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Health

Wake County, UNC Explore Mental Health Care Partnership

WUNC | By Gurnal Scott
Published May 15, 2012 at 6:00 AM EDT
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Wake County residents who need mental health care could become UNC Health Care patients later this year.

Gurnal Scott: Wake County's Board of Commissioners heard a presentation yesterday by UNC Hospitals on a plan to take over the county's mental health program. Consultants have been researching the benefits of a possible partnership since last October. They looked at ideas such as cost effectiveness and how to eliminate any duplication of services. The impending loss of Wake County beds at the soon-to-be-closed Dorothea Dix Hospital was another factor that made a partnership seem more attractive. Commissioners won't make a formal agreement on the plan before August. They will spend the next couple of months working with UNC to decide which mental health services could be part of the transition.

HealthWake CountyUNC Health CareMental Health
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Gurnal Scott
Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
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