were to receive $335 checks under the Extra Credit Grants program.

Cooper’s proposal would not send checks to all families, but he said Wednesday he is open to discussions with lawmakers about where there is give and take in getting a plan that works best for the state.

Lawmakers to start filling in numbers

North Carolina lawmakers have not released their proposal for spending the federal funds that started arriving in the state this week.

President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act on March 11. The federal guidance for how those funds could be used were issued on May 10.

On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee is set to meet in the morning to discuss Senate Bill 172. That lays out the framework for how they propose to spend the federal relief funds.

This year, Cooper and Republican leaders in the state House of Representatives and Senate have told North Carolinians they would work in a new spirit of compromise as budgets and spending plans are hammered out for the months and years ahead.

The governor and lawmakers were in a standoff for much of the past two years over a budget that Cooper vetoed and lawmakers never mustered enough votes to overturn his veto in both chambers.

That resulted in a series of “mini-budgets” being adopted for different departments, with neither political side giving in on their stances over Medicaid expansion, supported by Cooper, or the size of teacher raises, which the governor wanted to be higher than lawmakers proposed.

Some of the proposals that Cooper has put forward are recommendations for one-time investments, but some call for renewed spending in years ahead, a recommendation that can sometimes rankle Republican lawmakers who like to keep the state purse strings tighter than many Democrats.

“We have five years in which to invest this money over a five-year period of time,” Cooper said. “We’re trying to emerge from the pandemic, so we need a shot in the arm. Particularly in the area of education and workforce training.”

Cooper’s proposal calls for scholarships that would be available for more than one year to try to help those who either lost their jobs or want to go in a different career direction because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“If we get five years down the road and we see that we don’t need to continue with this investment any more, then we won’t,” Cooper said. “But when you look at the demand that we have for skilled workers in all of these jobs that we’re creating, and the challenges that our children have had doing remote learning and trying to catch up, we do need to invest in things that we could continue to invest in in the future but recognize that it could be for a finite period of time.”

Bringing vaccines to people

In recent weeks, the state’s vaccination rate has slowed after several months of intense demand. During the week of May 10, providers in the state only administered 241,723 shots, compared to a peak of 681,586 vaccinations given during the first full week of April.

North Carolina public health teams are trying to increase interest in vaccinations by joining with organizations and businesses to hold events that might include give-aways such as a shot with a shot or free food, celebrations and other reasons to visit the sites.

Vaccine on the Green will bring coronavirus shots to the new Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh this Friday, May 21, through Sunday, May 23. Free Pfizer vaccines will be available to anyone 12 or older, with both appointments and walk-in slots available. There also will be music, food trucks and games on the lawn. 

Another event is set for May 20 to 22 at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. Anyone who comes for a shot between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. will also get a ticket for a future visit to the Zoo. Another vaccine event will be held there from June 10 to 12.

Currently, the only way to visit the zoo is to have a reservation. 

“What better place to Bring Summer Back than the North Carolina Zoo! Families can get the double gift of protection from COVID-19 and a free day at the zoo,” NC DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said in a statement included in a press release announcing the vaccination opportunities.  “Please get vaccinated so we can get back to the people and places that we love – like the zoo.”

Appointments are available at StarMed.care and walk-ins are welcome. Visit nczoo.org/vaccine to learn more.

Coronavirus by the numbers

According to NCDHHS data, as of Wednesday afternoon:

  • 12,938 people total in North Carolina have died of coronavirus.
  • 993,547 have been diagnosed with the disease. Of those, 1,117 are in the hospital. The hospitalization figure is a snapshot of people hospitalized with coronavirus infections on a given day and does not represent all of the North Carolinians who may have been in the hospital throughout the course of the epidemic.
  • 963,539 people who had COVID-19 are presumed to have recovered. This weekly estimate does not denote how many of the diagnosed cases in the state are still infectious. Nor does it reflect the number of so-called “long-haul” survivors of COVID who continue to feel the effects of the disease beyond the defined “recovery” period.
  • To date, 12,959,749 tests have been completed in North Carolina. As of July 7, 2020, all labs in the state are required to report both their positive and negative test results to the lab, so that figure includes all of the COVID-19 tests performed in the state.
  • People ages 25-49 make up the largest group of cases (39 percent). While 14 percent of the positive diagnoses were in people ages 65 and older, seniors make up 83 percent of coronavirus deaths in the state. 
  • 232 outbreaks are ongoing in group facilities across the state, including nursing homes and correctional and residential care facilities.
  • As of Wednesday, 232 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units across the state, with a total of 802 in the hospital. 
  • As of May 18, 4,058,877 people have had the first shot of their two-shot regimen, another 287,332 North Carolinians have received a single-shot coronavirus vaccine. In sum, 41.4 percent of the population has had at least one dose of vaccine.
Shows a man standing at a podium holding up a photo of a smilling, attractive young woman while he advocates for a stronger Good Samaritan law.

After overdose deaths, families ask lawmakers to reduce penalties for calling 911

by

After overdose deaths, families ask lawmakers to reduce penalties for calling 911 - North Carolina Health News

By Rose Hoban

Members of five families, united in grief from a common experience, made a heartbreaking trek to Raleigh on Tuesday to talk to their legislators. 

Their common experience is one that no family should have to endure – the loss of a beloved child. What’s worse for these families is knowing that someone had been with their son or daughter as they neared death. In each case, their friends ran away, fearful of getting into trouble because their friend had overdosed on an opioid or because they all were drinking alcohol under the legal age and Boone had passed out.

“The kids knew, but they really just didn’t want to get him into trouble,” said Julie Cummins, mother of Boone Cummins who died in July 2017. 

Boone, 18 at the time, was with friends at Sugar Lake, an old quarry near Pittsboro when he passed out after taking Xanax and drinking. His friends left him behind.

“They were texting and they were Snapchatting,” Boone’s mom said, her eyes filling up with tears as she spoke. “And there’s a big record of how many people knew where he was, how messed up he was, and they just kept saying, ‘just pass out, go to sleep, just pass out and go to sleep, you know.’ And he ended up, he ended up passing out and, and drowning.”

Boone’s body was found at the bottom of the lake several days later. He’d drowned after likely stumbling into the water and being too impaired to save himself. 

Stronger Good Samaritan

Cummins and the other family members standing in front of the legislative building on Jones St. in Raleigh want lawmakers to reduce the potential penalties for someone who might call emergency services to assist someone who has overdosed. 

Currently, the law reads that a person who’s with someone who has overdosed cannot be prosecuted for calling for help. But the “Good Samaritan” could still potentially be arrested or charged for possession of illegal drugs or alcohol in the process of rendering help. 

A new bill would reduce the fear people have of getting in trouble for doing the right thing by calling 911. 

“There can’t be any question when people are together and someone overdoses of whether or not they should dial 911,” said Randy Abbott, whose daughter Vanessa was 24 years old in 2015 when she overdosed while at a party. Her friends panicked. 

“We know they panicked, and we know the things that happened when they panicked, like getting stuff out of the house, putting it in her car, lots of different things that the detectives were able to figure out,” Abbott said. “But they didn’t dial 911.” 

Confusing messaging

North Carolina passed its first harm reduction Good Samaritan law in 2013, when lawmakers approved a law to permit people who are “acting in good faith” to seek medical help for someone who is overdosing without fear of being prosecuted for possessing small amounts of drugs. That Good Samaritan law also made it possible to distribute naloxone, a drug that can be used to reverse an opioid overdose.

shows hands of women holding up a framed photograph of a young man, another pair of hands holds up a poster of a young man. On the poster it reads:
Bridget and Mary O’Donnell hold up educational posters with descriptions of Sean O’Donnell, who died after passing out after drinking and subsequently drowned in a quarry. Photo credit: Rose Hoban

But police can still collect evidence at the scene to help with the prosecution of “other crimes” possibly committed by the caller. Those crimes could include possession of more than a gram of illegal drugs on the assumption that possession means there was an intent to sell. And police could also still arrest and charge someone who is with an overdosing friend if they found enough evidence.

“If people fear that they’re still going to be arrested, the idea that they’re protected from prosecution doesn’t necessarily feel all that helpful,” said Lee Storrow, head of the North Carolina AIDS Action Network.

Other states, including Southern states, have streamlined their Good Samaritan laws, protecting everyone at the scene from arrest, charges and prosecution in an effort to simplify the messaging and save lives. 

This bill would still allow for prosecution of people who intend to distribute illegal drugs, Storrow said, and the language was crafted so that the state district attorneys’ association has no objection to the bill in its current form. 

Storrow says that nonetheless, the current bill is too confusing, the risk of arrest and prosecution is too great and people are still too afraid to make the call. 

That’s why Bridget O’Donnell, younger sister of Sean O’Donnell who drank too much and drowned in the same quarry only weeks before Boone Cummins, has started speaking at local high schools to let kids know to do the right thing. 

“We’ll have the sheriff tell us that kids said they heard our speech,” she said. “That’s how they knew about the law.”

“Public health leaders and criminal justice leaders have wanted to be able to educate about the law and they just feel like our current law is too complicated,” Storrow said. “They want to be able to say ‘Right, if you are with someone who overdoses call 911, and you’ll be protected from arrest, charging and prosecuting.’”

Overdose numbers remain high

Since the passage of that 2013 bill, the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition has tracked thousands of “saves,” where someone called for help in time to save the life of someone who had taken too much.

But even with the Good Samaritan bill and increased naloxone distribution, North Carolina has seen a steady increase in the number of overdose deaths over the past decade. The arrival of the potent opioid fentanyl, which is often laced into heroin and other drugs, has made it easier to overdose. 

“Fentanyl wasn’t even on the radar when the law was written,” Storrow said. 

shows a group of grim looking people standing in front of the state legislative building.
Families of young people who were left to die from substance overdoses came to the N.C. General Assembly to advocate for strengthening the state’s Good Samaritan law which would allow for people to call 9-1-1 without penalty if someone with them has overdosed. L to R: Bridget O’Donnell, Mary O’Donnell, Susan Plattner, Julie Cummins, Elisa Edgerton, Randy Abbott. Photo credit: Rose Hoban

Overdose rates had started to level off in 2019, but during the pandemic those numbers ticked up again. Preliminary state data from 2020 shows a 23 percent increase in overdose-related emergency room visits over the previous year.

In 2020, the harm reduction coalition distributed 25,062 naloxone kits across the state. And according to coalition executive director Jesse Bennett, there were 3,241 successful overdose reversals and 30 unsuccessful attempts reported to the coalition over the course of the year.

Time is short for the bill, though. It took weeks of negotiating and work to get it into shape for introduction and now needs to get passed through the House floor before a parliamentary deadline of midnight Thursday. 

On Tuesday evening, Several Republican lawmakers expressed pessimism there was time to get it into shape to be agreeable to leadership. 

“We knew this bill had a tight time frame with being introduced so close to the crossover deadline,” Storrow said. “Even if it doesn’t make crossover, we’ll explore other options to pass it this session.”

[email]
[email]
[zip]
[zip]
[listGroups]
[listGroups]
[email]
[email]
[zip]
[zip]
[listGroups]
[listGroups]