The Buncombe County Department of Health began scaling back the centers last year. The nurse practitioner position was reduced to part-time, and the centers also lost their mental health therapists.
ASHEVILLE — When Mikaela Bartow wasn’t feeling well one recent morning, the sixth-grader visited the health center at Erwin Middle School.
Health center workers were able to do a test for strep throat, get the results back right away and call in a prescription that would be waiting for Mikaela’s mom.
“It’s wonderful,” said Mikaela’s mom Christie Bartow, who had been trying all day to reach the doctor. “She (Mikaela) has seen these wonderful women (at the health center), and they’ve already got her medicine at the store.
