WNC Faces Doctor Shortage

8/6/2019 WNC Faces Doctor Shortage

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 A GANNETT NEWSPAPER | VOL . 141 |NO. 269 | 92 pages | © 2010

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BUSINESS E1-6

CLASSIFIEDS G1-6

LIVING, ARTS D1-8LOTTERIES B1

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OBITUARIES B2-3

OPINION A 10-11PUZZLES G2

REAL ESTATE F 1-12

SPORTS C1-9

Inde x 

 Rain , t - st or m

High 66, L o w 57Weather , C10

Forecast SUSANREINHARDT: Mon-tr eat  College pr ofes-sor  Paul Owen has

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home t o t he ne xt  as

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dr edges u pmor e infor -mat ion ont he infer nalpeeling signs.Page B1

ROY AS ELVIS: T o cheer herself up, columnist 

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At an age when she should be looking forward to re-tirement and spending time with her grandchildren,Dr. Katy Lynch is seeingpatients60 hours a weekand slogging through hours of paperwork.

Lynch turned 65 this year and wouldlike to step back f rom her job as a f ami-

ly practice doctor at the TallulahHealth Center inR obbinsville. Butas one of onlythree physi-cians in Gra-ham Coun-ty, that maynot hap-pen any-time soon.

“I can’tdo this too much longer,”Lynch said. But, “I can’tretire realistically with-out being able to replacemyself.”

Graham County’s diffi-culties lie partly in being f arf rom city amenities and in an

area unable to offer competitivesalaries.

But the county is hardly alone asWestern North Carolina deals with a

Problem could w orsen w it hout syst emic cha nges

Please see SHORTAGE on A 7

B y Nanci Bompe y NBOMPEY@CITIZEN - TIMES.COM

On A 3: Healt h car e poll

On A 7: Academic medical campus Doct ors in WNC Healt h car e r efor m

Katy L y nch

A major storm system is expectedto inundate Western North Carolinawith heavy rain today through Tues-day.

The National Weather Service i spredicting 6-7 inches in the Ashe-ville area through Tuesday, andsome flooding is likely if that muchrain f alls. A flood watch or warningwill likely be posted today.

“The bulk of  the rain should be(today) through early Monday,” Na-tional Weather Services Meteorolo-gist  Jeffery Taylor said.

The rain started to f all Saturdayaf ternoonin WNCas a coldf ront ap-proached. Mountainous areas nearthe Tennessee border could see 5-7inches of  rain and some isolated

areas could receive up to 9 inches bythe time the storm exits the areaTuesday.

A low is forming over South Car-olina and Georgia and drawingmoisture out of  the Gulf of  Mexicoand the Atlantic, Taylor said. The

Flooding ra insforeca st for WNCU p t o 7 inches ca lledfor, cooler t emps t ooB y James Shea

 JSHEA@CITIZEN- TIMES.COM

Please see WNC on A 8

It’s called “summer melt,” andMars Hill College President DanLunsford has experienced the phe-nomenon first hand.

The small, private school has tak-en in increasing numbers of applica-tions and sent out more acceptanceletters over the past two years, onlyto see those gains dwindle as parentsfind themselves unable to m eetcosts.

“There is a lot of anxiety, in gen-

eral, over the larger economy,” Luns-ford said. “We are not immune f romthat.”

Private colleges and universitiessince the economy tanked have seendonations decline, endowments re-duced in value and students reluc-tant to pay more than what it wouldcost to attend a public college.

Dana College in Nebraska closedlast summer, and Lambuth College

Pri v a  t ecolleges

suffer w i t heconom y 

Please see COLLEGES on A 6

B y James Shea JSHEA@CITIZEN- TIMES.COM

2008 data

Product: ASH_Broad PubDate: 09-26-2010 Zone: Main Edition: First Page: frontpage User: CSwaney Time: 09-25-2010 21:26 Color: CMYK

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