Nurses, veterans, and community members waved signs outside the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Decatur on Tuesday protesting pending layoffs and union busting efforts at the VA that they say will detrimentally impact care that local Black veterans need. In 2023, around 34% of all veterans in Georgia were Black, according to data from […]
Health
Posted inHealth, Politics & Policy
Free Atlanta Health Clinics Are Saving Black Women’s Lives. Federal Cuts Could Change That.
As a health care provider at the Urban Clinic of Atlanta, a nonprofit organization that works to provide free medical services to uninsured and low income residents in Fulton County, Megan Boissonneault is no stranger to how access to care can change people’s lives for the better. “I’m thinking of a patient who I have […]
Posted inHealth
Need Medical Care but Lack Insurance? These Metro Atlanta Clinics Can Help.
At the ICNA Relief clinic in Decatur, patients ranging from women to children, young men to the elderly, all wait to be seen by the medical staff who are working diligently to provide free health care to residents in metro Atlanta who need it the most. In a modest office tucked away off Memorial Drive, […]
Posted inHealth
Mpox Isn’t Just in the Past, Fulton County Health Officials Warn
Ever since the 2022 global outbreak of mpox, the number of cases has died down in the United States, but Fulton County officials warn that mpox hasn’t fully left Atlanta. At a Fulton County Board of Health meeting last week, the county’s director of epidemiology, Sasha Smith, stated that mpox is one of the diseases […]
Posted inHealth
Health Alert: West Nile Virus Confirmed In Atlanta-Area Mosquitoes
Fulton County health officials confirmed that mosquitoes trapped in two locations in the county have tested positive for West Nile virus. The traps were located at the Atlanta Virtual Academy in the Grove Park neighborhood and the Hoyt Smith Recreation Center in Hapeville. To combat the threat, county officials said in a press release that […]
Posted inCommunity, Maternal Health, Mental Health
This Nurse’s Tiny House Clinic Is Reimagining Black Mental Health Care
In a state where mental health care access can be limited, especially for Black communities, one nurse is serving Black Atlantans in an unconventional way – by running a clinic on wheels. Psychiatric nurse practitioner Joanne Patterson launched a virtual practice in 2019 and served over 6,000 patients during the past six years. But after […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration, Mental Health
‘The System Is Failing My Son’: Mother of Bipolar Man Fears for Son’s Life Inside Fulton County Jail
Latreece Williams hasn’t had a good night’s sleep at her home in Perkerson Park in over a month. Not since her son Dewayne Lamar High Jr., who was diagnosed with epilepsy and bipolar schizoaffective disorder in 2011, has been locked up in Fulton County Jail. “I call watch command every day to ask for a […]
Posted inHealth, Politics & Policy
Former CDC Official Warn Budget Cuts Could Deepen HIV Crisis for Black Women in Georgia
A former official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that funding cuts outlined in the proposed fiscal year 2026 federal budget could endanger the health of Black communities. And especially in Georgia, where HIV rates are some of the highest in the country, he warned that Black women are extra vulnerable to […]
Posted inMaternal Health
Proposed ‘Adriana’s Law’ Would Override Georgia’s Abortion Ban
Over the weekend, 30-year-old Adriana Smith was finally laid to rest after months on life support. Family and friends celebrated the young mother’s life at Fairfield Baptist Church in Lithonia by sharing memories of Smith’s kind spirit, while also expressing concerns about the circumstances surrounding her medical care. “It’s awful what’s happened to this family,” […]
Posted inMaternal Health
Why This Black Man Became a Doula: ‘Every Death Was Preventable’
While many doulas are women, one man is working to change the narrative about who can support families during childbirth. Sylvester Pierce, 44, operates a doula business called Younity Birthwork, where he provides services ranging from childbirth education, postpartum care, and more. “Doulas are there for the emotional, spiritual, and physical support of birthing parents. […]
