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LINVILLE â A new era of behavioral health care is under way in the High Country. On October 1, Cannon Memorial Hospital is set to welcome patients to its new behavioral health hospital, known as Appalachian Regional Behavioral Health Hospital, as it seeks to emerge as a leader in the frontier of mental health services in the region and beyond.
The state-of-the-art facility expands the hospitalâs behavioral health bed capacity from 10 to 27 beds, an increase that will facilitate the hiring of approximately 50 to 60 new jobs across all levels of medical and psychiatric experience. This mass expansion, Director of Behavioral Health Services Stephanie Greer says, will produce the largest number of jobs created in the county in the last several decades.
NEWLAND â The Avery County Health Department and the Baker Clinic at Cannon Memorial Hospital have announced that first dose COVID-19 vaccines are now available for anyone ages 16 and up.
Appointments can be made by calling the health department at (828) 733-8273 or the Baker Center at (828) 737-7711. The health department is located at 545 Schultz Circle in Newland and will be offering vaccines Monday to Friday. The Baker Center is located at 436 Hospital Drive, Suite 230 in Linville and will offer vaccines from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.
COVID-19 testing is now available at the Avery County Health Department on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. No appointments are needed for a test.
RALEIGH â Governor Roy Cooper announced May 14 that all mandatory capacity and gathering limits, social distancing requirements and most mandatory mask requirements will be lifted effective immediately.
Cooper said most indoor or outdoor settings in the state will no longer require people to wear a mask or be socially distant.
âBecause of our strong safety protocols, vaccines and the hard work of North Carolinians, we have been able to slow the spread of this virus and reduce deaths when other states saw surges in their cases,â Cooper said. âItâs good that our metrics are stable or declining.â
Previous limits included indoor mass gathering limits of 100 people and outdoor mass gathering limited at 200 people.