The NCOHC team traveled to Sylva in January 2025 for a much-anticipated in-person convening with Western North Carolina (WNC) Steering Committee members. The original meeting, scheduled for October 2024, got postponed after Hurricane Helene devastated the region.
Before discussing 2025 policy priorities and taking a tour of Southwestern Community College’s brand-new dental facility, providers across WNC shared their experiences during and after Hurricane Helene.
Strength in unity in the wake of a natural disaster
Everyone spoke about bright lights during the storm, highlighting ways their personal and professional communities united to support each other. Several people talked about losing their own homes, family members who were displaced, and the difficulty of dealing with loss while simultaneously meeting with colleagues and working hard to resume patient care.
“Her house flooded, and she was taken out in a boat,” said Dr. Katherine Jowers, speaking about her mother’s harrowing escape from Helene’s floodwaters.
Dr. Jowers talked about how moving it was to see her colleagues come together and immediately start working to get the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) back online, despite her absence as she worked to ensure her family’s safety.
Denise Collier, a public health hygienist with the Mountain Community Health Partnership, said, “There are some places in Yancey County that just recently (four months after the hurricane hit) got their power back on.”
“The immediate aftermath of the hurricane was very uncertain,” she said. “We didn’t even know if our dental building was still standing. Our patients have high levels of toothaches and abscesses, so we were very concerned about them. Even if the building was still standing, how were they going to get to us?”
Resource delivery and coordination to meet children’s dental needs
Mellie Burns, RDH, the children’s dental program manager for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Public Health and Human Services, spoke about how lucky her part of Western North Carolina was. The farthest western counties were largely spared from Helene’s devastation.
Burns also said that the Qualla Boundary quickly became a focal point for coordinating relief supplies, and it was inspiring to witness the volume of support that came in from across the country.
She specifically spoke about receiving an anonymous truckload of toothbrushes.
“I have no idea where they came from,” she said. “Our tribal relations director reached out to me and asked me to help get them where they need to go.”
Burns said she helped coordinate deliveries across WNC, prioritizing schools and other facilities that could distribute the toothbrushes to children who needed dental supplies.
After discussing Hurricane Helene, the WNC Steering Committee turned its attention forward. The committee discussed policy opportunities to invest in disaster resilience, ease the regulatory burden on providers in a disaster setting, and improve overall conditions for public health care across the region.
Learn more and get involved
To learn more about the impact of the storm and opportunities to improve oral and rural health, check out our 2024 Portrait of Oral Health and our FHLI partner program the North Carolina Rural Health Association’s 2025 NC Rural Snapshot report. In it, you will also find an interview with Dr. Rob Temple about the value of integrated care.
