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Blake Farmer

Latest Stories (109)

COVID-19

COVID hot spots are pointing the way for future health care development plans

by Blake Farmer
Apr 11, 2022
In Nashville, health care facilities are expanding to serve some areas that were hit hardest by the pandemic.
This hospital in Parsons, Tennessee, closed just after the pandemic began. Now, a company is attempting to reopen the facility.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News
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Company aims to buy and restore struggling rural hospitals in Tennessee

by Blake Farmer
Mar 24, 2022
For rural communities, a key question: Can a new company that is taking over ownership restore confidence in the care the local hospital provides?
Kyle Kopec uses his phone to illuminate a cabinet of medical supplies in the shuttered Decatur County General Hospital. His company, Braden Health, is taking over the facility with a pledge to invest $2 million to reopen it.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News
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Expanding Medicaid dental coverage means finding more dentists to handle the work

by Blake Farmer
Feb 28, 2022
Dental schools may need to train more students to keep up with demand in Tennessee.
At a free dental clinic day put on by Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Dr. Ratrice Jackson drills out a cavity. Hundreds lined up to get treatment at this event in 2018 since Tennessee does not provide dental coverage to most adult Medicaid patients.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News
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Pandemic price gouging complaints raise staff tensions with traveling nurses

by Blake Farmer
Feb 15, 2022
Hospitals say that staffing agencies charge too much for providing traveling nurses. The nurses say they're the ones doing the heavy lifting.
Talk of pay caps and price gouging are concerning travel nurses, who say they’re the ones doing the hard work of caring for critically ill COVID patients.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News
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Race and Economy

Nashville VC fund invests in health startups led by Black entrepreneurs

by Blake Farmer
Jan 27, 2022
One goal is to address inequities in health care, and to help make sure those inequities don't get worse as medicine relies more on big data.
Entrepreneur Marcus Whitney, left, interviews former HCA CEO Milton Johnson during Whitney's Health:Further conference in Nashville, which ran from 2015 to 2019.
Melissa Madison/Courtesy Health:Further
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Nursing homes are in critical need of staff

by Blake Farmer
Jan 11, 2022
Some nursing homes say they can't compete for workers, as fast-food places and other retailers have raised wages.
Ashley Rose (left) and Patsy Wilkerson (right) are occupational therapy assistant who work at Knollwood Manor in Lafayette, Tennessee. They joke that they’re also certified nursing assistant assistants because the nursing home is so short on CNAs they end up picking up many of their duties.
Blake Farmer/WPLN
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What's the best way to navigate personal bankruptcy?

by Blake Farmer
Dec 27, 2021
For people pushed to the edge financially, bankruptcy can be an option. One nonprofit is trying to make the choice easier and less expensive.
Bankruptcy can be a lifeline for some, but it's still out of reach for many who can’t afford the roughly $1,500 it takes to hire an attorney and pay for court fees.
FuzzMartin via Getty Images
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What will a $10,000 gift mean for students at Meharry Medical College?

by Blake Farmer
Dec 22, 2021
Students can use the money any way they want, but it could help them reduce debt, and pay for living costs.
Meharry master's student Andreas Nelson said being given $10,000 means the school trusts students to use the money in ways useful to them. Nelson hopes to attend dental school, which leaves the average Meharry student with $280,000 in loans.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News
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COVID & Unemployment

Unemployment is unavailable to many who lose jobs over vaccination rules

by Blake Farmer
Nov 8, 2021
States are taking different paths on paying benefits to people who lose their jobs for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Employers from hospitals to meatpacking plants are pushing vaccination for their employees' and customers' safety. In some cases, the unjabbed have lost their jobs.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News
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COVID-19

Nursing schools struggle to fill the void left by pandemic

by Blake Farmer
Sep 30, 2021
There are signs enrollment in nursing schools has picked up, just as nurses are leaving the profession.
COVID-19 has prompted an exodus of nurses. Though the number of nursing students is growing, it may not be enough to fill the gap.
Brandon Bell via Getty Images
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