This is the first in a series of several stories that will analyze funding and spending of health departments across the Border Belt. For more than a decade, Columbus County women have had fewer and fewer affordable options for breast and cervical cancer screening, according to Elizabeth Kinlaw, an adult health nurse for the Columbus County Health Department. “There’s no help for them,” Kinlaw said.  …Read more

Scotland County has consistently had one of the best COVID-19 vaccine allocation rates in the state — and certainly the best of the Border Belt counties. Since the beginning of vaccine distribution in mid December, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has sent Scotland County an average of 743 vaccine doses per week, or one dose per 6.35 county residents.   “I don’t …Read more