Editing Avery County, North Carolina (section)

==Medical==
The county's public hospital is Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital in Linville, a campus of Appalachian Healthcare System, headquartered at Watauga Medical Center in Boone. The hospital is centrally located in Linville and opened in 2000, to consolidate and replace the old Cannon Hospital located in Banner Elk and Sloop Hospital located in Crossnore. The new campus also hosts the Sloop Medical Building, which houses various doctor's and dentist's offices, the local YMCA complex, and a pharmacy. The hospital is a critical care facility with a 24-hour emergency department as well as imagery, lab, surgery, and other services. Critical illnesses and injuries and trauma patients are often stabilized at Cannon, then are flown or transported by ambulance to hospitals in Charlotte, Asheville, or [[Johnson City, Tennessee]]. The hospital formerly had 25 medical beds, but now has 8 since the opening of Appalachian Regional Behavioral Health hospital in late 2021.

Appalachian Regional Behavioral Health Hospital (ARBH) is an independent psychiatric hospital built to accommodate increasing demand for mental health services in the area. It expands on the former 10 bed psychiatric unit of Cannon Hospital with 27 total beds and a triage area where patients can walk in for an assessment to determine if inpatient care is necessary. 

Blue Ridge Hospital, a Mission Health care System campus, located just beyond Avery County in the neighboring Mitchell County town of Spruce Pine, also serves the lower portion of Avery County.

The Avery County Emergency Medical Service (EMS) is a full-time county department (since 1994). They provide paramedic-level emergency medical care via three ambulances and a supervisor's SUV at all times, at station locations across the county. Backup is provided by fire departments, a rescue squad and law enforcement first responders.