Princess Health and Donna Arnett, new UK public-health dean, says research is important to reducing Kentucky's huge health disparities. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Donna Arnett, new UK public-health dean, says research is important to reducing Kentucky's huge health disparities. Princessiccia

epidemiology public health research University of Kentucky

Gusty 13:00 Add Comment

Donna Arnett, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky, says research is essential to reducing Kentucky's huge health disparities, as illustrated by the recent release of data showing a wide range in life expectancy among counties.

In a UK news release and video, Arnett, a genetic epidemiologist and native of London, noted the "devastating impact" that obesity, diabetes, cancer, drug-abuse and overdose deaths have in her native state.

�Public health is at the heart of answering the challenges of those critical diseases in Kentucky, " Arnett said. "We in public health are really at the forefront of first detecting these epidemics, and then finding strategies and interventions to help eliminate those disparities.�

Arnett's passion for research began during her early career as a nurse when she was working next to a dialysis clinic at a Department for Veterans Affairs hospital and noticed that more African-American men were sent to the clinic than men of other races.

�I�ll never forget, in my hallway in this VA hospital, every day men would be coming down the hallway, and they�re almost all African American,� Arnett said. �I said, �You know, there has to be something about being African American and having kidney failure.��

This prompted her to create an informal hypothesis that this was linked to a genetic code in African American men that put them at a higher risk of kidney failure. She was right. While her original hypothesis evolved, it was validated after numerous studies.

Arnett obtained a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina and built a career in public health. She has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health for more than 20 years, and brought three active NIH projects to UK when she became dean of the public-health college in 2015. Among other leadership roles, she has served as the president of the American Heart Association.

Serving as AHA president showed Arnett that "solving the most urgent health problems in the nation requires the collaboration among different professionals and organizations devoted to health and uniting the research efforts and knowledge of diverse investigators," and she is working to establish partnerships across the state, the UK release and video say.

"Science now is really multi-disciplinary," Arnett said, "so we have to function in a team."

Princess Health and Forrest W. Calico, national leader in rural health care, dies at 75. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Forrest W. Calico, national leader in rural health care, dies at 75. Princessiccia

Appalachia books obituaries public health rural health rural hospitals

Gusty 05:35 Add Comment

Forrest W. Calico

Dr. Forrest W. Calico, a nationally recognized expert on rural health-care quality, died Monday at his home near Crab Orchard "after striving against multiple myeloma for several years," said his obituary in the Lexington Herald-Leader. He was 75.

A native of Garrard County, Calico received his medical degree from the University of Kentucky in 1966. He also held a master's degree in public health from Harvard University. In the U.S. Air Force, he was a flight surgeon at Area 51 in Nevada, a family physician, residency director and hospital administrator, earning the Bronze Star. He was president and CEO of Appalachian Regional Healthcare from 1993 to 1999, a health-systems adviser to the federal Office of Rural Health Policy and a senior quality adviser to the National Rural Health Association. In 2007 he was named a Rural Hero by the National Rural Assembly and in 2010 entered the UK College of Public Health Hall of Fame.

In retirement, Calico remained active at the state and local levels, serving on the boards of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation and the Lincoln County Board of Health. In 2012 he published a memoir, Out of the Blue, with the subtitle "How open doors and unexpected paths set the course of my life."

Calico is survived by his wife Patricia Calico, their son Jefferson and wife Cari, daughter Tricia and husband Wes Cohron, his sister Helen Eden, a nephew and six grandchildren. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, June 18, from 2 to 5 p.m., with a memorial service at 3 p.m., at The Church at Cedar Creek at 5787 US 150, east of Stanford. Memorial donations may go to The Friedell Committee, PO Box 910953, Lexington KY 40591, or the Dr. Patricia A. Calico Endowed Nursing Scholarship at UK, 315 College of Nursing Building, Lexington KY 40536.

Princess Health and Official praises needle exchanges and medication-assisted treatment for addiction: 'Treatment works. Recovery is possible.' . Princessiccia

Princess Health and Official praises needle exchanges and medication-assisted treatment for addiction: 'Treatment works. Recovery is possible.' . Princessiccia

addiction drug abuse drug treatment health care access heroin needle exchanges pregnancy public health

Gusty 16:12 Add Comment

Scott Hesseltine

Scott Hesseltine, the new vice-president of addiction services at Louisville's Seven Counties Services, talked on Kentucky Educational Television about needle exchanges and a new model of addiction treatment that combines medication assisted treatment with an abstinence-based model of care.

"We are in the midst of a tragic public-health crisis and it's claiming the lives of our citizens at astronomical rates," he said, noting that more than 1,000 people die from drug overdoses in Kentucky each year and that the state has the highest rate of hepatitis C in the nation.

Seven Counties Services provides behavioral-health services, primarily for people on Medicaid, in Jefferson County and six neighboring counties: Henry, Oldham, Trimble, Spencer, Shelby and Bullitt.

The interview on "Connections with Renee Shaw" was part of KET's "Inside Opioid Addiction" initiative, which is funded in part by a grant from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. It aired in June.

Hesseltine, who came to Seven Counties Services from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, a nationally recognized drug and alcohol treatment center, commended Kentucky's "forward thinking" in passing an anti-heroin bill last year.

Among other things, the bill allows needle exchanges to decrease the spread of infectious diseases, like hepatitis C and HIV, that are commonly spread by drug users sharing needles. They require both local approval and funding and have met with some resistance because many think they condone or perpetuate drug use.

Asked about that, Hesseltine said research shows that needle exchanges do what they are meant to do -- reduce the incidence of infectious disease among intravenous drug users.

He noted that Justice Secretary John Tilley, who was instrumental in passing the heroin bill as a state representative, said at a recent community forum in Corbin that research found that addicts who are involved in needle exchange programs are five times more likely to enter treatment.

"And we know treatment works and recovery is possible, so any avenue to slow the spread of disease and to help more people find the solution in recovery is a positive thing," he said.

Another point of contention among some lawmakers is that some of the state's needle-exchange programs don't adhere to a needle-for-needle exchange, which they say was the intent of the law,but instead provide as many needles as the addict needs for a week.

Hesseltine said the needs-based model decreases needle sharing and thus disease, so "Needs-based is more appropriate; it is more evidence based."

Hesseltine told Shaw that while working at Hazelden, he was part of an initiative that completely "altered the way we provided care." The new program, called COR-12, combines medication-assisted treatment with the 12-step abstinence model, which had been the only accepted recovery treatment program at Hazelden.

Hesseltine brought the new model with him to Seven Counties Services and said he likes to call it "medicated assisted recovery." He said "It has to be done appropriately so we are helping to stabilize someone from their biological symptoms of addiction so they can then engage in the recovery process."

Hesseltine told Shaw that addiction isn't curable, but is treatable.

"I would say it is a chronic disease that can be put into remission with structure, support, accountability and behavioral interventions," he said. "Curable? No, but like diabetes -- not curable, but certainly manageable."

Shaw asked if any addict is beyond reach. "Only someone who is not alive," Hesseltine replied. "Treatment works. Recovery is possible." He said that is why access to naloxone, the overdose-reversal drug branded as Narcan, is so important.

Asked what policy changes he would like to see, Hesseltine listed increased funding for drug treatment, "high level" models of care that shift addiction services to local communities, and repeal of the Medicaid rule that doesn't allow any reimbursement for mental-health and substance-use-disorder residential treatment facilities with more than 16 beds.

With treatment, Hesseltine said, "People can go from a pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization, a state where they have no hope to one of having hope, to being a productive member of society and to really regaining a place where they feel good about themselves and they are leading a life full of joy and freedom."

Princess Health and Woman stuck by needle faces up to one year of testing for HIV and hepatitis; dirty needles becoming common in public places. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Woman stuck by needle faces up to one year of testing for HIV and hepatitis; dirty needles becoming common in public places. Princessiccia

hepatitis HIV needle exchanges public health public safety

Gusty 20:56 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A Monroe County woman was stuck by an insulin needle found in a pair of sweatpants she purchased at the Walmart in Tompkinsville and now faces up to a year of testing to make sure she hasn't been infected with HIV or hepatitis, Jacqueline Nie reports for WBKO-TV in Bowling Green.

Insulin syringes are commonly used by IV drug abusers

"I had to be tested for HIV and hepatitis and a drug screening," said Mary Crawford, who was stuck by the needle. "I have to go back from that in 30 days and be tested again, and again in 6 months from that 30 days."

"Crawford says through at least these next 7 months, she cannot share anything with her husband or children," Nie repports. Crawford warned others to be careful: "It could happen to anybody, anywhere."

The latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll found that 13 percent of Kentuckians said they knew someone with heroin problems. And insulin syringes and needles are commonly used to inject it.

Clark County Public Health Director Scott Lockard said that while this was the first time he had heard of a needle being placed in an article of clothing in a department store, he said it is not unusual for dirty needles to be found in public.

"Unfortunately it is becoming more common for used needles to be found by the public," Lockard said in an e-mail. "I have had reports of needles being found locally on streets, in parks, public parking lots, unoccupied buildings, and in restrooms in public venues."

The problem is so bad in Northern Kentucky, where 35 percent in the poll said they knew someone with a heroin problem, that they released public service announcements before Easter to remind children to look for needles before eggs. The Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact Response Taskforce organized police and egg-hunt organizers to search parks for needles prior to the hunts, and said it will continue to search public places for needles throughout the summer, Ben Katko reported for WXIX-TV (Fox 19).

One way to keep dirty needles off the street is through needle exchanges, which allow intravenous drug users to exchange dirty needles for clean ones. These programs were authorized in Kentucky by the 2015 anti-heroin bill, but require both local support and funding.

So far, only 14 counties in Kentucky have either approved or are operating needle exchanges: Jefferson, Fayette, Jessamine, Franklin, Clark, Kenton, Grant, Harrison, Pendleton, Carter, Boyd, Elliott, Pike and Knox. Some jurisdictions have rejected exchanges, saying they encourage drug use, despite pleas from experts who say that's not true and the programs lead users to treatment.

"Needle exchanges work," former state health commissioner William Hacker said. "It decreases the spread of infectious diseases. It takes dirty needles off the street. It is safer for the law enforcement and EMS. It also provides an opportunity to interact with people and divert them to effective treatment."

Princess Health and Ky. has plan to keep Zika virus out of state, but needs your help; travelers to Zika-affected areas need to take precautions. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Ky. has plan to keep Zika virus out of state, but needs your help; travelers to Zika-affected areas need to take precautions. Princessiccia

birth defects mosquitoes pregnancy prevention public health

Gusty 10:53 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

State officials launched a mosquito prevention campaign May 9 at the Kentucky State University Research Farm near Frankfort as part of the state's efforts to combat the Zika virus, with an emphasis on the need for Kentuckians to do their part at home and when they travel.

"Zika prevention is mosquito prevention," Health Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson said at the news conference where she introduced the campaign, "Fight the Bite Day and Night."

To date, six cases of Zika have been confirmed in Kentucky, all in people who were infected abroad and then returned to the U.S. But Glisson said it is "very possible" that Kentucky could have a local outbreak because the state has the species of mosquito that transmits the virus.

Of the 59 mosquito species in Kentucky, only one, Aedes aegypti, a small, black mosquito that bites mostly during the day, has been confirmed as a Zika carrier, and it is "very rare," accounting for "roughly one out of every 5,000 or so mosquitoes that we catch here in Kentucky," said Grayson Brown, director of the Public Health Entomology Laboratory at the University of Kentucky. However, Brown said six or seven other species in the state could be Zika transmitters, including the state's most common monquito, Aedes albopictus, better known as the Asian tiger mosquito.

The major concern is that a Zika-infected person will return to the U.S., get bitten by a mosquito that can transmit it to the next person it bites, with the cycle continuing.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes, although about 80 percent of people who are infected with the Zika virus never show symptoms.

Those in greatest danger from the infection are women in early pregnancy. Infants born to Zika infected mothers are at high risk for microcephaly, a condition where the infants head is smaller than normal, as well as other possible severe fetal brain defects. It has also been associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks its nerves, in adults. The World Health Organization has declared Zika an international health threat.

Dr. Ardis Hoven, infectious disease specialist with the Kentucky Department of Public Health, urged travelers to protect themselves from mosquitoes by using EPA-approved repellents and wearing protective clothing while in affected areas, and doing so for three weeks after returning home to prevent transmission to local mosquitoes.

"If everyone does this, it greatly reduces the risk of Zika ever getting into Kentucky's mosquito population," said Hoven, who is also chair of the World Medical Association. "We are counting on you, so please take this advice seriously."

The state has created an extensive action plan to monitor Zika infected mothers and their infants that includes a monitoring schedule, and access to many social and healthcare services as needed. The state health department has reported that one of the confirmed Zika cases in the state is a pregnant woman.

Hoven advised pregnant women to not travel at all to affected areas and specifically said, "Pregnant women should not attend the Olympics," which will be held in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Concerns about Zika in Rio prompted Amir Attaran, a professor in the School of Public Health and the School of Law at the University of Ottawa, to write a commentary for the Harvard Public Health Review, calling for the Olympic Games to either be postponed or moved to another country.

"Does it really make sense to send a half-million [Olympic tourists] into Rio, which is, to be very clear, not the fringes of the outbreak? It's the heart of the outbreak," Attaran told NPR. "But is it at the end of the day sensible to run the risk of a global epidemic of, let's face it, brain-damaged babies, when that could be avoided by simply postponing the games or moving them elsewhere?"

Attaran, whose wife is from Brazil, told NPR that while the risk is quite low for individual athletes or individual tourists, "when you multiply (that) by 500,000, the odds are extremely high that somebody will take the disease elsewhere and seed a new outbreak."

Zika can also be transmitted sexually, which has occurred about 10 times now in the United States, Hoven said.

Shelley Wood, nurse consultant for Zika at the state health department, said male travelers without symptoms should use condoms for eight weeks after departure from a Zika-affected area. Men with Zika symptoms should get tested and use condoms for six months, and male travelers with pregnant partners should wear condoms throughout the pregnancy .

Wood also said couples should take steps to prevent conception for at least eight weeks after returning from a Zika-affected area, and women should not travel to such areas eight weeks before they are trying to conceive.

State officials urged Kentuckians to be vigilant about mosquito control and reminded them to remember the "3 D" approach to decrease the risk of infection by mosquitoes:

• Drain all standing water where mosquitoes breed such as bird baths, tires, buckets and gutters
• Defend against mosquitoes with approved insect repellents at all times for outdoor activities.
• Dress in light colored long sleeved shirts and pants.

State Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles announced a partnership between his Agriculture Department and the health ahency as part of its Zika prevention plan. This partnership allows health officials to mobilize "strike teams" and use Agriculture Department equipment if the state begins to have local transmissions of Zika. Typically, the Agriculture Department sprays for mosquitoes at the request of local officials or local health departments.

Hoven said, "As with all public health issues, the best form of protection is prevention, not clean-up."

The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture website has the latest updates on Zika and its spread.

Princess Health and Zika update: Local anti-mosquito action needed; McConnell, Rogers at center of debate over Obama's request for more funds. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Zika update: Local anti-mosquito action needed; McConnell, Rogers at center of debate over Obama's request for more funds. Princessiccia

birth defects Congress federal spending mosquitoes pregnancy prevention public health virus

Gusty 17:14 Add Comment

Mosquitoes can carry Zika. (NPR photo)

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

While all 388 Zika virus cases confirmed in the continental U.S., including six in Kentucky, have been in people who were infected abroad and then returned to the states, a health official said on "Fox News Sunday" that it is likely the U.S. will have its own outbreak.

"It is likely we will have what is called a local outbreak," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Diane Bartz reports for Reuters.

Fauci said he did not expect a large number of people to become ill: "We're talking about scores of cases, dozens of cases, at most."

Dr. Ardis Hoven, infectious disease specialist for the Kentucky Department for Public Health, agreed and said the potential exists for Kentucky to have a local outbreak.

"I think it would be unreasonable for us to assume that we would not be at risk," she said in a telephone interview. "So therefore, we have to plan accordingly."

Hoven said mosquito control in the state is a "top priority," but said the bulk of this will have to happen at a local level.

She encouraged Kentuckians to talk about mosquito prevention with their friends and family and ask themselves, "What can I do in my community, in my yard, on my street to prevent mosquitoes from hatching and infecting those around me?"

Zika virus prevention strategy: Dress, Defend and Drain

The state has adopted a "3 D" approach to decrease the risk of infection by mosquitoes: Dress in light-colored long sleeved shirts and pants; Defend against mosquitoes with approved insect repellents; and Drain all standing water.

"If we can control mosquitoes in our region, we will go a long way to minimize the potential risk from infected mosquitoes," Hoven said.

The World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency in February. Those who have traveled to affected areas, such as Central and South America, are at the highest risk of contracting the virus, which is spread primarily by infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. It can also be spread through sexual intercourse. Aedes aegypti can be found in about 30 U.S. states, including Kentucky.

Zika virus is especially dangerous to pregnant women because it has been linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a condition where the infants head is smaller than normal, as well as other severe fetal brain defects, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state health department has reported that one of the confirmed Zika cases in the state is a pregnant woman.

The CDC is investigating the link between Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks its nerves. And Fauci said there could be other neurological conditions caused by Zika that affect adults, Bartz reports.

"There are only individual case reports of significant neurological damage to people, not just the fetuses, but an adult that would get infected. Things that they call meningoencephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain and the covering around the brain, spinal cord damage due to what we call myelitis," Fauci said. "So far they look unusual, but at least we've seen them and that's concerning."

Common symptoms of the virus are fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes, with symptoms lasting for about a week, though many with the virus have no symptoms. Currently there is no vaccine for Zika.

Funding to fight Zika held up in Congress

In February, President Obama asked Congress for an additional $1.9 billion in emergency funds to fight the Zika virus, including funds to develop a vaccine. This is in addition to $589 million in previously appropriated funds that have already been transferred to the effort.

That money should last through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, but "There's going to need to be additional money, I don't think there's any doubt about that," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who chairs the House health appropriations subcommittee, told Susan Cornwell of Reuters April 13.

Top senators from both parties said "they are getting close to a deal to provide at least some emergency funding to fight the Zika virus, making it likely that the Senate will move ahead on the issue without waiting for the House," David Nather writes for STAT, an online health journal.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said at a news conference April 19 that congressional Republicans were working with the administration on the funding details, Peter Sullivan reports for The Hill.

�We're working with them on it to figure out exactly the right amount of money,� McConnell said at a press conference. �You know, how is it going to be spent? And I don't think, in the end, there will be any opposition to addressing what we think is going to be a fairly significant public health crisis."

Nevertheless, House Republicans kept saying they don't have enough information to approve the request.

On April 20, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said the Obama administration �continues to delay response efforts by refusing to provide basic budgetary information to Congress on their Zika funding request. This includes not answering our most basic question: �What is needed, right now, over the next 5 months in fiscal year 2016, to fight this disease?� In the absence of this information, the House Appropriations Committee will work with our colleagues in the House and the Senate to make our own determinations on what is needed and when, and to provide the funding that we believe is necessary and responsible.�

Five days earlier, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Republicans have all the information they need to move forward, ABC reports. He said, �They've had ample opportunity to collect information, to ask questions of senior administration officials, to read letters, to read the legislative proposal that was put forward by the administration.� 

Princess Health and Top deputy in state health department named commissioner of Lexington health department. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Top deputy in state health department named commissioner of Lexington health department. Princessiccia

health departments public health state government

Gusty 11:29 Add Comment

Kraig Humbaugh

Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, senior deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, has been named the Lexington-Fayette County commissioner of health, starting in June. He will replace Dr. Rice C. Leach, who died April 1 following a battle with cancer.

�I am honored to serve and look forward to working with the Board of Health, the hard-working team at the health department and the community to make Lexington a healthier place to live, work and visit,� Humbaugh said in a news release. �It�s important that we build on Dr. Leach�s legacy and the already strong foundation that the health department has in the community.�

A pediatrician by training, Humbaugh has extensive experience in public health, including epidemiology of communicable diseases and emergency preparedness and response.

�We are very excited to have Dr. Humbaugh join us as the next commissioner of health,� Paula Anderson, chair of the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health, said in the release. �In addition to his exceptional background in public health, he has widespread leadership experience on the state level. He also knows Kentucky and has worked closely with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department on many previous projects. All of those attributes made him the right choice to lead our health department.�

Humbaugh earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and his medical degree from Yale University. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Otago in New Zealand and received a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Princess Health and Flu remains widespread in Kentucky; vaccinations still advisable. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Flu remains widespread in Kentucky; vaccinations still advisable. Princessiccia

epidemic immunizations influenza public health respiratory illness vaccinations

Gusty 07:16 Add Comment

This year's round of influenza hit Kentucky later than usual, and that probably means this year's flu season could run past May, its usual end, the state Department of Public Health said in an alert April 6.

The flu is �widespread� in Kentucky for the ninth straight week, the health department said. "That means there�s increased flu-like activity or flu outbreaks in at least half of the regions of the state," Darla Carter reports for The Courier-Journal.

The department still recommends a flu vaccination, if you haven't had one for the current season, �particularly children 6 months and older and those people at high risk for complications related to the flu, to check with doctors� offices, local health departments, pharmacies or other providers about getting the vaccine,� said Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, senior deputy commissioner.

The agency recommends other precautions:

• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you have the flu, limit your contact with other people.
• Stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone. Your fever should be gone for 24 hours without the use of a fever-reducing drug.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, then put the tissue in the trash.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If they are not available, use an alcohol-based rub.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that might be contaminated with flu and other germs.

Princess Health and Dr. Rice Leach, outspoken leader in public health at the local, state and national levels, dies at 75. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Dr. Rice Leach, outspoken leader in public health at the local, state and national levels, dies at 75. Princessiccia

obituaries public health

Gusty 09:17 Add Comment

RICE LEACH, M.D. (Lexington Herald-Leader photo)

Lexington Health Commissioner Rice Leach, a national, state and local leader in public health, died Friday of lymphoma. He was nine days short of his 76th birthday.

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray called Leach "a great man in every way: compassionate, committed, determined."

Leach had been Lexington�s health commissioner for five years, leading it to national accreditation, and medical director and executive director of the local health department�s primary-care center for six years before that. He was Kentucky commissioner of public health from 1992 to 2004, and before that chief of staff to the U.S. surgeon general. He spent 26 years with the U.S. Public Health Service, mostly with the Indian Health Service, but also worked in Bolivia, Panama and Guatemala.

Leach's outspoken nature endeared him to public-health officials who were not as disposed to strong public statements. His last campaign was for the establishment of needle exchanges to prevent the spread of hepatitis C and HIV through needle sharing by users of heroin and abusers of prescription drugs. Citing research, he stoutly rebuked elected officials who said the exchanges promote drug abuse.

"He was intrepid in another explosive landscape, the one where science and politics intersect," recalled Jamie Lucke of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "I was reminded of this by a recent report about states where propagandistic misinformation riddles the state-ordered briefing that women receive before an abortion. Kentucky is not one of them. I hesitate to publicize this because some politician will rush to change it. But our �informed consent� briefing is dispassionate, nonjudgmental and, above all, informative � much like Leach, who oversaw its drafting after the legislature enacted the mandate in 1998."

Lucke added, "As admirable as all of that is, none of it accounts for why the people who worked for and with him loved him so very much. That would be his kindness and unfailing sense of fun. . . Nowadays you hear that doctors are demoralized by the business demands of their profession. Perhaps Leach�s fascinating life and and profound legacy will serve as a beacon guiding them back to public health � it might be less lucrative but potentially more fun and rewarding."

Leach's last recognition was the 'hero" award from the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health, which renamed it the Dr. Rice C. Leach Public Health Hero Award. The award is usually given during National Public Health Awareness Week, which this year is April 4-10, but was presented in March because of his medical condition.

Leach is survived by his wife of 50 years, Mireille, whom he met in Guatemala; two sons, George, of Louisville, and John, of Frankfort; two grandchildren, Nicolas Cowan Whitcomb and Alyse Marie Whitcomb; and a brother, George Brown Leach, Jr. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Mary, who died of cancer in 2007.

His Mass of Christian Burial will take place in the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Frankfort at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, with visitation beginning at 10:30 a.m., Rogers Funeral Home in charge. In lieu of flowers, contributions are suggested to the church, 72 Shepherd Way, Frankfort KY 40601.

Princess Health and Obama joins Rogers at National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, says it's time to focus on treatment over incarceration. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Obama joins Rogers at National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, says it's time to focus on treatment over incarceration. Princessiccia

conferences drug abuse drug treatment heroin pain pain management prescription drug abuse prescription drugs president public health

Gusty 19:41 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The fifth annual national summit on prescription drug abuse, started by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, was the largest, broadest and highest-profile yet.

A non-prescription drug was added to the title of the four-day event, making it the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit. It drew more than 1,900 to Atlanta, including President Barack Obama, who joined an hour-long panel to talk about new ways to deal with a growing opioid and heroin epidemic.

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers

"The rapid growth of this summit is truly a testament to the power of unity. Everyone here has one common goal - to save lives from the dark clenches of drug abuse," Rogers, a Republican from Somerset, said in a news release.

The summit was hosted by Operation UNITE, a Kentucky non-profit created by Rogers that leads education, treatment and law enforcement initiatives in 32 counties in Southern and Eastern Kentucky. The acronym stands for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S. someone dies every 20 minutes from an opioid overdose and Kentucky has one of the nation's highest rates, with more than 1,000 deaths a year from it.

(On Monday, April 4, KET's "Kentucky Tonight" will have a report on the summit and a look back at the network's coverage of drug addiction issues. For a preview from host Bill Goodman, click here.)

The University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare, which helped sponsor the summit, sent a delegation of executive, clinical and research leaders, including President Eli Capilouto as one of the keynote presenters, according to a UK news release.

�Too many Kentucky families are too often confronted by the dark and painful scourge of prescription drug abuse and opioid addiction," Capilouto said. "It�s an epidemic that penetrates communities across the nation, both urban and rural, but has especially intractable roots in Appalachia and the regions served by the University of Kentucky.�

Obama opened his remarks on the panel by thanking Rogers,who is also co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, and UNITE, "the organization that has been carrying the laboring oar on this issue for many years now. We are very grateful to them."

Obama focused some of his comments on broadening access to medication-assisted treatments for addiction, most successfully with counseling and behavior therapy.

"What we do know is that there are steps that can be taken that will help people battle through addiction and get onto the other side, and right now that's under-resourced," the president said.

Obama's administration recently proposed doubling the number of patients a health-care provider can treat with buprenorphine, one of the drugs used to fight addiction, to 200 from 100.

He said the opioid and heroin epidemic is a public-health issue and not just a criminal-justice problem, which is the only way to reduce demand. "In this global economy of ours that the most important thing we can do is to reduce demand for drugs," he said.

Because the opioid and heroin epidemic is touching everybody and not just poor people and minorities, there is now more emphasis on treatment over incarceration, Obama said: "This is not something that's just restricted to a small set of communities. This is affecting everybody -- young, old, men, women, children, rural, urban, suburban."

The president also noted that there has been a significantly increase in opioid abuse in rural areas, which often suffer from an under-resourcing of treatment facilities and mental health services.

"And that's why, for all the good work that Congress is doing, it's not enough just to provide the architecture and the structure for more treatment. There has to be actual funding for the treatment," he said.

The president has proposed $1.1 billion in his upcoming fiscal year 2017 budget request to fund drug-treatment programs in counties all across the country.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced two rural initiatives at the summit: town hall meetings in rural areas hit hardest by drug abuse, including Appalachia, "to raise awareness of the issue and discuss possible solutions," and an extension of the Rural Health and Safety Education competitive grant program to include $1.4 million in grants that will now be available to rural communities to fight heroin and painkiller abuse, according to a press release.

The president also announced several other new initiatives: establishing a Mental Health and Substance Disorder Parity Task Force; implementing mental health and substance use disorder parity in Medicaid; releasing $11 million for the purchase and distribution of the opioid-overdose reversal drug, naloxone; expanding an initiative that improves local partnerships between law enforcement and public health; a $7 million investment for community policing to address heroin; and providing guidelines for the use of federal funds to implement or expand needle-exchange programs.

Princess Health and Kenton County's approval of a needle exchange inches Northern Kentucky, hit the hardest by heroin, toward getting one. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Kenton County's approval of a needle exchange inches Northern Kentucky, hit the hardest by heroin, toward getting one. Princessiccia

county government county health boards county health departments health departments hepatitis c heroin HIV legislation local government needle exchanges public health

Gusty 16:40 Add Comment

The Kenton County Fiscal Court unanimously approved a mobile needle exchange program March 29, which moves the City of Covington's needle exchange program one step closer to fruition, Terry DeMio reports for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Fiscal Court's approval was one of several conditions required by the City of Covington to allow its exchange to move forward. Covington's plan also requires two other counties in the Northern Kentucky Health District to adopt exchanges (only Grant County has); limits access to only resident's of the district's four counties; and would move the exchange to St. Elizabeth Healthcare hospital.

In addition, it requires a one-for-one needle exchange and a mandate that all participants must be tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV, and, where applicable, pregnancy. This condition is likely not legal and is being investigated by the Northern Kentucky's Health Board's legal counsel, DeMio reports.

Kenton County's plan differs from Covington's in that it mandates only the offering of these tests, DeMio reports.

Both plans will require the Kenton County Board of Health's approval.

Needle-exchange programs were authorized by the state anti-heroin law passed in 2015, and require both local approval and funding. They are meant to slow the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, which are commonly spread by the sharing of needles among intravenous drug users. Northern Kentucky has been hit the hardest in the state by heroin and its hepatitis C rates have been reported at 19 times the national rate.

The needle exchange would be funded by $250,000 from the R.C. Durr Foundation, and the health department would use its staff and already available testing to further pay for the exchange, DeMio reports.

The Fiscal Court also approved exploring the idea of building a community-wide addiction treatment center on the county jail grounds; putting $25,000 toward a heroin helpline; and approved a resolution to encourage the Northern Kentucky Board of Health to create a high-quality prevention and education program for the community.

The Northern Kentucky Area Development District has already put out proposals for the heroin helpline, DeMio notes. And County Judge-Executive Kris Knochelmann told him that Boone and Campbell counties were willing to consider putting $25,000 each toward it, and that St. Elizabeth had promised $75,000 toward its operation.

The other needle exchanges in the state that are either operating or have been approved are in Louisville and Lexington and in the counties of Pendleton, Carter, Elliott, Franklin, Grant and Jessamine.

Princess Health and Boyd, Clark counties approve needle exchanges; Boyd's is a limited, one-for one; Covington's proposed limits draw objections. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Boyd, Clark counties approve needle exchanges; Boyd's is a limited, one-for one; Covington's proposed limits draw objections. Princessiccia

AIDS county health boards drug abuse General Assembly health departments hepatitis HIV legislation legislature needle exchanges public health state government

Gusty 16:00 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Clark and Boyd counties are the ninth and 10th Kentucky counties to approve a needle-exchange program, and Madison and Anderson counties are talking about it. Meanwhile, the city of Covington has approved an exchange with conditions that don't match its health department's plan, and one of the conditions might not even be legal.

Needle exchanges were approved under the state's anti-heroin law passed in 2015, and require both local approval and funding. They are meant to slow the spread of HIV and the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which are commonly spread by the sharing of needles among intravenous drug users.

Clark County Health Director Scott Lockard noted that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has "identified 54 counties in Kentucky as being vulnerable to rapid dissemination of HIV or HCV infection among persons who inject drugs. Of the top 25 most vulnerable counties in the nation 16 of them are in our state."

Clark County

On March 23, the Clark County Fiscal Court approved on a 4-2 vote a needle exchange that will start on or before June 1, but the program will need re-authorization in January, Greg Kocher reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"Both the Fiscal Court and the [Winchester] City Commission inserted a sunset clause in the orders requiring the health department to present data on our program in January 2017 in order to get re-authorization for a longer time period," Lockard told Kentucky Health News in an e-mail.

He noted that the CDC identified nearby Wolfe County as the most vulnerable county in the nation to rapid dissemination of HIV and HCV among drug users, with adjoining Powell and Estill counties 15th and 25th, respectively.

"Residents from all three of these counties frequently come to Clark County for medical services from our provider community and the health department," he said. "More must be done in the area of prevention if we are to avoid a situation similar to what Scott County, Indiana, encountered."

That county, about 30 miles north of Louisville, has drawn national attention for its high rates of HIV and hepatitis C, mostly caused by intravenous drug users who share needles. According to published reports, "from November 2014 to mid-June 2015, the Indiana county of 24,200 reported 170 HIV cases. It reported 130 new cases of hepatitis C in 2014," noted Bill Robinson of The Richmond Register.

According to Lockard, Clark County's program will use a patient negotiation model, which does not require a one-to-one needle exchange, during the initial visit, but will try to get close to a one-for-one model on subsequent visits.

"We will educate participants that they need to return needles to get needles," he said.

Boyd County

The Boyd County Fiscal Court voted 4-1 March 15 to approve a one-to-one needle exchange for one year, Lana Bellamy reports for The Daily Independent. 

The Ashland City Commission had already given its approval for the exchange, which may begin as early as July. Bellamy reports that the program will be paid for by special taxing districts, and all of the fiscal court members voiced concerns about the sustainability of the funding.

Ashland-Boyd County Health Department Director Maria Hardy told the court that syringes typically cost about 97 cents each, but the health department will be able to buy needles from a distributor for 9 cents each, Bellamy writes.

The Boyd County program will assign tracking numbers to its participants to protect their identities and allow a maximum of 40 needles to be exchanged each week.

County Commissioner John Greer, the only member to vote against the resolution, said he was concerned the program would encourage drug abuse and Sheriff Bobby Jack Woods agreed, Bellamy reports. This is a common concern among opponents of needle exchange programs, though evidence-based studies have proven otherwise.

Covington

During the same week, the City of Covington approved a needle-exchange program, but with conditions that could kill the program, Terry DeMio reports for The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The conditions are that all participants be tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV, and, where applicable, pregnancy. That could be illegal, DeMio reports.

A Northern Kentucky Health Board spokeswoman told DeMio that they believe that they cannot require anyone to undergo any medical procedures, but said they were checking with legal counsel. Other health and harm-reduction officials told DeMio that this requirement is not legal, and that such a condition would likely prevent a program from getting off the ground.

"The Covington commission's resolution includes other conditions that differ from the health board's model program, too, and would require passage from the Kenton County Fiscal Court and the Board of Health before it's approved," DeMio writes.

These conditions include a requirement that two other counties in the Northern Kentucky Health District also adopt a needle-exchange program (only Grant County has); restrict use of the program residents of the district's four counties; and moving the exchange to St. Elizabeth Healthcare hospital.

The city also wants a one-for-one exchange, Michael Monks reports for The River City News.

The health department says its plan is "need-based," not one-for-one, because studies show that is the best way to reduce the risk of community exposure and spread of HIV and HCV. This is the main goal of the program, although needle-exchange programs also provide HIV and HCV testing and access to drug treatment.

The health department's plan is to initially provide clients with the number of syringes they would use in a week, along with a safe container for their return with instruction to return the used needles for new ones. Participants who don't return dirty needles after three trips would not receive new syringes, DeMio reports.

The department has been trying to establish needle-exchange programs in the district since the law passed one year ago. The Kenton County Fiscal Court is expected to discuss a needle exchange plan March 29, DeMio reports.

Dr. Lynne Saddler, the health department's director, told the Enquirer "that the Covington resolution was a start and that more discussion is planned by the health department."

Other counties

Madison County Health Department officials are also worried about becoming another Scott County, Indiana, as they face an epidemic of heroin use in their county, Bill Robinson reports for The Richmond Register.

Thus they have begun the process of educating their public officials, Robinson writes. Public Health Director Nancy Crewe presented her detailed findings to support a needle exchange at a quarterly joint meeting of the county Fiscal Court, Richmond City Commission and Berea City Council, noting that they were just beginning the long process of educating the public.

A needle exchange program was also brought up at the March meeting of the Anderson County Fiscal Court meeting, and was met with some disparaging remarks, Ben Carson reports for The Anderson News.

"What jackass thought of that idea?" asked Magistrate David Montgomery. "We might as well give them the dope, too."

Despite these comments, Montgomery did volunteer to be on a committee to explore a needle exchange program along with members of the health board, Lawrenceburg City Council, law enforcement, EMS and county jailer.

Robinson also reports that the Bourbon County Fiscal Court has voted to reject an exchange.

The other needle exchanges in the state that are either operating or have been approved are in Louisville and Lexington and in the counties of Pendleton, Carter, Elliott, Franklin, Grant, and Jessamine.

Princess Health and Rice Leach, battling cancer and headed for hospice, gets Public Health Hero Award that Fayette health board will name for him. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Rice Leach, battling cancer and headed for hospice, gets Public Health Hero Award that Fayette health board will name for him. Princessiccia

awards local government public health state government

Gusty 05:31 Add Comment

Rice Leach

Dr. Rice Leach, a state and national leader in public health for decades, was honored March 14 with the Public Health Hero Award from the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health, for which he is commissioner -- but is unable to work because he is battling cancer at home.

�When your peers recognize you, there�s nothing like it,� Leach told a crowd at the health department via Skype. �And when your peers you love recognize you, it�s got to be the best.� The board plans to rename the award for Leach, whose outspoken nature has endeared him to public-health officials not as disposed to strong public statements.

The award is usually given in April, during part of National Public Health Awareness Week. "It was presented Monday because of Leach�s medical condition," Karla Ward reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Leach, 75, sent an email to the health department�s staff two weeks ago, updating them about his lymphoma and telling them he would not be back to work. He said palliative care and hospice would be 'not too far in the future'."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article66083207.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article66083207.html#storylink=cpy

Ward writes, "Leach�s five-year tenure as Lexington�s health commissioner was preceded by decades of work in the public health field that included a stint as chief of staff to the U.S. surgeon general, and international work in Guatemala, Bolivia and Panama. He was Kentucky commissioner of public health from 1992 to 2004; from 2004 to 2010 he was medical director and executive director of the health department�s primary care center."

Princess Health and First case of Zika confirmed in Ky., from traveler to Central America; no threat to Kentuckians unless they visit affected areas. Princessiccia

Princess Health and First case of Zika confirmed in Ky., from traveler to Central America; no threat to Kentuckians unless they visit affected areas. Princessiccia

birth defects Cabinet for Health and Family Services mosquitoes pregnancy public health virus

Gusty 05:57 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

After the first case of Zika was confirmed in Kentucky March 9, health officials held a news conference at the Capitol to raise awareness of the virus, noting that the state was coming up on the spring travel season.

Mosquitoes carry Zika. (CNN image)

Gov. Matt Bevin, Health Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson and Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, senior deputy commissioner of the Department for Public Health, emphasized that only those who have traveled to affected areas, like Central and South America, need to worry about contracting the virus, which is commonly transmitted through mosquitoes.

"Many areas, including most of our surrounding states, are reporting Zika cases," Humbaugh said in the news release. "For now, these positive results have only occurred in individuals who have traveled outside the country to places where the virus is currently spreading."

The infected male patient in Kentucky had recently returned to Louisville from Central America. Humbaugh said he presented with signs of fever and rash, which a "very astute" health-care provider suspected as symptoms of Zika.

Common symptoms of the virus are fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes,with symptoms lasting for about a week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although many with the virus will not show symptoms, Humbaugh said.

Health officials stressed that Kentucky is not at risk, but said the state has a plan in case the Zika virus spreads. Glisson encouraged health-care providers to be alert to the symptoms of the virus.

She also noted that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services was partnering with Kentucky Emergency Management and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to increase the monitoring and control of the state's mosquito population this year.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant postpone travel to affected areas. However, if they must travel to one of these areas, the CDC asks them to talk to their healthcare provider before they leave and strictly follow steps to avoid mosquito bites during the trip.

Humbaugh noted that increasing evidence has found a link between infection in pregnant women and infants born with microcephaly, a condition where the infants head is smaller than normal, which can lead to a variety of other health challenges.

The Washington Post reports that the Zika virus has "growing links to a broad array of birth defects and neurological disorders ... worse than they originally suspected, increasing the risk for devastating harm during pregnancy."

Until Zika, "there has never been a mosquito-borne virus that could cause serious birth deffects on such a large scale," CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika.  The virus can also be spread through sexual intercourse, and it is still unknown how long the virus stays in semen, Humbaugh said.

Kentucky has at least one mosquito known to transmit Zika.

�We do have Aedes aegypti, but  they are a very small populations, from what I understand from our mosquito experts,� Humbaugh said. �Our entomologists at the University of Kentucky have been advising us on this particular area. However, we have other types of mosquitoes that may be what they call competent vectors. In other words they may be able to spread the disease, but at this point that hasn�t been shown that these other mosquito types are competent vectors.�

Humbaugh encouraged Kentuckians to take normal precautions to limit exposure to mosquitoes like using approved insect repellents, wearing long sleeves and pants when outdoors, to stay inside during dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active, minimize standing water and screening windows.

More information about Zika can be obtained from the department's Health Alerts website at http://healthalerts.ky.gov/Pages/Zika.aspx. For a full list of affected countries and regions visit http://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html.

Princess Health and Bill to keep dirty needles out of landfills hijacked with amendment to require needle-exchange programs to be one-for-one. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Bill to keep dirty needles out of landfills hijacked with amendment to require needle-exchange programs to be one-for-one. Princessiccia

health departments legislation needle exchanges public health public safety

Gusty 11:38 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A House bill to educate the public about how to safely dispose of hypodermic needles easily passed was hit with a surprise amendment that would require a one-for-one needle exchange at needle exchange programs.

Rep. Mike Denham

The amended bill, which passed at the March 9 Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting and now goes to the Senate floor, didn't set well with its sponsor, who said the amendment took him by surprise.

"At first blush, I have real problems with it," Rep. Mike Denham, D-Maysville, said in an interview. He said the amended bill would likely not pass in the House, but said he would review it and then decide whether to concur or not. He said he had already received emails and texts from his constituents telling him they did not support the committee substitute.

The original bill, House Bill 160, would require the state Department for Public Health to establish guidelines for disposal of hypodermic syringes, needles and other sharps used for home medical purposes and disseminate educational materials to pharmacies and the public. It was written to increase the safety of landfill workers who are at constant risk of being stuck by improperly disposed of needles.

Sen. Denise Harper Angel, D-Louisville, while supporting the original bill, voted no on the substitute and told the committee that the Louisville needle exchange program does not have a one-to-one requirement and is working well. "The effort here is to diminish disease," she said.

Sen. Ralph Alvarado

Needle exchanges were approved as part of an anti-heroin bill in 2015. Republican Sen. Ralph Alvarado, a Winchester physician, who voted for the substitute, said in an interview that the intent of the law was to only allow a one-to-one needle exchange. He said many senators would have voted against that measure if they had known exchanges did not have to be one-for-one.

The Office of the Attorney General released a formal opinion Dec. 18 that said needle-exchange programs in the state do not have to have a one-for-one exchange. The opinion was requested by state Senate President Robert Stivers of Manchester, who along with other Republicans, also say that the intent of the law was a one-for-one exchange.

Alvarado criticized then-Attorney General Jack Conway's opinion: "That wasn't how it was presented originally to the state." He added, "The one-for-one encourages more interaction, more opportunity for involvement for the provider to provide treatment for their disorders, to test them for communicable diseases and that sort of thing."

Dr. Sarah Moyer, the interim director of the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, said in an e-mail that not requiring a one-to-one exchange has been proven to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, which is the intent of the program. Kentucky leads the nation in hepatitis C and suffers more than 1,000 drug overdose deaths a year.

�A one-to-one syringe exchange implies that no needle sharing is occurring," Moyer wrote. "We know that is not the case. The �needs-based negation model� is a best practice across the country. Our goals are to prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C in our community and to stop intravenous drug users from sharing and reusing needles. The program is working! Participants continue to return used and potentially infected syringes for sterile ones."

She added, "Our latest figures indicate that one syringe is being returned for every 1.3 syringes distributed among returning clients. Overall the rate is 1 to 1.7. We have more than 2,000 participants and the number continues to grow. We�ve tested approximately 500 for hepatitis C and HIV and referred those who test positive to medical treatment. We�ve also referred 143 individuals to drug treatment."

Alvarado said, "Even if the health departments want to do it this way now, that is not how the law was intentionally meant to be passed."

Needle-exchange programs operating or approved in the state are in Jefferson, Fayette, Grant, Pendleton, Carter, Elliott, Franklin and Jessamine counties.

Princess Health and UK research project will create strategies to improve respiratory health for those living in Appalachian Kentucky.Princessiccia

Princess Health and UK research project will create strategies to improve respiratory health for those living in Appalachian Kentucky.Princessiccia

air pollution Appalachia asthma chronic disease environment public health research respiratory illness University of Kentucky

Gusty 10:48 Add Comment

Public health researchers at the University of Kentucky will undertake a five-year long research project called "Community-Engaged Research and Action to Reduce Respiratory Disease in Appalachia," Sarah Noble writes in a UK press release.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the project will involve creating strategies to improve respiratory and environmental public health. Kentuckians living in Appalachian counties have the state's highest rates of serious respiratory illness.

"Adults in Appalachian Kentucky are 50 percent more likely to develop asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the overall U.S. population," Noble writes. "As many as one in five adults in the region have received a diagnosis of asthma, and rates of COPD are nearly two-and-a-half fold the incidence of the disease in other parts of the country.

Although studies show associations between respiratory health problems and environmental contaminants, data doesn't yet include individual-level assessments or behavioral risk factors common in the area�such as smoking, poor diet and insufficient physical activity. The "Community Response to Environmental Exposures in Eastern Kentucky" project will fill those gaps.

The CREEEK project will include three steps. A community-based assessment will "identify the relationships between indoor air pollutants, behavioral and social determinants and the effects these factors have on risk of respiratory disease," Noble writes. That information "will be shared with local stakeholders in an effort to increase understanding of the environmental exposures present in the region," then the project will put in place "an environmental public health action strategy and will evaluate that strategy's ability to impact short-and long-term outcomes for respiratory health."

Princess Health andTennessee churches encourage healthier living.Princessiccia

Princess Health andTennessee churches encourage healthier living.Princessiccia

churches politics public health religion rural health walking

Gusty 19:28 Add Comment

Sulphur Wells Church of Christ in Henry County, Tennessee, a few miles away from Paris, Ky., is challenging people to eat and think healthier, Amber Hall reports for Public Radio International.

Bob Palmer, lead pastor at the church, said, "We do draw some hard lines on alcohol and tobacco use and tattoos�we think, 'Oh, you're not taking care of the our temple that God has given you.'" He said the church hasn't looked at the issue holistically. "We've just kind of picked out the things we weren't going to do anyway, and we feel self-righteous about that�that we don't do them."

Then Palmer saw the County Health Rankings, a project by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that measures health risks, Hall writes. He said that "when we confirm someone's spiritual health and give them a thumbs up and an A-OK, that's often the end of the rehabilitation process." However, he said if he were outside the church and had only the health indicator numbers to look at, "it might make me run in the opposite direction."

In Tennessee, the Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness is helping groups such as churches improve health in evangelical hubs through the "Healthier Tennessee" initiative, which is a "wellness program and an online wellness tool that provides faith leaders with tips, ideas and actions to get their members healthier," Molly Sudderth, the director of communications at the foundation, said.

One of the suggestions is called Walk and Worship. "You can walk and pray for those you feel need extra prayers or are going through difficulties . . ." said Barabara Kelly, a public-health educator.

About 150 churches statewide are participating in Healthier Tennessee's "Small Starts" program, but none of the churches in Henry County have joined yet. Palmer said "there could be some stigma tied to healthy living in this largely conservative area," Hall writes.

"Right-wing religious folk have kinda viewed that as 'liberal' thinking," Palmer told him. "But that hasn't been correct, I don't think. At all. Just read through early Genesis, and the very first commission that God gives anyone is to essentially take care of this created world. We don't talk about that very often for some reason�to our detriment, and these numbers reflect that." (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andFoundation for a Healthy Kentucky reports putting 24 percent more money into grants last year than in 2012.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andFoundation for a Healthy Kentucky reports putting 24 percent more money into grants last year than in 2012.Princessiccia

cardiovascular disease children's health foundations health policy philanthropy public health schools smoking smoking ban smoking bans smoking ordinances

Gusty 13:33 Add Comment

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky made grants totaling $2,355,838 in 2013, a 24 percent increase over the 2012 total of $1,903,660, according to the annual report it released yesterday.

Last year was the first in which the foundation made grants for two major initiatives: Investing in Kentucky's Future, which it calls "a $3 million commitment to seven Kentucky communities where civic leaders have come together and committed to a process and a plan for collective impact on the future health of their children," and Promoting Responsive Health Policy, which tries to see that voices of under-represented populations are part of the health-policy conversation in Kentucky.

The first initiative's seven grantees are Fitness for Life Around Grant County, the Clinton County Schools (for the Healthy Hometown Coalition), the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky (for the Perry County Health and Wellness Coalition), the Green River Area Development District (for the Partnership for a Healthy McLean County), the Kentucky Heart Foundation (for work in Boyd and Greenup counties), Kentucky River Community Care (for the Breathitt County Health Planning Council for Children) and the Louisville Metro Department of Health and Wellness (for the Coalition for Louisville Youth).

Under the policy initiative, the report says, grantees "are working to improve access to needed health care, support children's health, strengthen local public health and "increase the number of Kentuckians living in communities where workplaces are smoke-free." For a complete list of grants made by the foundation in 2013, click here. For a January press release about them, click here.

The foundation was established in 2001 to settle a lawsuit by then-Attorney General Ben Chandler against Anthem Inc. to recover the charitable assets that Anthem had gained in its merger with the old Kentucky Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The foundation's net assets grew to nearly $56.4 million last year, a 7.7 percent increase over the end of 2012.

The foundation is a non-profit philanthropy with a mission of addressing the unmet health-care needs of Kentuckians. It has invested more than $24 million in health-policy research and pilot-project grants that invests in communities and informs health policy through grant making, research and education. It says it is "committed to improving access to care, reducing health risks and disparities and promoting health equity."

The foundation also acts as a convener, through its annual Howard L. Bost Health Policy Forum, its "Health for a Change" workshops and webinars, funding of conferences held by others and meeting space at its new offices in eastern Jefferson County for more than 21 community and statewide organizations.

It also acts as a communicator, through its annual Kentucky Health Issues Poll and other research, and it funds independent health reporting by Kentucky Educational Television and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky, which publishes Kentucky Health News.

Princess Health and Princess Health andCenters for Disease Control honors Lexington physician for her work in promoting immunizations in Kentucky.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andCenters for Disease Control honors Lexington physician for her work in promoting immunizations in Kentucky.Princessiccia

awards doctors immunizations physicians public health

Gusty 08:21 Add Comment

Grace F. Maguire

Grace F. Maguire, medical director of the Thomas H. Pinkstaff Medical Home Clinic in Lexington, has been named 2014 Childhood Immunization Champion in Kentucky by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for her efforts to promote childhood immunization in central Kentucky.

As a pediatrician, Maguire has seen patients with almost every vaccine-preventable disease and has long been a vaccine information resource for her medical colleagues.

For many years, she was the primary immunization educator for trainees at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Pediatrics. She led the immunization programs for the university's outpatient clinics and helped develop the state's immunization registry.

Now she is medical director of a clinic that serves a unique population of children � those in foster care and those with birth defects, brain injury, cerebral palsy, and other special health care needs. The clinic, under her direction, assures these children receive all appropriate vaccines, including those indicated for high-risk populations.

�Dr. Maguire's leadership and dedication to protecting vulnerable children against disease is not only admirable, but vital to public health�s work in preventing the spread of communicable disease,� Stephanie Mayfield, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, said in a news release.

Each year, the CDC and its foundation honor health professionals and community leaders around the country with immunization-champion awards to acknowledge exemplary individuals who go above and beyond to promote immunization among children in their communities.

Princess Health and Princess Health andDudley Conner, longtime leader in public health in Kentucky, dies.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andDudley Conner, longtime leader in public health in Kentucky, dies.Princessiccia

obituaries public health

Gusty 08:09 Add Comment

Dudley J. Conner of Frankfort, former executive director of the Kentucky Public Health Association and the Kentucky Health Department Association, died May 3 in Louisville at the age of 77. He was a tireless advocate for public health in Kentucky.

Conner was a 1954 graduate of Clinton County High School and Berea College. He received a master's degree in 1961 from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and later a Master's in Public Administration from Eastern Kentucky University. He spent his career and much of his retirement working in public health, and was a past president of the Southern Public Health Association.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Williams Conner, formerly of Clarkson; a daughter, Tonya Rager of Lexington; a son, Timothy Conner of Jacksonville, Fla.; two granddaughters, three grandsons, and several cousins in Clinton and Russell counties.

Visitation will be Tuesday, May 6, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Harrod Brothers Funeral Home, 312 Washington St., Frankfort, and Wednesday, May 7, from 1 to 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 211 Washington St., with services immediately following. Interment will be in the Frankfort Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Irving Bell, Edward Burke, Collin Conner, Dylan Conner, Charles Geveden and Bruce Lane. Honorary pallbearers are Richard Bell, Robin Caney, Robert Doris, Fred Goins, Robert Holliday, Arthur Kelly, Robert Newberry, and Leon Townshend.

In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to the Kentucky Public Health Association Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 4647, Frankfort KY 40604 or the First United Methodist Church Building Fund. Condolences may be shared via the online guest book at www.harrodbrothers.com.