Community News

WASHINGTON, DC – March 8, 2023 – Climate change is wreaking havoc on the environment which in turn is causing many adverse health impacts. The health care sector is responsible for 8 to 10 percent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. It needs to lead by example to advance health and climate goals. Health care is on the front line of the climate crisis. Patients experience the adverse health effects of a changing climate, along with injuries, illness, and mental health impacts related to extreme weather events. These climate effects exacerbate existing racial and economic disparities in health care. As we have seen here at home and across the nation, climate events can severely disrupt health care access, delivery and supply chains.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in partnership with The White House, issued a call to action for the health care sector to commit to tackling the climate crisis. HHS asked health care institutions to sign the voluntary Health Care Sector Climate Pledge, commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and plan for climate resilience to protect the communities they serve. These measures have also been shown to save money as well as to help health care organizations achieve their mission to improve the health of their communities.

The pledge asks hospitals and health systems to:

1. Reduce their organization’s emissions 50% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050
2. Designate an executive lead for environmental sustainability by 2023
3. Develop climate resilience plans for their facilities and their communities by the end of 2023
4. Complete an inventory of supply chain emissions by the end of 2024
5. Publicly report progress on an annual basis.

More than 100 organizations representing over 800 hospitals have responded and signed (including Atrium Health in North Carolina). The Pledge was open for signing in 2022 from April 22 to June 10 and from June 30 to October 28.

Hospitals and health systems throughout the United States and North Carolina need to take climate action to improve health, equity and resilience. Carolina Advocates for Climate, Health, and Equity (CACHE), a non-profit organization of concerned physicians, healthcare providers, and public health professionals from North Carolina, is leading a grassroots advocacy campaign to align our hospitals and health systems with the HHS goals for environmental sustainability, equity, and health.

Last month, Dr. Kathleen Shapley-Quinn, the Executive Director of CACHE, said “There’s hope that the pledge will reopen soon.” Her prescience has been rewarded because it was reopened on March 9^th.

Listen to the full report below:

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

RALEIGH, NC – March 15, 2023 –  North Carolina has had a 37 percent increase in abortions since the United States Supreme Court decided that a woman did not have a constitutional right to abortion eight months ago. This is the largest percentage increase of any state in the nation. Abortion remains legal in North Carolina, where the procedure can be performed up to 20 weeks after fertilization. However, there are many southern states where abortion has been banned or severely restricted. Therefore, the woman’s reproductive health system in N.C. has had much difficulty responding to the increased demand for its services. It may take 2 months to obtain an appointment with an Asheville woman’s health clinic and 1 month in Charlotte. Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive healthcare, estimates since the law was reversed greater than one third of the patients in its North Carolina facilities that desire abortions are from out of state.

The Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, by a 6-3 vote, which had been a nationwide law since 1973. The downstream effects of this historic decision have been handed to each state to determine how to handle women’s reproductive rights. Pre-existent state laws allowed half of the states to roll back abortion rights resulting in it not being available in many areas of the country. Many state legislatures have been struggling with this issue since the court decision. The dissenting S.C. justices wrote that this decision means that “from the moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of. A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term even at the steepest personal and familial costs.”

The preexistent state laws fall into the categories of decades-old abortion bans, new “trigger bans” in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s action, and new laws that can create a dispute between the state legislature and the courts to determine a path forward. A significant downstream issue is the proliferation of people from states with abortion bans seeking woman’s reproductive health care in states that protect abortion rights. Some state legislatures are even trying to prevent health care professionals from providing medical care in states where abortion is legal. In contrast, states where abortion is legal are preparing to expand health care access and legalize protection for health care providers from out-of-state litigation. Abortion care includes dispensing abortion pills in addition to surgical abortion procedures. From 2020 data, there were more medically-induced abortions in North Carolina than abortions via surgical procedures.

A recent Meredith College poll of registered North Carolina voters showed that 57 percent of the responders are in favor of preserving the current abortion law or increasing it beyond the 20-week limit. Jenny Black, the chief executive of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which includes North Carolina and Buncombe County, says “We’re preparing for the hardest fight of our life.”

Listen to the full report below:

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

ASHEVILLE, NC – March 15, 2023 – The CDC reports that the community level for Buncombe County remains at a low level for the week ending March 7^th. Every county in North Carolina is low. More than 85% of the counties in the U.S. are at a low level with less than 2% at a high level.

The Buncombe County COVID-19 metrics are on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard. Data from the week ending on March 4^th indicate:

• Last week’s total cases are down 44% from the previous week to the lowest level in almost 19 months
• 68% of the total population have received their initial vaccination series.
• 32% of people with their initial vaccination series have had the updated booster.
• The seven-day daily average of COVID-19 hospitalizations has increased by 2 and of ICU patients has decreased by 1 from last week.

An updated COVID-19 booster is now available for eligible persons 6 months and older. It is more effective at protecting against severe illness and death from the new variants.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

• Stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines and the updated booster.
• People with any COVID symptoms should get tested
• People who are positive for COVID-19 or do not feel well should stay home

For a county at a low community level, like Buncombe County, the CDC recommends:

• If you are at high risk for getting sick, wear a high-quality mask in a public indoors space.
• If you plan on being with someone at high risk for getting sick, consider self-testing for COVID-19 infection and wear a high-quality mask when indoors with them.

Listen to the full report below:

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – March 1, 2023 –  On March 1^st, the drugmaker Eli Lilly announced price cuts for some of its older insulin medicines and a monthly cost cap. According to the American Diabetes Association, between 8 and 9 million Americans need insulin to control their blood sugar. However, more than 1.3 million adults either skipped or had to ration doses because of the high cost of insulin. Therefore, this new policy will eliminate the financial barrier to obtain these life-saving medicines. The drugmaker has been under pressure from patients, patient advocates, and elected officials to keep insulin affordable.

Lilly will lower the list prices for Humalog (the most commonly prescribed insulin) and Humulin insulin by 70 percent. Patients with high deductible health insurance and without health insurance will save a lot of money because they frequently pay the list price.

The drugmaker will cap the monthly out-of-pocket cost at $35 for people with private health insurance. Uninsured people can get their insulin at the same monthly cap cost by obtaining a savings card at the insulinaffordability.com website.

The company said in a press release, “Lilly is taking these actions to make it easier to access Lilly insulin and help Americans who may have difficulty navigating a complex healthcare system that may keep them from getting affordable insulin.”

Lilly’s new insulin price controls come after a recent surge in public and political interest about the cost of insulin tripling over the past 20 years. The Inflation Reduction Act, recently passed by Congress, has capped the monthly insulin prices for Medicare Part D beneficiaries at $35. However, persons younger than 65 were excluded from the cost savings. Therefore, at his recent State of the Union speech in February, Biden proposed that Congress pass a bill to cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for everyone.

After hearing about Lilly’s insulin price reduction, President Biden responded, “It’s a big deal, and it’s time for other manufacturers to follow.” Only about 30% of Americans with diabetes who take insulin use insulin manufactured by Lilly. Other prominent insulin manufactures have not yet followed Lilly’s lead.

Almost 11% of Americans, about 34 million people, have diabetes, a chronic disease. If untreated, the blood glucose level becomes too high leading to short-term problems (like frequent urination, blurred vision and fatigue) and long-term problems (like heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, frequent infections, and nerve damage). Keeping blood sugar under good control is very important to avoid complications. Our body converts food into glucose which is converted into energy as needed. Insulin is a vital hormone that is produced in the pancreas. It regulates the amount of glucose in the blood and, indirectly, controls the amount of energy produced. People with type 1 diabetes produce little or no insulin and must take this medicine every day. Some people with type 2 diabetes require insulin.

Dr. Robert Lash, chief medical officer of the Endocrine Society, said  “Insulin is one of those medicines, particularly for those with Type 1 diabetes, that’s in the must-have category. If you don’t have it, you die.”

Listen to the full report below:

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]