The United States formally exited the World Health Organization at one minute past midnight Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at the expiration of the one-year withdrawal period initiated by Executive Order 14155 of January 20, 2025. The withdrawal was extensively covered in the national and international press. The State Department issued a formal diplomatic note. The WHO's Geneva headquarters held a brief media availability at which its spokesperson said, in English: "We regret the decision."
The Helen Family Medicine Clinic is a 1,200-square-foot single-story walk-in medical clinic located at 1146 Main Street, Helen, Georgia. It has been in continuous operation since its opening in May 2004. It is operated, on a day-to-day basis, by Emogene Hyde, RN, a 54- year-old registered nurse who completed her BSN at the University of North Georgia's Dahlonega campus in 1995 and her NP credentialing through Emory in 2011. Ms. Hyde has been the clinic's director since 2018.
The clinic is not, as of Thursday, January 22, 2026, a member of the World Health Organization. It has not, at any point in its 22-year operating history, been a member of the World Health Organization, a WHO-affiliated facility, a WHO-credentialed laboratory, or a signatory to any WHO programmatic agreement. It does not receive WHO funding. It does not report to WHO. It is not, and has never been, mentioned in any WHO document available to this publication's searches.
Ms. Hyde was reached by telephone at the clinic Thursday morning, shortly after a patient had asked her whether the U.S. withdrawal from WHO "would affect the clinic."
"I told her I didn't think so," Ms. Hyde said. "But I'm going to check the filing cabinet."
She did.
The filing cabinet
The Helen Family Medicine Clinic's administrative records are maintained in a three-drawer gray steel filing cabinet located in the clinic's back office, behind the reception area. The top drawer contains patient files (HIPAA-restricted; not reviewed for this article). The middle drawer contains financial records. The bottom drawer contains administrative documents, including a folder marked, in black Sharpie on a 1.5-inch-tall tab, "AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS."
Ms. Hyde removed this folder at 2:47 p.m. Thursday afternoon, with this reporter present. She placed it on her desk. She opened it.
The folder contained seven documents:
A certificate of membership in the Georgia Rural Health Association, dated 2004, renewed annually through 2026.
A certificate of membership in the American Academy of Family Physicians, dated 2011, current.
A certificate of network participation, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia (commercial network), dated 2014, current.
A certificate of network participation, Medicare/Medicaid Services of Georgia, dated 2004, current.
A folded copy of a letter, dated 2008, declining a North Georgia Cancer Foundation membership offer.
A folded 2019 inter-clinic agreement with the Habersham Family Medicine Clinic (Cornelia, GA) on shared after-hours coverage.
A business-card-sized membership card for the Northeast Georgia Chamber of Commerce, dated 2004, current.
None of the documents reference the World Health Organization.
Ms. Hyde confirmed, having reviewed each document in turn, that "we are not in the WHO, we were never in the WHO, and this withdrawal doesn't change anything for us."
She closed the folder. She placed it back in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. She returned to her patients.
The patient
The patient who had raised the original question Thursday morning — who Ms. Hyde identified, with the patient's permission, as Mr. Berenger "Bear" Vogel of 717 Edelweiss Strasse — said, per Ms. Hyde's later account, that he had wanted to "confirm with my nurse" before he paid the clinic's $85 walk-in fee. Informed that the fee was unaffected by the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, Mr. Vogel had said: "Well, I guess it's still worth it."
He paid. He received treatment (per Ms. Hyde, "routine; he is fine"). He left.
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