Life in Appalachia has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. For some people, the pandemic meant that they couldn’t go home. This week for BPR and Foxfire Museum's COVID-19 oral history project , we hear from Anh Pham. She’s an international boarding school student at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. She was interviewed by Foxfire Museum fellow and Rabun County high schooler Mario Trujillo in July 2020. Learn how you can share your experiences during the pandemic with BPR & Foxfire’s oral history

BPR is answering listener queries about the Coronavirus in a new segment – Talk to Us: COVID Questions . BPR’s Helen Chickering brings us this week’s answer. This week's question comes from Bob Evans of Buncombe County.

For Patricia Iñiguez and her family, the pandemic was the final push to move out of their suburban West Asheville home and into the woods.

For the first time in almost a year, some students in Buncombe County are returning to the classroom five days a week. Bringing them back requires changes across the board. Each school is different, so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all plan.

This week North Carolina health officials announced that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities will be given higher priority for receiving COVID-19 vaccines. North Carolina Health News editor Rose Hoban has been following this story and shared details with BPR’s Helen Chickering during their weekly check-in.

Mission Health System has announced that it is moving forward with its new hospital in Franklin after more than a 3-month delay because of the pandemic. Mission Health says it will be breaking ground on the new Angel Medical Center at the end of April. Dr. Timothy Layman oversees clinical operations at Angel. He says the new hospital, which will now be across town, will have new technology - including a new imaging suite - and more space. “This investment is one that will be one that will be

As we mark the one year anniversary of the pandemic in North Carolina, BPR is launching a new series of oral histories from Appalachia. It’s a partnership with Foxfire Museum to gather and share how COVID-19 has shaped us. We start with Rabun County middle school teachers John and Alicia Kilby, interviewed by their former student Zain Harding. Learn how you can share your experiences during the pandemic with BPR & Foxfire’s oral history guide . The following is an edited excerpt of the Kilby

We’ve been talking a great deal about “community” and what it means to live in community. We will continue that conversation today. We will be joined by two members of the 2020-2022 class of the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations - Dalton Dockery and Willard Watson III

BPR is answering listener queries about the Coronavirus in a new segment – Talk to Us: COVID Questions . BPR’s Helen Chickering brings us this week’s answer.

As more people get vaccinated in North Carolina, more places are opening to administer the shots. BPR looks at Western Carolina University’s on-campus clinic. The clinic, located at the school’s Health & Human Services building, opened to the public this week. This is after administering over 600 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in February to help clear Jackson County Department of Public Health’s waiting list. “Our website and call center went live yesterday around 2 p.m.” That’s Courtnee