Wolfpack now playing for pride

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Postpartum help is coming

WRALEIGH ithin hours of giving birth, Kerri Hall's mood quickly turned from the elation of a new mom to the worry of a woman troubled by severe anxiety.

Hall was still in her room at Rex Hospital when the first pangs of nervousness and insomnia struck. Soon, she'd harbor obsessive thoughts she might hurt her newborn daughter. Within three months, Hall attempted suicide.

Hall suffered from one of the worst forms of postpartum depression, the condition that at least 10 percent to 15 percent of new moms experience, although experts say these estimates are likely too low.

Cancer care boom makes N.C. a beacon for patients

His oncologist was out of ideas, and Duane Wait was low on hope.

So the South Carolinian looked 240 miles north, where the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a new clinical trial, beckoned.

Now, Wait drives more than four hours to Durham once a month for prostate cancer treatment and testing.

'Centering' has benefits for women

Prenatal care visits often mean waiting an hour or more for 10 minutes with a health-care provider. Pregnant women are irritated by that. And many caregivers grow weary of going room to room answering the same questions again and again.

A national movement, which includes clinics in Durham and Chapel Hill, is changing all that.

Instead of one-on-one medical visits, pregnant women who are due about the same time get care in groups. The participants share health-care providers but get the providers' undivided attention during sessions lasting up to two hours.

Mothers find support

Amy Mackin of Carrboro had been good at everything she'd ever tried.

She was a Harvard grad, an accomplished businesswoman, happily married, with lots of friends.

Then she became a mother.

Duke bets big on a new cancer center

Duke University Health System will spend $700 million on a new cancer center and medical tower, a sum one industry expert called staggering and said shows that Duke wants to build its reputation on a global scale.

The investment shows Duke bets it will emerge competitive no matter the outcome of the health-care debate, said Dawn Carter, principal of Durham's Health Planning Source, which helps hospitals strategize.

"There's always a risk, even if reform wasn't on the table," said Carter, who has worked with Duke and counts UNC Health Care and Rex as clients. "Duke is looking at this in terms of their international reputation."