With ACA open-enrollment season ongoing, one ministry in Eastern North Carolina is extending a hand to the community. Peletah Ministries outreach began a decade ago and initially was focused on disaster recovery in Eastern North Carolina.

In recent years the mission has grown to include community collaborative events that bring together a number of resources including state agencies, regional and local partners to offer services such as housing assistance, employment opportunities, Covid and flu vaccinations, as well as enrollment in the Affordable Care Act through a partnership with Access East. The next community collaborative will be next Monday, December 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern.

Dr. Dawn Baldwin-Gibson, executive director of Peletah Ministries, said it is there to help the community.

"That's where our focus really is," Baldwin-Gibson said. "Enrollment, making sure that people are getting preventative care and really being able to be on a solid, resilient foundation for any other health challenges that may face our community. "

More than 75 vendors will be on site for the Holiday Resiliency Collaborative. Pre-registration is requested. Find that and more info online at Peletah.org.

As was true in many places in America, the COVID 19 pandemic amplified pre-existing health-access challenges in Eastern North Carolina. Dr. Baldwin-Gibson said their disaster response work over the years taught them an important truth.

"What we realized is that whatever is in the community at the time of the disaster, it is only amplified by the disaster," she said. "And so, if food insecurity is an issue, it's a bigger issue when there's a disaster."

The collaborative will include health-care navigators from Access East who will guide people through the process of signing up for coverage through the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid.

ReGina Moffett, a federally certified marketplace navigator with Access East, Inc., said sometimes people need help choosing coverage.

"A lot of people don't understand health insurance," Moffett said. "A lot of people will go into the marketplace and they will pick the cheapest plan, and many times the cheapest plans wouldn't pay much or anything towards their health-care needs. A lot of times people need someone just to help them make an educated decision when it comes to their health-care needs."

Moffett said she's seen the difference health-care access can make in people's lives.

"The ACA works," she said. "I've seen where it's really, truly made a difference in people's lives. I see those people who I have enrolled, and have enrolled year after year after year, and I can see the difference that it's made."

November has been Diabetes Awareness Month - but heading into the holidays, people who are diabetic know they can't lose their focus on keeping it in check. And technology is making it easier to monitor the disease from home.

More than 520,000 Washingtonians have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Dr. Mamatha Palanati is the medical diabetes program director for Kaiser Permanente Washington. She said the disease needs to be managed closely, because it can lead to serious health complications.

Palanati noted that fortunately, people don't need to leave their homes to do this in some cases.

"In today's world, there's a much easier way to do it, like telehealth," said Palanati. "Telehealth provides multiple ways for the follow-up and connection to the health care for any individual."

Palanti said people managing diabetes still should plan to see their physician in person at least once a year. Management of other factors, like blood pressure and cholesterol, can also help reduce complications.

Palanati said monitoring technology can also assist people.

"The family members and caregivers, or anyone who can take care of that particular individual," said Palanati, "can do it remotely and manage their diabetes in a much better way."

Palanati stressed that diabetes is a chronic disease.

"Don't look at this as an additional chore or anything," said Palanati. "Make it as a part of your life. So, be active, making sure you adapt to the healthy lifestyles. It may not be perfect, but try your best to get what you can do."




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As World AIDS Day turns 35, the mother of an Indiana teen who became the public face of the disease is a reminder of the importance of never forgetting the hard work of medical researchers and the victims lost in the frenzy to find a cure.

More than 40 million people have died from AIDS, including Ryan White, who grew up in central Indiana at a time when not much was known about it and medicine offered few treatments. Ryan contracted the disease during a blood transfusion at age 13. He became a staunch advocate against discrimination and helped change how Americans view AIDS.

Jeanne White-Ginder, who eventually left Indiana for Florida, said it is imperative to remember all the lost lives.

"That is so important that we remember all the people who got us to where we are today, because they are no longer here," White-Ginder noted. "And I'm not just talking about Ryan, because Ryan was a face, but there are so many people that did all the work."

Just five weeks after Ryan's death in 1990, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Ryan White CARE Act with bipartisan support. The legislation helps more people get tested for HIV and offers assistance to patients in all stages of the disease.

Ryan's mom emphasized AIDS affects people across the spectrum, regardless of labels.

"A gay person has it, a straight person has it, a blood transfusion person has it; it was for everybody," White-Ginder explained. "Once you have AIDS, you're just like everybody else who has AIDS; you're fighting to stay alive. And people fought to stay alive, and people dedicated their lives to get us to where we are today."

She added Ryan would have turned 52 next week.

His mom plans to travel to Indiana University on his birthday, where the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention will present the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award to Dr. Joe and Sarah Ellen Mamlin.


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Advocates for affordable health care are speaking out to remind people what is at stake if the Affordable Care Act is repealed in the wake of recent statements by former President Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump, who leads the polls for the 2024 Republican nomination, has recently said he is looking at alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, and criticized the GOP lawmakers who voted against his attempts to end the program in 2017.

Laura Packard, a Stage 4 cancer survivor, noted before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies were allowed to deny coverage to people like her with pre-existing conditions.

"While I was on the couch, trying to survive, that's when Republicans in the U.S. House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act that was keeping me alive," Packard recounted. "Then, they held a party to celebrate. We can't go back to that."

The Affordable Care Act created health exchanges -- like Covered California -- offering subsidized health insurance to millions of people. And it funded an expansion of MediCal, benefiting 5 million low-income Californians in the first six years after the law's passage.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who helped write the health care law, said the Affordable Care Act forces health insurance companies to cover basic services like maternity care, mental health services, cancer screenings and contraception. The idea of getting rid of the law has been largely unpopular, and Wyden knows why.

"It would mean higher premiums for families and health insurance," Wyden pointed out. "And it would also threaten Medicaid nursing home benefits, because Medicaid is paying much of the nursing home bill for this country."

The law also allows adult children to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26 and bans lifetime caps on coverage.


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