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It has been little over a year since Martin County, a rural community of 22,000 in eastern North Carolina, lost its hospital. ... Now, Martin County could become the first community in the nation to bring a closed facility back to life using a new federal program. (Baxley, 8/12)

Jessica Nichols emerged from college with a bachelor’s degree in communications with her sights set on a broadcast journalism career. But after spending six years in the U.S. Army and becoming a mom, she felt called to an entirely different work path — nursing. Now, Nichols is one of seven students in Johnson & Wales University’s new nursing program that started in May on the Charlotte campus. If all goes according to plan, she’ll be eligible to sit for her registered nurse licensure exam in August 2025 and get a job in the specialty that most interests her: pediatric psychiatry. (Bolling, 8/10)

Uzma Jafry wrapped a blood pressure cuff around the 53-year-old man’s arm and began compressing the bulb. Her eyes locked on the wavering needle in the gauge mounted to the wall. Jafry, a medical student in a new teaching program that aims to bridge doctor shortages in smaller towns, listened as the patient described how after 25 years as a pipefitter, he began experiencing dizzy spells at work so severe he thought he might pass out. Last February he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Jafry looked closely as he held up a picture on his phone of a brain scan. (Merrilees, 8/9)

For Roderick Givens, a radiation oncologist, the expansion of Medicaid isn’t just a policy issue. He practices medicine in a rural area in the Mississippi Delta and he sees daily how Medicaid coverage could help his uninsured patients. “I can’t tell you the number of patients who I see who come in with advanced disease, who have full-time jobs,” Givens said. “They haven’t seen a physician in years. They can’t afford it. They don’t have coverage.” (Hawkins, 8/9)

A new Tennessee parental rights law could have unintended consequences in a state that already has seen rising cases of HIV and syphilis, and as the U.S. sees a spike in syphilis cases. Tennessee’s law is part of a growing conservative movement to give parents more control over their children’s education and health care decisions, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality. Republicans in Congress have introduced similar legislation this year. (Raman, 8/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Journalists Highlight Maternal Health Challenges In Rural America, From Iowa To Georgia

�鶹Ů�� Health News and California Healthline staff took to the airwaves in the last couple of weeks to discuss maternal health care challenges in rural areas. Here’s a collection of their appearances. (8/10)

After an 18-year old shooter raced into a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school in 2022, his uncle called the police in a panic, trying to find out if he could help, according to records made public Saturday. “My nephew, ma’am, he’s the shooter,” a distraught Armando Ramos told a 911 dispatcher. “Maybe he could listen to me…Maybe he could stand down or something.” The uncle’s phone call was released as part of a trove of 911 calls, body-camera footage, radio-traffic recordings, text messages and official documents made public Saturday after a lawsuit from a coalition of media organizations including The Wall Street Journal. (Findell and Otis, 8/11)