The recent closure of Vidant Pungo Hospital in Belhaven, North Carolina has hit residents hard both in economic and healthcare terms, according to Kaiser Health News. The hospital generated economic activity of $14 million to $16 million per year in a region where the median income of less than $18,000 a year is one-third the statewide median, according to the article. The closure has also put many of those people in the difficult position of traveling long distances for care. "Half of them aren't going anywhere," Charles Boyette, M.D., a primary care doctor, told KHN. "They're taking a chance on if they'll be alive or dead after the emergency passes. The disaster has already started." Article