Welcome to DKos Asheville. This space appears each weekend to share links to 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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Please jump the fold for links to stories I found relevant this week. Our ongoing Mission/HCA hospital headache continues to feel more and more like a migraine as they now fight against new healthcare in the region. But don’t worry, the first two sad stories are followed by good stuff to kick off the summer, like picnics and swimming pools!
An administrative judge decided May 10 to uphold the state’s decision to allow AdventHealth to build a hospital in Weaverville, Buncombe County, just north of Asheville.
The management of for-profit HCA, which operates the Mission Health group of hospitals and other facilities from an Asheville base, may not be happy that the state chose AdventHealth over them.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services approved AdventHealth’s Certificate of Need application to build the 67-bed facility in November 2022, and Mission Health appealed the decision, according to AdventHealth’s press release.
Mission Hospital faces an exodus of urologists, and five physicians from a local urology group refuse to practice at the HCA Healthcare-owned hospital, potentially reducing the number of specialists in the system to two by summer.
One Mission urology physician left in October 2023, another was terminated in January, and one plans to leave by July 4, according to documents and emails obtained by Asheville Watchdog.
Urologists from Asheville Urological Associates — located across the street from the Mission campus but owned by GenesisCare — decided to relinquish their own practice privileges at the hospital and began doing so in 2022, said Jeremy Cloninger, the group’s practice administrator. Relinquishing privileges means doctors decided not to provide care there.
The urologists’ departures follow a larger pattern of employee exits over the past five years, as The Watchdog has reported. The medical oncology group at Mission’s cancer center dwindled to nothing last year, numerous hospitalists fled after the HCA purchase in 2019, and others continue to bow out, all part of a growing exodus of more than 200 physicians. Additionally, hundreds of nurses have departed between 2022 and late 2023, two years marked by federally chronicled patient death and endangerment.
Asheville and several other cities and towns in Western North Carolina have been named some of the friendliest in the South by Southern Living.
Chosen through surveys of over 20,000 people, Southern Living asked respondents to name the friendliest people and places in the South and compiled the results into two lists: The 15 Friendliest Cities in the South and The 20 Friendliest Towns in the South.
While there is no legal difference in N.C. between the definitions for city and town, Southern Living placed areas with populations over 40,000 on their list of cities.
The article lists WNC towns that placed on the Southern Living lists.
The Asheville area is full of perfect picnic spots. From city parks to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the area's options are diverse and perfect for a festive Memorial Day Weekend.
Several Asheville businesses are well aware of WNC's ample picnicking opportunities. Previous reporting from the Citizen Times covered several picnic companies that provide luxurious premade picnic baskets including the Asheville Picnic Company. Many natural areas in WNC feature picnic shelters, and plenty more are perfect for spreading out a blanket.
Whatever your preference for picnicking practices, here are some choices for this Memorial Day Weekend and all season long.
More: Best waterfalls in Western NC: See the tallest, falls with short hikes, swimming holes
It's that time of year! As of Saturday, May 25, two public pools will be open for the summer season in Asheville.
Grant Center Pool and Recreation Park Pool will open, though only on the weekends until June 10. After that date, they will be open seven days a week at a charge of $3 per person for entry per day.
However, the 90-year-old outdoor pool at Malvern Hills Park will not open this summer.
In Buncombe County, five public outdoor pools will open their gates Saturday: Cane Creek, Erwin, Hominy Valley, North Buncombe and Owen.
As with the city of Asheville, these pools will only be open to the public on weekends until June 10, and the entry cost for the day per person is $3.
Once schools are out, the pools will open seven days per week, beginning June 11.
For more information on the city of Asheville public pools, click HERE.
There will certainly be a summer feel to the "unofficial" start of summer this Memorial Day weekend.
High temperatures will climb into the mid-80s Saturday through Monday, coupled with high humidity.
That moisture in the air will fuel the atmosphere for a daily chance for showers and thunderstorms. The highest chance of rain and storms each day will come during peak heating hours in the afternoon and early evening. Clusters of showers or a few thunderstorms may linger into the overnight hours each night.
Saturday and Sunday's storm chances look a little more scattered, while Monday's storm chances look more widespread. Have a plan to dip indoors if thunder roars.