BUSINESS & REAL ESTATE

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Chamber "Breakfast for a Buck" at High Pastures

Come join the Yancey County/Burnsville Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Commission for a 'Breakfast for a Buck' on October 29 at 7:30 a.m. at the High Pastures Retreat Center on George's Fork Road to discuss growing our own businesses through entrepreneurship. 

Pam Lewis from AdvantageWest Economic Development Group will talk about the Certified Entrepreneur Community project of which Yancey County is a participant.  Steve Poland, a Western North Carolina entrepreneur will also talk about do's and don'ts of entrepreneurship and the 'try, try again' attitude necessary to succeed. Other businesses sponsoring the breakfast include Garden Deli and Mayland Community College Small Business Center. For more information contact the Chamber at 682-7413.

Psychiatric Unit Ready to Reopen at Hospital
Cannon Memorial to serve 16-county area of Northwest

By: Monte Mitchell

When Cannon Memorial Hospital closed its inpatient psychiatric unit in 2005 because of financial problems, the Northwest North Carolina mountain counties were left without any inpatient behavioral-health treatment centers.

But it wasn't long before hospital administrators were trying to work out a financial model that made sense so that the hospital could again offer inpatient psychiatric care.
Inpatient psychiatric care is set to reopen soon here as part of a pilot program that will provide more state support to community mental-health providers in an effort to reduce admissions to state psychiatric hospitals.

The Kate B. Reynolds Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit is scheduled to open Wednesday at Cannon Memorial, which is part of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.

"Our goal is to meet the needs of patients in this region so they don't have to go 40 miles away for care," said Stephanie Greer, the director of the behavioral health for Appalachian Regional Healthcare System. The nearest other inpatient psychiatric units at community hospitals are in Hickory, Asheville and Johnson City, Tenn.

The new inpatient psychiatric unit at Cannon Memorial will serve patients primarily from a 16-county area that includes Ashe, Alleghany, Avery, Watauga and Wilkes counties. It will also handle referrals from other counties as space is available.

The 10-bed unit will offer acute stabilization for patients ages 18-65 who have been diagnosed with such conditions as anxiety, depression and thought disorders. Patients will be treated by a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, therapists and certified nursing assistants.

Cannon Memorial had offered inpatient psychiatric care since 1979, before closing its geriatric psychiatric unit in 2005.

Chuck Mantooth, the chief executive officer of Cannon Memorial, said that the unit closed because the reimbursement system in place then made it difficult for the unit to break even.

When considering reopening a psychiatric unit, the hospital looked for a different source of reimbursements and also re-examined its focus, shifting from a geriatric center to one that served adults up to age 65.

"The last piece of the puzzle was the financial piece," Mantooth said. "How could we provide the service and make sure it's sustainable."

The hospital will participate in a pilot program through July 2009, involving Broughton Hospital, the state-run psychiatric hospital in Morganton. Broughton doesn't have the room for all the patients who need admission.
Twenty-seven percent of the patients cared for at Cannon Memorial's inpatient psychiatric unit will be indigent patients who might have otherwise been treated at Broughton. The state has provided money to Smoky Mountain Mental Health, which in turn will contract with Cannon Memorial for their care. The other patients at Cannon's unit will have private health insurance or Medicare or Medicaid.

The average length of stay is expected to be seven days. About half the patients are expected to come from a doctor or health service that's already providing care and will go back to that outpatient care after hospitalization. Other patients will be set up with outpatient care in the counties in which they live.

After Cannon's inpatient psychiatric unit closed in 2005, the space was used for the hospital's behavioral health-care outpatient program. The new inpatient unit will now reclaim the space where the previous inpatient psychiatric unit was housed. The outpatient program has been moved into new offices in the Sloop Medical Plaza, on the hospital campus.

The hospital has done about $125,000 in renovations for security and safety improvements to the inpatient center. The most expensive change was to install plumbing without exposed pipes anywhere, including shower fixtures. The goal is to eliminate places where a despondent patient could hang himself.
The money for renovations came from Smoky Mountain Mental Health, and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Rural Health.

 

Below are names and phone numbers of leading area businesses. All area codes 828 unless otherwise indicated. Click on highlighted names for more information on that business.

	Altec Industries, Inc., 678-5500
	Appalachian Eye Associates, 765-2020
	Appalachian Equipment Rental, 765-7368, 652-7391
	Appalachian Java & Cafe, 682-0120
	Anchors Away Cafe, 678-3474
	Angel & Hughes Insurance, 678-9668
	B & H Used Auto Parts, 1-800-832-4014
	B & W Stone, 675-5188
	Bald Creek Tractor & Equipment, 682-7125
	Banks Jewelry & Gifts, 682-3414
	Briggs Farms, 682-6216, 208-1284
	Brookside Rehabilitation & Care
	Buchanan & Ledford Auto Body Specialists, Inc., 765-0648
	Buchanan & Young Chrysler,Dodge, Jeep, 682-2194
	Burleson Plumbing & Heating, 765-4042
	Buds Auto Parts, 682-2818
	Burnsville Veterinary Clinic, 682-2100
	Cane River Veterinary Wellness Clinic, 682-7710
	Cardinal Insurance Agency, 765-5445, 688-9203
	Carolina Collision, 682-2821
	Carolina Interiors, 800-273-1162
	Cleo Greene Nationwide Insurance, 765-2790, 682-5011
	Clodhoppers, 682-5256
	Cooper's Trading, Inc, 678-9929
	Crown Rentals & Sales, 766-8775
	DT's Blue Ridge Java Coffee Shop & Cafe, 766-8008
	D & R Furniture, 682-6740
	David's Ltd., 682-6542
	Davis Farms, 682-9766
	Farm Bureau Insurance of Yancey County, 682-6128
	Fortner Insurance, 765-6121, 682-2147
	Fox Country Store, 682-2320
	G & R Power Equipment, 675-9724
	Garden Deli Restaurant, 682-3946
	Grassy Creek Clothing, 766,7502
	H & R Block, 765-4452, 682-6333, 733-0272
	Hardees of Burnsville, 682-2612
	Heritage Lumber, 682-3033
	Heritage Lumber Design Center, 682-4232
	High Country Wireless, 678-3530, 765-1340
	Hilltop Restaurant, 678-9123
	I Thought About You, 682-6644
	Jim Hughes & Associates, 682-3404
	John Young Land Surveyor, 252-1530
	Jonathan's Used Appliances, 766-9005
	La-Z-Boy Gallery, 765-2715
	Leadbitter Land Surveying, 208-5007, 682-5007
	Mitchell County Public Transportation, 688-4715
	Monkey Business Toy Shop, 682-9101
	Mountain Air Country Club, 682-3600
	Mountain Lifestyle Realty Group, 682-1524
	Parnell-Martin Companies, 682-1594
	Peoples Furniture, 765-5557
	Precision Auto Body Shop, 675-4109
	Prosperity Farm & Garden, 284-0406
	RBC Centura, 682-0900, 766-2000
	Randolph's Body Shop, 682-4156
	Red Hill Hardware, 688-1065
	Riddle's Used Appliances, 682-4214
	Sandy's Gifts, Hair and Nails, 682-9158
	Sears of Spruce Pine, 765-5700
	ServiceMaster of WNC, 765-4034
	Something Special Gift Shop, 682-9101
	Summit Building Supply, 682-9841
	Terminix, 682-4773
	Toe River Health District, 682-7967, 688-3421
	Tommy Calhoun's Legendary Ford, 866-820-3673
	Triggers, Traps and Trout, 777-0357
	Troy's Greenhouse, 682-6439
	Westside Rental, 682-3030
	Wheeler's Southern Comfort Wood Heat, 678-3675
	Wildcat Mountain Forge, Inc., 675-5853
	Wyatt's Wrecker Service, 385-2396
	Yancey Funeral Service, 678-9962
	Yancey Home Care, 678-3402
	Yancey Insurance, 682-2325, 1-800-584-3191
	Yancey Mobile Homes, 682-6175
	Young's Fuel Oil, 688-2116

	Alpine Real Estate, 688-9482
	Appalachian Realty, 682-3800
	Blue Ridge Properties, 766-9509
	Burnsville Realty, 682-6026
	Carolina Mountain Realty, 682-6166
	Castle Rock Realty, 765-8888
	Fireside Real Estate, 765-4660
	Grassy Creek Realty, 765-2249
	Great Meadows Inc., 765-9086
	Howell-Sparks Real Estate, 765-7477
	June Jerome Realty, 675-9536
	Lunsford Realty, 678-3400
	Misty Mountain Land Company, 765-7729
	Mountain Air Country Club, 682-5600
	Mt. Mitchell Lands Inc., 675-4923
	Mt. Mitchell Realty, 675-4414
	Open Hearth Real Estate, 682-2200
	Premier Mountain Properties, 682-7408
	Premier Mountain Properties (Jimmy Dagenhart, Broker 284-0985)
	Real Property People, 688-3921, 765-2282
	Realty One Service, 765-4275
	Simmons Construction & Realty, 765-1290
	Spruce Pine Real Estate, 765-7722
	Swissland Realty, 765-7878
	Thurston Associates, 675-5038
	Timberline Properties, 766-8900
	Tree House Mountain Realty, 765-1655
	United Country Misty Mountain Land, 765-7729
	Yellow Bird Realtors, 688-3064

 

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This page was last updated on Friday, 10 October 2008 10:22 AM