The November meeting of SEARCH – Sustaining Essential and Rural Community Healthcare – will be Thursday, November 29, at 5:30 p.m. in the Trinity Episcopal Church Parish Hall on Hemlock Avenue in Spruce Pine.  Everyone is invited to share in a potluck dinner, where SEARCH will provide the main dish and attendees are asked to bring the rest.

The meeting is intended as a capstone event for the year, bringing people up to date on what’s been accomplished and what is still very much in progress.  Since the acquisition of the Mission System, including Blue Ridge Regional Hospital, is now being reviewed by the N.C. Attorney General, there will be updates about what SEARCH and other WNC are doing to bring attention to aspects of the sales agreement and to the formation and operations of the conversion trust to be created.  Of local interest will be videos of Jacob Willis speaking about the importance of having dependable ambulance services in remote rural areas.  He also talks about the vital impact of our hospital on the economy of Mitchell and Yancey counties.

SEARCH has been working on a number of fronts to build awareness of what the pending sale might mean for western North Carolina as a whole as well as Mitchell and Yancey counties in particular.  During the meeting we will illustrate visually some of those efforts that are currently in play through social media and other media platforms.  We’ll also discuss other venues, including groups in the WNC region, through which information and concerns about the transaction are being voiced.

The ongoing work of SEARCH will be highlighted through a report from the Outreach Committee, which continues to conduct Listening Sessions and hopes to be able to add to the results just out of the Community Health Assessments (CHA) done in Mitchell and Yancey counties.  Major findings from the CHA reports will be shared at the meeting.

To let the planners know that you’re coming to the meeting November 29th and to tell them what you might bring to the potluck, please email sjanelarson@gmail.com or call 765-2652.