Richmond blood pressure center closes
The pandemic has claimed another victim – a Richmond-based clinic that treated low-income residents without health insurance for high blood pressure and related health conditions. After nearly 40 years of operation, the Richmond Area High Blood Pressure Center has closed its operation at 1200 W. Cary St. According to the former office manager, Pamela Moore-Barr, donations that kept the low-budget operation afloat dried up after COVID-19 hit in 2020. The clinic, which provided medication, heart tests and other services, was unable to find replacement dollars, Ms. Moore- Barr said, and quietly closed May 30 after referring patients to other health centers. “It was a sad day,” said Ms. Moore-Barr, who had been with the center since it opened in the spring of 1983. She was among the three remaining employees who were laid off. The center saw about 2,500 people a year and essentially was free. Patients were asked for a $10 donation but were treated anyway if they didn’t have it. Operating on less than $400,000 a year, the center relied heavily on volunteer physicians and nurses from VCU Health and other large health care operations. People who came to the center received checkups, heart tests, medication to control their blood pressure and referrals to specialists, if needed.
Several organizations to receive child care assistance grants
City Hall plans to award grants to six organizations to help them shore up and expand day care operations for pre-school children to provide families with more options.
VCU to study Covid’s long-term effects in children
Researchers and clinicians at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing will study the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the lives and health of infants, youths and young adults.
City’s plan leaves fewer people with shelter this winter
City Hall is ending its decades-old effort to prevent homeless people from freezing to death when temperatures plunge.
Crusade for Voters supports November referendum for casino revenue use
If a casino is ever built in Richmond, should all the tax dollars generated from the gambling center go to modernizing Richmond’s decrepit school buildings?
Cityscape
Slices of life and scenes in Richmond
Real estate developer Capital City Partners, LLC purchased the City’s 71-year-old former Public Safety Building at 500 N. 10th St., 9th Street entrance shown above, for $3.5 million in 2021. Capital City officials said the building would be demolished on the 3-acre property to make room for a $325 million, 500,000-square-foot tower development that will be anchored by VCU Health.
RPS approves stipends and hiring bonuses to attract new teachers
Richmond Public Schools is taking big steps to find new teachers for the upcoming school year.
NPS grant to help preserve historic elementary school
'This will allow us to dream ... it will allow restoration and interpretation’
A Cumberland County school that was part of a vibrant African-American community for nearly 50 years is getting help from the National Park Service to preserve its location.
Q&A: Jordan Peele on the dreams and nightmares of ‘Nope’
There’s little in contemporary movies quite like the arrival of a new Jordan Peele film. They tend to descend ominously and mysteriously, a little like an unknown object from above that casts an expanding, darkening shadow the closer it comes.
City leader to question silent sheriff about jail attacks
Richmond Sheriff Antionette V. Irving has been asked to appear before City Council’s Public Safety Committee next week.
3 for 3
Americans sweep top 3 places at the World championships for 3rd time
Men wearing the red, white and blue have harvested gold, silver and bronze at the World Athletics Championships.
Construction leader Langston R. Davis Sr. dies
Langston Randolph Davis Sr., president and chief executive officer of Richmond-based Davis Brothers Construction Co. Inc., has died.
Personality: Reginald E. Gordon
Spotlight on Richmond Memorial Health Foundation board chairman
Inside and outside the walls of City Hall, Reginald E. (for Equilla) Gordon is working to build a more equitable, racially inclusive Richmond.
Medical examiner: Jayland Walker was shot dozens of times
Jayland Walker, the 25-year-old Black man who died last month at the hands of police in Akron, Ohio, was shot dozens of times on June 27, with 26 bullets recovered from his body, according to a preliminary autopsy report released July 15.
Personality: Joanna Heiskill
Spotlight on co-founder of Justice and Change for Victims of Nursing Facilities
When Joanna Heiskill’s mother died in August 2019, she was determined to find the cause of her death.
Use economic tools to stop gun violence, by Julianne Malveaux
There have been at least 214 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, the most recent being the killings during a July 4 gathering in Highland Park, Ill. This year, we have also been both riveted and horrified by the massacre of 21 people, 19 of them children, in Uvalde, Texas. A crazed racist killed 10 Black people and wounded at least three others when he shot up a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. In 2022, there have been more shootings than days; the shootings have become commonplace.
Nation loses unsung civil rights hero, by Marc H. Morial
The name Clifford Alexander Jr., who died recently at age 88, is not as well-known today as some of his contemporaries in the Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps no American, however, has done more to combat segregation and discrimination in private employment and the military or leaves as great a legacy.
Abortion in Virginia must be protected
If you are a Black or Brown woman who is pregnant, living in Virginia, and want the right to become a parent, congratulations.
Rebuilding the Village festival
A free, open-to-all community festival that organizers said will feature food, music and fun is scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 16, at Armstrong High School, 2300 Cool Lane in the East End.
