Before the sun rises on a Tuesday morning in December, Amelia Cline smooches her partner goodbye and heads out the back door of her house in West Ashe.
This week on Inside Appalachia, amid recent hospital closures, Appalachian women are having to travel farther and farther to give birth. We also learn how seed libraries and community gardens are helping to protect heirloom seeds from being lost. And we hear more from our series on greyhound racing. This year, West Virginia will be home to the last two remaining greyhound racetracks in the United States.
From rural McDowell County to urban Forsyth, emergency services departments statewide say the labor shortage paired with high call volumes might mean it’ll take longer for an ambulance to arrive at your door.
One day Mary K was speaking with her case manager at WellCare, the company that manages her Medicaid plan. She told the woman she’d been getting most of her food from pantries, but she could only get there when she had a ride. Once there, the food bank workers usually only offered shelf stable goods, such as peanut butter, pasta or beans, foods that didn’t help her keep her diabetes or weight under control.