The AdventHealth Hendersonville Foundation recently announced the arrival of new, state-of-the-art cancer exam beds at AdventHealth Cancer Services offices. These advanced exam beds were made possible through the Kenmure Fights Cancer program’s 2022 donation of $64,000.18 to the AdventHealth Hendersonville Foundation. These tables allow for safe level patient transfer from standard wheelchair heights and will significantly simplify patient transfers. Each exam table costs nearly $7,000. The support from Kenmure Fights Cancer will go a long way to bringing these leading-edge exam beds to AdventHealth patients. Read more.
AdventHealth Hendersonville has shared that for the 14th consecutive grading cycle, the hospital has received an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit upholding the standard of patient safety in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. This national distinction celebrates AdventHealth Hendersonville’s achievements in prioritizing patient safety by protecting patients from preventable harm and errors. The new grades reflect performance primarily during the height of the pandemic. Read more.
Happenings:
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville & Buncombe County and the City of Asheville invites the community to a week-long celebration of Juneteenth entitled “Celebrating the History and Legacy of Juneteenth.” The 2023 celebration will focus on educating individuals about Juneteenth, spotlighting non-majority businesses, providing spaces for “Black Asheville,” as well as all residents, and involving youth as future leaders in the region. Read more.
Grindfest is BACK Friday, May 26 – Sunday, May 28! It is a free, 3-day event that celebrates the success of Black entrepreneurs + business owners in Asheville. A block-party style event will take place on 8 Rivers Arts Place! This includes a weekend full of music, games, live performance, food, local vendors + learning, employment and partnership opportunities. The goal of the festival is to highlight the progress made by people of color while also connecting folks in the community. A long weekend of fun and excitement. Learn more & get tickets.
ArtSpace Charter School is holding its Signature Fundraising event, the 100×100, on May 27th from 4 – 7 PM at the Blue Spiral Gallery. Event patron tickets are sold for $100 – These supporters will be guaranteed to take home a work of art at the end of the event. Also, companion tickets will be sold for $25.00 giving entry to the event, but do not include a piece of art. Learn more.
Take your seats, sit up straight, and pay attention! The Magnetic Theatre is thrilled to present Da Classroom Ain’t Enuf, by Charles Payne, running June 2nd through June 17th. This choreopoem, inspired by the work of Ntozake Shange, explores the lives of Black and Brown communities, particularly as they intersect with the American educational system. Four actors form the ensemble, each playing teachers, students, and their families in snapshots and vignettes spanning a range of ages and experiences from the shattering of youthful innocence to the steadfast refusal to give in to the challenges facing current and future generations. Poignant, heartbreaking, humorous, beautiful, and hopeful, Da Classroom Ain’t Enuf uses poetry, prose, and music to shed unique light on the lives of our nation’s underserved learners and those who passionately teach and determinedly advocate for them. Read more & get your tickets!
Hire:
IFB Solutions,the largest employer of people who are blind or visually impaired in the country, has hired Travis Guerra to oversee its Asheville operations as the nonprofit’s new Asheville plant manager. The Asheville manufacturing facility, located on Sardis Road, is one of the manufacturing facilities operated by IFB Solutions including its headquarters located in Winston-Salem, N.C. In his new role, Guerra will lead IFB’s Asheville manufacturing team and oversee all facility operations. IFB’s Asheville plant employs more than 137 people, about half of whom are blind or visually impaired, to manufacture products such as uniforms, field equipment and office products for the U.S. government and military. The Asheville facility operates product lines that support Military Resale and the Impulse Merchandising Program for the Defense Commissary Agency. Employees who are blind assemble and package more than 400 different products, which are then shipped and sold at military installations and commissaries around the world. Read more.
AdventHealth has welcomed Brion Dixon, PA-C to its team at AdventHealth Medical Group Multispecialty at Laurel Park. Dixon will be serving alongside their board-certified Geriatrician, Marianna Benson, DO, to provide Age-Friendly care, specializing in services for older adults and their caregivers. Dixon earned his bachelor’s degree in Emergency Medical Care with a Science Concentration from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC and went on to earn his Physician Assistant master’s degree from Wingate University. He has more than 20 years of diverse health care experience including in dermatology and full spectrum primary care services. Read more.
Retirement:
Fire Chief Scott Burnette is retiring after serving the community for over 28 years, with the last 14 years as fire chief. His last day will be June 1, 2023. “Chief Burnette has been an incredible leader both to his department and the organization as a whole,” said City Manager Debra Campbell. “Through his years of service he has demonstrated time and again both compassion and an incredible depth of integrity. The Asheville Fire Department (AFD) is better because of his contributions and set up for success because of his legacy.” Burnette’s leadership has been instrumental in the achievement of a number of goals that have positively impacted the fire department, its firefighters, the organization and the Asheville community. Read more.