PRESS RELEASE — As part of its Direct Support Professional Workforce Plan, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is announcing $3 million to recruit and retain direct support professionals. This workforce is critical in helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live, work and thrive in communities of their choice. They provide a wide range of supports from daily tasks like bathing, eating and taking medications to connecting people with community resources and opportunities.
Press Releases
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is reporting two pediatric flu-related deaths, the first for the 2024-2025 flu season. One child in the Eastern region and another in the Central region of the state recently died due to complications of influenza. To protect both families’ privacy, additional information will not be released about these cases.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced more than $11 million in funding to community-based diversion programs and reentry services that strengthen support for people involved in the justice system. Providing alternatives to incarceration when appropriate and supporting people upon their release with things like housing and employment are critical to stop the cycle of justice system involvement, which improves health outcomes for people and efficiency across our health and justice systems.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today updated its weekly Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard, which shows an increase in flu activity and flu-related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths this season to 117.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services received approval from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services to continue the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP) that makes hospital incentives for the state’s medical debt relief initiative possible. The first two years were approved in July 2024. This new approval supports the state’s work to relieve more than $4 billion and a decade’s worth of medical debt for nearly 2 million low-and middle-income North Carolinians and prevent accumulation of new debt going forward.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live Spanish-language Cafecito and tele-town hall on Thursday, Feb. 6, from 6 to 7 p.m., to discuss how people can support their mental well-being, find resources and get help for themselves or someone else experiencing a mental health crisis.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is investing $3 million to expand access to Child First, an evidence-based, early childhood intervention program proven to reduce the risk of child maltreatment and prevent young children and families from entering the foster care system. This investment, awarded to Alliance Health, Trillium Health Resources and Vaya Health, will expand Child First services to additional counties across the state, providing critical, community-based access to behavioral health care and family support services.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Into the Mouths of Babes program, a partnership that delivers preventive oral health services to young children insured by NC Medicaid. Since 2000, this program has helped medical providers across the state give infants and toddlers early dental evaluations, preventive oral health care and other dental services that lay the foundation for good health.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live fireside chat and tele-town hall on Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 6 to 7 p.m. to discuss how people can support their mental well-being, find resources and get help for themselves or someone else experiencing a mental health crisis.
READOUT — North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai traveled to western North Carolina today to participate in a Day of Service in coordination with Governor Josh Stein and other cabinet leaders. Recovery efforts continue to assist the more than four and a half million people who live in the 39 counties included in the federal disaster declaration following Hurricane Helene.