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Jim Ware Free Press Correspondent The recent accreditation of UNC Lenoir Health Care’s bariatric surgery center as a comprehensive center is a point of pride not only for the hospital, but for bariatric surgeons Dr. Charles Moore and Dr. Joel Rose. The designation is the highest level of accreditation offered by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Moore said. “It ensures that there’s a level of competence, that there’s a level of quality that this program has now achieved,” he said. “It took a lot of work and it’s an exciting time for us.”

The only contact most patients at CarolinaEast Medical Center have with hospital laboratory staff is when phlebotomists stop by their rooms to draw blood for testing. The lab’s 65 employees, including two pathologists, perform more than 1.5 million tests per year in the areas of chemistry, hematology, microbiology, molecular PCR, transfusion services, cytology, histology, and anatomic pathology. “Each one of those areas is a specialized area, so we do different testing in those departments depending on what type of specimen we receive,” said Jennifer Lewis, laboratory director. “So, w...

What looked mysterious in the skies above the Wilmington area around 6 a.m. Friday wasn't a plane or a meteor.  A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Friday morning, beginning its six-month stay in space. It wasn't long after the launch that many on the East Coast could spot the shuttle. According to a report from the Associated Press, SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit Friday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk’s rapidly expanding com...

Occupational therapists and OT assistants at CarolinaEast Medical Center have an identity crisis. Laura Obregon, one of eight occupational therapists at the hospital, said people frequently confuse physical therapy and occupational therapy. “A lot of people think we find jobs for people,” Obregon said. “The goal of our discipline is to help patients get back to doing what their occupation or job was before, whether they were working full time, or they’re retired at home with hobbies and other responsibilities, but also to be as independent as they can.” As an occupational therapist,...

Since COVID-19 hit home last spring, doctors and nurses at CarolinaEast Medical Center have been on the medical front dealing with the crisis. Behind the scenes, in the hospital’s business offices, billers and patient counselors also are dealing with the crisis of patients suddenly unemployed and unable to pay their bills, a crisis compounded by ever-changing medical billing codes related to the pandemic. Making matters even worse, patients accustomed to walking into the hospital to speak face to face with a patient counselor almost overnight found doors closed and conversations relegated t...