All students in Swain County elementary schools will receive free lunch this year with the help of a grant from the Dogwood Health Trust.

Haywood County was recently awarded another substantial grant to help address the affordable housing crisis, but the way the county plans to use the grant means its impact will be felt far into the future.

A $542,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, matched by more than $200,000 from the Dogwood Health Trust, will help fund six regional projects intended to alleviate some of the pressure in the affordable housing market.

Jackson County Public Schools has more than doubled its preschool capacity prior to the start of the new school year thanks to donations from the Dogwood Health Trust and the Blue Ridge School Education Foundation.

Dogwood Health Trust recently awarded more than $1 million over three years to the Center for Native Health to further strengthen and expand The Medical Careers and Technology Pipeline (MedCaT) for Indigenous and rural Appalachian students. 

Smaller, less-profitable hospital nets twice the price 

By Peter H. Lewis
AVL Watchdog

Years from now, the decision in 2018 by the directors of Mission Health to sell to HCA Healthcare might be seen as a brilliant strategic maneuver, one that guaranteed affordable, high-quality healthcare for future generations of western North Carolinians. This was, and still is, the position of the directors and executives who pushed the deal.

The Dogwood Health Trust Board of Directors announced today that Antony Chiang is stepping down from his role as Chief Executive Officer. The Board expects to appoint an interim CEO while conducting a search for a permanent leader.

Mountain BizWorks, working with Dogwood Health Trust, announced today a targeted effort to provide increased access to the highly anticipated Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program for nonprofits and small businesses in the region, with a focus on rural and minority and women-led organizations.

To support efforts to flatten the curve and slow the spread of COVID-19 in Western North Carolina, Dogwood Health Trust is partnering with multiple rural county health departments throughout the 18-county and Qualla Boundary to increase access to COVID-19 testing specifically to support contact tracing efforts. Dogwood has been working for weeks to source test kits from private labs to support health department efforts in rural areas of the region. 

The Board of Directors for Dogwood Health Trust recently approved the allocation of $10 million to address COVID-19 needs throughout the 18 county and Qualla boundary region of Western North Carolina.