ECU Health hosts 15th annual ‘Operation Medicine Drop'
ECU Health is hosting 'Operation Medicine Drop' on Friday to help you get rid of them. March is Poison Prevention Month and this year marks 15 years of hosting this event. ECU Health says 422 million pills have been collected throughout the years just in North Carolina alone.
'We do have poisonings, unfortunately, that cause hospital admissions and even death, particularly among small children, because they are oral, they put things in their mouth, they're curious, they're curious climbers. One safety message that we have is safe storage is up and away and out of sight,' said Ellen Walston, Safe Kids Coordinator at ECU Health Medical Center.
You can drop your medications off on Friday at the Pitt County Council on Aging from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you can't make it at those times, there are multiple drop boxes around Pitt County.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Miami Herald
The neediest people were let down again by the lawmakers they voted for. It's baffling.
Cathy Price's words stopped me cold. She's a 72-year-old woman who worked as a nurse at Martin General in a rural part of North Carolina. That area stands to be particularly hard hit by the 'big beautiful bill' Republicans passed and President Donald Trump signed into law on the 249th anniversary of this country's birth. Martin General was part of ECU Health, a not-for-profit system that serves about 1.4 million people in eastern North Carolina, including rural areas in Martin County. ECU planned to reopen Martin General, at least for emergency and some diagnostic services. It closed in 2023, then North Carolina finally agreed to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), giving residents hope their local hospital would return. The nearest hospital is a 30- to 40-minute drive away. 'We're in a life-and-death crisis,' Price told The New York Times. 'People's lives are on the line because of the hospital not being here.' She knows the dire situation facing rural residents in Martin County, and elsewhere. Still, she told The Times she supports President Trump's supposed efforts to rid Medicaid of fraud and waste. What she and many other Trump supporters don't seem to understand is that in the eyes of Trump and most other Republicans in Washington, D.C. — including the ones rural North Carolina residents sent to the nation's capital to represent them — they are the fraud and waste. They are the lazy 'able-bodied' people, supposedly addicted to government assistance, who hate having to take care of themselves. They are the problem Republicans are trying to solve, the sacrifice the GOP just made to ensure the wealthiest Americans and corporations can receive yet another massive tax cut. The wealthiest Americans did not need even more money in their pockets, but Price's neighbors and friends in Martin County need the health care that will be taken away, or may never materialize, because of the 'big beautiful bill' billionaire Trump can't stop crowing about. The Medicaid coverage that, as recalled in The Times article, allowed 58-year-old Lori Kelley in Harrisburg to save a finger and detect two tumors? That might be going away. But at least private plane and yacht owners are gonna have yet another way to write off some of their tax obligations. For decades now, rural residents have been flocking to the Republican Party. It's mostly been white rural residents, but a small but not-insignificant number of Black and brown rural residents have joined them. Theories abound as to why. Political analysts will point to policies such as NAFTA, which has been blamed for the loss of manufacturing jobs in rural areas. I grew up in St. Stephen, S.C., and saw the Georgia Pacific paper plant that had sustained us close and leave a devastating void. At least four of my family members worked there. As a journalist, I documented the closing of a bevy of manufacturing plants, including International Paper and Georgetown Steel in Georgetown, and an electricity-producing plant in Conway. The shifts in manufacturing are complex and multilayered. They've caused real harm to real people. But there is no one cause, which is why I don't believe that can explain the voting shifts. And the two parties have been exceedingly clear about their priorities. When Democrats are given power, they fight to expand health care coverage, strengthen the safety net and argue for a living wage and higher taxes on the wealthy. The GOP does the opposite. (The same can be said of how the parties view disaster preparedness and assistance. The Trump administration is trying to dismantle FEMA even as natural disasters are causing even more harm and killing more people. Democrats want to better fund such agencies.) During Trump's first term, one of the Republicans' top goals was to fully uproot Obamacare, risking the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and the health of millions. The 'big beautiful bill' helped the GOP partially accomplish that goal – at the expense of Price and her rural North Carolina neighbors. It's one of the most baffling truisms of the modern political era. The neediest Americans repeatedly empower the people most likely to ignore their most-pressing needs.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Pitt County wants to educate residents during National Mosquito Control Awareness Week
PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — This week is National Mosquito Control Awareness Week and Pitt County is speaking out. The county wants to remind residents about the risk of mosquito-borne diseases and aims to educate on how to stay safe from them. Officials also mentioned to not tailgate mosquito management trucks, as they play a key role in mosquito control operations. 'For your safety and ours, we urge all drivers to maintain a safe distance behind our mosquito management trucks,' says Amanda Morrison, Pitt County Vector Control Program Manager. 'These vehicles may stop or slow suddenly, and treatments may be released into the air. Tailgating puts you at risk and disrupts our efforts to protect public health.' For general tips on how to prevent the circulation of mosquito-borne diseases, it is recommended to adhere to the three D's of protection: drain, dress and defend. Drain standing water, dispose of old tires, clean out gutters and drains and clean pet water dishes and bird baths regularly. Dress is light colored, loose fitting clothing and opt for long shirt and pant sleeve when outdoors. Defend with insect repellents and staying informed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
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ECU Health and Food Lion Feeds to offer free summer meals for kids
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — ECU Health is partnering with Food Lion Feeds to provide summer meals for children and teens. Starting today, Wednesday, June 11, free meals are available Monday through Thursday at their different meal sites in Greenville, Ahoskie, Bethel, and Tarboro. They were at York Memorial AME Zion Church in Greenville today. 'We understand and we know that children, some children, don't have access to food once they leave the school during the summer,' Associate Minister at York Memorial AME Zion Church in Greenville, Janie Rouse, said. 'You know, they no longer have breakfast or lunch. And we're excited about offering them a lunch during the summer.' In 2024, 3,502 meals were served across the East. 'Our previous years, we have seen a lot of children as well as other community members come to our sites,' Community Health Project Consultant at ECU Health Alexis Connell said. 'Thankfully, this year we were able to expand to a four-site and in the future we hope to continue to expand to different sites in our community.' Meals will be available until food runs out each day at the following locations: Greenville: English Chapel Free Will Baptist Church – 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday-Friday from June 10 to Aug. 23. The location will be closed July 22-26. Ahoskie: Calvary Missionary Baptist Church – 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday-Friday from June 10 to Aug. 23. The location will be closed June 19 and July 4-5. Bethel: Bethel Youth Activity Center – 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday-Thursday from June 17 to July 17. The location will be closed July 3-7. No registration is required. For more information about the ECU Health Summer Meal Program, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
