Last Thursday CEO Miriam Schwarz attended a legislative forum at NCMS, at which participants from around the state discussed the upcoming elections and the most hotly contested NC House and Senate races. In our neck of the woods, those would be the following (all House of Representatives):

• Moffit vs. Turner (Buncombe)
• Ramsey vs. Ager (Buncombe)
• Presnell vs. Hicks (Haywood, Yancey Madison)

WCMS intends to conduct a "virtual" debate by interviewing WNC House and Senate candidates regarding their positions of various issues of importance to the house of medicine and publishing responses on our website later this fall. Also, NCMS PAC will make recommendations regarding best bets for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals candidates.

Last Friday, Miriam attended the debate between Ramsey/Ager and Moffit/Turner at AB Tech Enka campus, hosted by CIBO. Feel free to contact Miriam for more information at 274-2267 x312.

Remember that your vote is critical. Please case your vote on November 4. If you can't get away from work to vote, then vote by absentee ballot.  Absentee ballot voting begins Friday, Sept. 5. Voter registration deadline is October 10. One-stop early voting begins October 23.

"The fire at 1 St. Dunstans Road just off Biltmore Avenue was reported around 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 3. It appears to have started on a deck near the main entrance to the office or just inside the front door.

The Asheville-Buncombe Arson Task Force ruled the fire suspicious. Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 828-255-5050. Calls are anonymous."

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Great quote: "I believe this is the key to coping with the stresses of contemporary medicine: identifying what is important to you, what you believe in and what you will fight for."

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William E. Corcoran, V, MD, has been named a partner of AllCare Clinical Associates, PA. He joined the practice in 2011 and specializes in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia.    

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Corcoran received his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dr. Corcoran completed his residency training in anesthesiology and a cardiothoracic anesthesiology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Corcoran is certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology and a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists and the Western Carolina Medical Society.

AllCare Clinical Associates, www.allcareclinical.com, is one of the largest private physician-owned anesthesia practices serving North Carolina and employs over 200 Anesthesiologists, Anesthetists and business and management professionals. AllCare Clinical Associates provides anesthesia, pain clinic management services and perioperative care for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers of all sizes. 

WCMS is a thriving 700-plus member professional association of the physicians of western North Carolina and a chartered component medical society of the NC Medical Society and the AMA. The WCMS is an organization run by physicians for physicians.