The number of Rappahannock seniors who depend on rides to medical appointments is growing, but a shortage of drivers strains transportation accessibility Imagine: You’re in your mid-70s living alone and recovering from major surgery. Six weeks of physical therapy is...
Six suggestions from a former chaplain and Red Cross crisis response leader The following report, which has been edited for style, was republished from nonprofit news organization NextAvenue. Earl Johnson, 70, knows how to comfort people who have experienced...
Chester Gap chief: “It’s bad. People don’t realize how bad. We’re fighting it tooth and nail right now.” In December, a crew from the Sperryville Volunteer Rescue Squad responded to a call. They picked up a patient and headed for Fauquier Hospital. There, they waited...
Persistent pandemic frustrates public schools It’s not surprising that Superintendent Shannon Grimsley and her staff at Rappahannock County Public Schools felt pretty good about the start of classes last August. Snapshot 2021: Intro, Development, Broadband, News...
Editor's note: This story was published in print prior to new mandate from the state requiring face coverings indoors in K-12 schools. A year ago, Shannon Grimsley was facing the unfathomable. Another school year was about to begin, but one under the perilous cloud of...
With the first day of the new school year just hours away, the Rappahannock County School Board on Tuesday night voted to slightly adjust its masking policy, allowing the superintendent to mandate masks in the event of an outbreak — with the ability to remove the...
If you can't drive, Rappahannock County can be a difficult place to live. If you use a wheelchair, it is even harder since commercial wheelchair transport is practically non-existent. But, as is so often the case, regional nonprofit and government organizations work...
Trained clinicians have joined law enforcement officers in responding to mental health calls in the region The call was about a man threatening suicide. In response, a Fauquier County sheriff’s deputy drove to the scene, hoping he could talk him out of it. He never...
Trips to medical appointments from $5 to $20 Not long ago, Lola Walker received a call from a woman who needed a ride to Charlottesville for a medical test. The caller wanted to avoid asking her daughter or granddaughter to take her because they would have had to take...
For many older adults, the question now is how they recover from a pandemic that made their lives dimmer and lonely. Soon the regulars at the senior centers in Rappahannock and Fauquier counties will be able to come in four days a week again. They won’t need to wear...
While the focus has been on COVID-19, drug overdose deaths in the state spike to record levels Addiction, it’s said, thrives in privacy. So as everything began to shut down in March 2020, and isolation became a way of life during the pandemic, people in the treatment...
Washington’s wastewater battle eased into a truce Monday evening, with the Town Council agreeing unanimously to chop its proposed water and sewage rate increase to 11 percent from 25 percent, and to hold the reduced hike in abeyance until a year-end review confirms...
Join our community and receive the latest updates and stories from Rappahannock County directly to your inbox. Stay connected with local news and events by subscribing to the Foothills Forum newsletter.