Newsletter Articles

NCDHHS staff are mobilizing across divisions to make progress on North Carolina's Early Childhood Action Plan. Department leaders recently spent two days working in cross-sector teams to strategize and make plans to leverage and align work in three priority areas for 2020.

Four DHHS employees were recently honored with 2019 Governor's Awards for Excellence: Mindy Jane Coleman of Black Mountain Neuro-Medical Center; Steven C. King of Broughton Hospital; Martha Swindell Brown of Cherry Hospital; and Dr. Susan M. Kansagra of the Division of Public Health.

In North Carolina, nearly 79,000 people sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2015. Of those, more than 1,800 died, more than 7,000 were hospitalized and nearly 70,000 were treated and released from emergency departments. For survivors, depending on the severity of a TBI, effects can include impairments related to thinking or memory, movement, vision or hearing, and to emotional functioning that may interfere with finding or keeping a job. This is an area where DHHS’ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS) can help.

DHHS’ Division of Child Development and Early Education has opened a Nursing and Wellness Room at its main office in Raleigh.

DHHS and partners across North Carolina are helping people get back to work through Individual Placement Support (IPS), a community-based service for adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders who are entering or reentering the workforce.

The 2019 Opioid Misuse & Overdose Prevention Summit is an event that allows North Carolinians to learn about solutions to address the opioid epidemic. 

DHHS employees were celebrated by department leadership during State Employee Recognition Week from May 5 to 11.

Children and teens at risk of inadequate food when school is not in session may receive free, nutritious meals and snacks through the Summer Food Service Program beginning this month.

As one way of helping the state drive toward the Early Childhood Action Plan goals, NCDHHS is sharing how leaders and advocates across the state are supporting young children in their communities.

Increased cooperation and cross-divisional partnerships were cited as essential to improving DHHS’ service to North Carolina families with Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind children at the 2019 National Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Conference, held March 5 in Chicago.

North Carolina has a long history of leading in early education. But panelists participating in the final session of the North Carolina Early Childhood Summit said we must do more to change early learning outcomes for all young children across the state—especially children of color.

The Early Childhood Action Plan for North Carolina launched in February with a vision to support the state’s young children so they grow up healthy in safe and nurturing families, schools and communities. 

A renowned researcher on early childhood encouraged North Carolina advocates to go beyond traditional thinking to improve the health, safety and well-being of the state's children.

Governor Roy Cooper, former Governor Jim Hunt, NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, and other top leaders in early childhood came together to launch a detailed framework to galvanize coordinated, statewide public and private action to improve health, safety, family resilience and early learning outcomes for young children. 

More than 1,500 people from across the state have provided feedback on the North Carolina Early Childhood Action Plan, providing valuable input as the plan was drafted. The plan will be finalized and is expected to be shared with the public at the end of February.