Welcome to DKos Asheville. This space appears each weekend to share news and opinion from Asheville and Western North Carolina. The floor is open for comment and discussion. Wishing all a good day from this beautiful part of the world.
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An Asheville Watchdog community event focusing on the crisis of health care at Mission Hospital drew an audience of about 350 on Jan. 23, amid calls for HCA Healthcare to overhaul the way it has managed the hospital system since it bought it in 2019.
The event, titled “HCA-Mission at Five Years: What Can We Do to Restore Better Healthcare in WNC?” was held at A-B Tech as the five-year anniversary of the $1.5 billion sale to HCA approaches.
“Five years ago, Mission’s board of directors sold the system to HCA Healthcare of Nashville, promising that the sale to the hospital giant would lead to higher-quality, more accessible, and lower-cost health care for the people of Western North Carolina,” The Watchdog wrote in its invitation to the event.
“Now, after five years of HCA management, there’s a broad consensus that the exact opposites have occurred. The question now is: What can we, the citizens of Western North Carolina, do to once again have the best-in-class, accessible and affordable health care we used to expect?”
The Watchdog invited several executives from Mission Health and HCA, including HCA N.C. Division CEO Greg Lowe, Mission CEO Chad Patrick and HCA spokesperson Nancy Lindell, to participate in the panel. All declined.
Small-town officials in Western North Carolina agree on one thing: Electric vehicles will be a big part of transportation planning in their communities.
But the specific approach to EVs varies from town to town. Weaverville, for instance, recently added two Mach-Es to its police fleet. Waynesville and Black Mountain have focused on building public charging stations while taking a more cautious approach to buying vehicles.
“We consider the conversion to electric vehicles as a process,” explains Rob Hites, town manager of Waynesville, which recently set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “We could simply jump headfirst into the market, but we prefer to let other people road test and see if there’s any issues with them before we buy them. But we’re committed to converting as much of our fleet as possible to electric.”
These towns all face challenges as they look for ways to reduce emissions, cut fuel costs and provide an infrastructure that supports EV owners. Concerns run from costs and availability to selling taxpayers on the benefits of EVs. It turns out adopting a new technology comes with some headaches. But officials say the effort of figuring it all out will be worthwhile.
Western North Carolina is known for its beautiful mountains and, in recent years, its growing food scene. One local couple is combining those to help shine a light on a unique, locally grown ingredient with an international reputation.
As with anything new, the first steps on any journey begin with at least a little uncertainty. A few years back, while at an NC Cooperative Extension presentation, Luke Gilbert asked why growing truffles couldn’t be successful in this area.
“She said there’s no market for them. The market hasn't been established, so you can't grow something that there's no value for," Gilbert said. But with each step taken, a little more confidence is gained. For Natalie Gilbert, her journey began the first time she tried wild mushrooms.
“I just tried it, tried them and loved them and wanted to learn more," she said. "Then I just got bit by the foraging bug, and it wasn't just mushrooms. It was just, what can I eat? What's medicinal? What’s usable?”
While pigs are associated with truffle hunting in popular culture, the dogs are gentler with the treasure.