Prince William police public radio channel goes silent
By Jill Palermo for Prince William Times
Prince William County police switched to all “encrypted” radio communications on Monday, Jan. 5. It’s the first time the main communications channel has been made inaccessible to the public in the department’s more than 50-year history.
Read the full article at Prince William Times.
Town of Orange names its first woman police chief
By Heather Price Ives for The Daily Progress
The town of Orange has named a new police chief, and for the first time in the town’s history it is a woman.
Read the full article at The Daily Progress.
Local ED doctor combines witty humor, medicine in ’99 Ways to Die’
By Cathy Dyson for The Free Lance-Star
It’s hard to imagine that a book about some of the most dangerous things that could kill a person — flesh-eating bacteria and hippos with attitudes, anthrax and poisonous plants, scorpions and superbug infections — could make a reader laugh out loud.
But that’s what happens when Dr. Ashely Alker of Spotsylvania County combines science, sense of humor and medical experiences from around the world.
Read the full article at The Free Lance-Star.
Final bill for $5,000, 7-mile ambulance ride almost grew even more outrageous
By Dan Casey for The Roanoke Times
July was the last time we examined the issue of Ricky Rucker and his almost-$5,000 ambulance ride. You might recall that. Relevant adjectives at play in the matter include terms such as “ludicrous,” “laughable,” and “insane.”
At the time, the house-flipper from southeast Roanoke was happy, because his overbilling nightmare by a Colorado ambulance company finally seemed over. But then it reared up one more time.
It’s such a mess that the Roanoke City Council has asked the Virginia General Assembly to legislate on the matter, perhaps in the same way federal law already prohibits predatory balance-billing for helicopter ambulances.
Read the full article at The Roanoke Times.
Centra Southside Community Hospital to stop delivering babies
By Jeff Moore for The Charlotte Gazette
Centra Southside Community Hospital (CSCH) will discontinue its labor and delivery services in December as part of a consolidation of women’s health care with Centra’s Lynchburg facilities, citing nationwide shortages of obstetricians and declining birth rates that have made it increasingly difficult to sustain the service locally.
Hospital Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Angelo said the decision, while difficult, was driven by persistent staffing shortages and the need to ensure patients receive consistent, safe care.
“We’ve had OB recruitment challenges for some time now, where we get staffed and then somebody leaves,” Angelo said. “But these shortages are not unique to Centra.”
Read the full article atThe Charlotte Gazette.
Leave a Reply