Princess Health and Newly formed Kentucky Health Cooperative gets OK to offer plans in state's health insurance exchange.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Newly formed Kentucky Health Cooperative gets OK to offer plans in state's health insurance exchange.Princessiccia

health insurance health reform insurance insurance exchange

Gusty 19:20 Add Comment

The new Kentucky Health Cooperative's health-insurance plans have received approval from the state Department of Insurance and will be available on Kentucky's insurance exchange market when it opens in October.

�This is a red-letter day for Kentuckians,� Janie Miller, CEO of the cooperative, said in a news release. �Although health-care cooperatives have offered quality care and lower overhead expenses to members since the 1930s, they�re the �newest kid� on Kentucky�s health insurance block. Efforts are underway to help the public become familiar with the cooperative concept.� The cooperative was formed with a mixture of private capital and federal loans.

Miller, a former secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the cooperative is like member-owned and member-operated credit unions, rural electric cooperatives and food co-ops. �Think agriculture cooperative extension offices, and consider the impact such organizations have made,� she said. �Doing so makes it easy to imagine the potential, similar value to the citizens of our Commonwealth offered by a health cooperative.�

Joe Smith, chair of the cooperative's board of directors, said �A gateway has been opened to individuals and small businesses seeking more affordable, consumer-friendly, quality-driven health insurance options.�

Details about the cooperative plans offered to individuals and businesses with 50 or fewer employees on the nw state insurance exchange will be announced in the coming months. (Read more at the KYHC website)

Princess Health and State Health Department gets diabetes prevention funding; will focus on prediabetes detection and lifestyle changes.Princessiccia

Princess Health and State Health Department gets diabetes prevention funding; will focus on prediabetes detection and lifestyle changes.Princessiccia

diabetes federal grants grants health departments obesity prevention public health

Gusty 19:08 Add Comment

The state Department for Public Health has been awarded a $134,380 federal grant to help reduce high rates of prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes in Kentucky.

�Diabetes is a tremendous public health concern that is both horrific for the individual, if unmanaged, and costly in terms of medications, various complications and long-term hospitalizations that are so often associated with the disease,� Audrey Haynes, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in a press release.

In 2009, Kentucky's rate for diagnosed diabetes was the fourth highest in the nation at 11.4 percent of the population, compared to a national median of 8.3 percent. The rate means an estimated 366,000 adults in Kentucky have diabetes. An additional 266,000 Kentuckians are estimated to have prediabetes, according to the CFHS website.

Prediabetes often leads to Type 2 diabetes, the most common type, within a few years, but lifestyle changes promoted by the federal Diabetes Prevention Program can decrease the risk of developing diabetes by almost 60 percent, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine.

�We must act now to begin reversing the devastating impact of diabetes on our state,� Haynes said. �We are excited to continue our work with the Diabetes Prevention Program to help more Kentuckians start making healthier lifestyle choices so they can avoid developing diabetes and lead longer, healthier lives.�

The DPP specifically targets individuals with prediabetes and works with them to reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The risk factors for both are: being older than 45, being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, having a family history of diabetes, ever having gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, having a history of cardiovascular disease and being African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Asian American or Pacific Islander. Click here to take the diabetes risk test.

The federal Centers for Disease Control estimates that national efforts to prevent Type 2 diabetes could save $5.7 billion in health care costs by preventing 885,000 cases in the next 25 years. Kentucky will focus on three diabetes prevention strategies that involve raising awareness among health care providers to improve detection and treatment of prediabetes and encouraging both state/local government and business to add lifestyle change programs to the list of covered services under health plans, says the news release. (Read more about diabetes and prevention in Kentucky).

Princess Health and Neuronal Control of Appetite, Metabolism and Weight. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Neuronal Control of Appetite, Metabolism and Weight. Princessiccia

cardiovascular disease diabetes hyperphagia overweight

Gusty 19:00 Add Comment

Last week, I attended a Keystone conference, "Neuronal Control of Appetite, Metabolism and Weight", in Banff. Keystone conferences are small, focused meetings that tend to attract high quality science. This particular conference centered around my own professional research interests, and it was incredibly informative. This post is a summary of some of the most salient points.

Rapid Pace of Scientific Progress

Read more �

Princess Health and Food Reward Friday. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Food Reward Friday. Princessiccia

Food reward Fridays superstimuli

Gusty 03:00 Add Comment

This week's luck winner(s)... pastries!!

Read more �

Princess Health and 7 Tips To Fight Bad Weather And Bad Mood. Princessiccia

Princess Health and 7 Tips To Fight Bad Weather And Bad Mood. Princessiccia

Gusty 16:11 Add Comment

Dark after 4 pm, cold, damp... This is November, and we have to get used to the unfriendly weather for another 3-4 months at least! So instead of complaining about it every day, let's see what we can actually do to cheer ourselves up!

1. Flowers

Flowers remind us of spring and summer. Make sure you have flowers at home and at your workplace. You can buy one in a very small pot, so it will fit on your work desk. Choose the ones of your favorite color, or the ones which bring some nice memories back. They will definitely make you smile whenever you look at them.

2. Summer Hits

 Buy or download summer hits and listen to them while driving or on the bus. You can make a track list with summer hits of different years, or you can choose the year you have the best summer memories from, and download all its summer hits. People might look at you strange while you are smiling in the rain, but you got what you wanted, feel the summer, and that's the most important.

3. Smile and laugh!

When the sun is shining, we smile involuntarily. Now when there is no sun, we still want to smile and laugh, because it is good for our health.

Smile is contagious. So make sure you avoid grumpy people and try to be around happy, smiling people. Being around them will give you lots of positive energy and will make you smile too.

Go to Youtube and search for your favorite comedy. Whether it is Friends, or Mr. Bean, or Tom&Jerry, give yourself 10 minutes, and just watch and laugh. You will see how different you will feel after only 10 minutes!

Laughter really does have healing power, whatever our problem is.

4. Choose the right food!

Many people are emotional eaters, which means they eat more either when they are happy, or unhappy, or even when stressed. And guess what? Most of the people tend to eat more when they are down.

Now, if you go to a chipper, then very soon you will be in an even worse mood. Filling your bag with chocolate bars and then eating them will only have a short term positive effect, and then you'll be down again. Not even to mention the other negative effects to your health.

Chocolate - yes, raw cocoa powder really is a mood booster food, beside its plenty other health benefits.

Here are two very easy tips for a home-made chocolate treat, ready in 5 minutes:

a/. What you'll need: 1 pack (100 gsm) raw flaked almonds, 1-2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder, healthy liquid sweetener (honey, agave nectar, maple syrup), little bit of water.

Put the almond flakes in a bowl, add the cocoa powder (start with 1 tablespoon, and then add more if you wish, depending how 'chocolatey' you prefer it), add 1-2 table spoons of your chosen sweetener and then start to stir it with a spoon. You can add 1-2 table spoons of water to make it easier to stir and to loosen the texture.
The amount of sweetener and cocoa powder is absolutely up to you and your taste buds.
Extra tip: Top it with some fresh strawberries and bananas, or any other fruit. Enjoy! :)

b/. What you'll need: blender, 2-3 bananas, 1-2 tablespoon raw cocoa powder, sweetener if needed (in case the banana is not ripe enough), healthy ones of course: xylitol or one of the above mentioned ones.

Blend bananas and cocoa powder together, and add sweetener if needed. If it is too thick for you, add water or rice milk. So easy, healthy and yummi! :)
You can also use dried dates to sweeten anything when you use the blender.

5. Sunbed

Now this one is not the healthiest tip I admit. However, if not overused, it could be good for you.  It is not the best for your skin if getting too much of it. You might have a nice tan but your skin will age earlier than you would like it to.

So when day after day no sunshine at all and you feel really down, give it a go. 5-10 minutes only, and you will feel like coming back from a sun-holiday.
As I said before, make sure you don't visit the tanning shop too often.

6. Production 

Sounds weird? Keep reading. Rain, cold, bad mood, you feel like not doing anything. Now this is the point where you should find the thing you have to do but have been postponing for a while. Is it doing your administration? Is it cleaning the shelves in the kitchen? Whatever that is, if you do it and finish the job, the satisfaction will be such a great feeling  that you will forget about all the bad things straight away.

Production, and seeing your product, is something which brings real happiness. Try it and you'll see!

7. Last but not least: Exercise!

The lower you feel, the higher the benefit will be. Awful weather? Think about the sunny feeling after your class or after your exercise. Not to mention the countless of other benefits of exercising beside the mood-booster one.

I'm always proud of my Zumba students when coming to the class in horrible weather, and the feedback I receive is that it is always worth it :)

So try the things above whenever you need some healthy mood-booster and weather-fighting ideas.

And book your place to one of my ZUMBA classes in Dublin 2, Dublin 6 and Dublin 8. CLICK HERE!

Princess Health and New health ranking of counties places Oldham at top for second straight year; some counties had big jumps and drops.Princessiccia

Princess Health and New health ranking of counties places Oldham at top for second straight year; some counties had big jumps and drops.Princessiccia

county health health outcomes health rankings

Gusty 12:35 Add Comment

By Molly Burchett
Kentucky Health News

A new report of the national county health rankings shows several Kentucky counties have improved in the last two years while others have gotten significantly worse.

For the second year in a row, Oldham County ranked best in health outcomes, and Floyd County ranked worst this year, but the statistical differences among closely ranked counties are so small that they are subject to error margins. The rankings recognize that by placing the counties into quartiles, or fourths, of the state's 120 counties.

Ranks in quartiles: white, 1st-30th; gray, 31st to 60th; light green, 61st to 90th; dark green, 91st to 120th.

The results were released Wednesday in the fourth annual County Health Rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and are available at www.countryhealthrankings.org. Detailed, county-by-county health data are available at KentuckyHealthFacts.org.

Morgan County jumped two quartiles over the past year, improving its rank by 40 notches, from 69th to 29th. Another strongly positive change from last year was Mercer's County's improvement from 61st to 40th.

On the other hand, other county rankings worsened: McLean went down two quartiles and 36 steps, from 57th to 93rd. Bourbon went from 42nd to 68th, Gallatin went from 71st to 94th and Hickman County 31st to 61st.

These Eastern Kentucky counties have been listed in the bottom quartile (91st to 120th) for the past three years: Lawrence, Johnson, Martin Powell, Wolfe, Magoffin, Floyd, Pike, Breathitt, Knott, Jackson, Owsley, Perry, Letcher, Clay, Leslie, Knox, Bell and Whitley.

The rankings are based on a model of population health that emphasizes the many factors that, if improved, can help make Kentucky communities healthier places to live: health behaviors, such as diet, exercise and alcohol use; clinical care, including access to care and quality of care; social and economic factors, such as education, employment and income; and the environmental quality of the physical environment.

Other factors considered in the rankings include the rate of people dying before age 75, high-school graduation rates, unemployment, access to healthy foods, air and water quality, income, and rates of smoking, obesity and teenage pregnancy.

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Princess Health and Study suggesting that coal is a cause of health problems in E. Ky. is disputed by industry and politicians, defended by researcher.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Study suggesting that coal is a cause of health problems in E. Ky. is disputed by industry and politicians, defended by researcher.Princessiccia

air pollution Appalachia environmental health health outcomes research rural health

Gusty 11:24 Add Comment

By Molly Burchett
Kentucky Health News

A heated debate centers on new research showing that residents in Floyd County, where coal is stripped from the tops of mountains and ridges, report more health problems than those in two nearby communities without such mines, Elliott and Rowan.

The study, published in the online Journal of Rural Health, is the latest by Dr. Michael Hendryx of West Virginia University to suggest that residents of mining areas have poorer health conditions and experience more serious illness. It is available to readers of Kentucky Health News by clicking here.

Unlike some of his West Virginia research, Hendryx does not say there is a correlation between mining and poorer health outcomes in Eastern Kentucky. He does suggest the possibility of a connection by showing residents' self-reported health problems like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and hypertension are more common in mining areas. And in an interview, he said he believes there is a connection.

Stonecrest Golf Course at Prestonsburg in Floyd County,
built on a reclaimed mountaintop-removal coal mine.

The study and its critics highlight the challenges and pitfalls of discussing and reporting such research. The study's underlying motives and methodology are contested. The president of the Kentucky Coal Association, Bill Bissett, said Hendryx has reached a conclusion and is seeking evidence to support it.

"Bissett's accusation is completely false," Hendryx replied. "On the contrary, he is obviously the one with the biased perspective and has a strong financial motivation to try to discredit this work."

Bissett questions the study's use of self-reported health measures that did not consider medical history. Self-reporting is susceptible to bias, which can be reduced by using other sources of data/. This study only included data collected from interviews conducted by volunteers, which may have introduced more bias, Bissett said.

Hendryx replied, "We used undergraduate students from Christian colleges who were trained to be fair and objective in the survey procedures, and to use the same procedures in both the mining and non-mining communities." He said Peter Illyn, who runs the Christian organization Restoring Eden, approached him to do the survey because Illyn "wanted to give the students this experience, and he wanted to replicate the survey that we had done the previous year in West Virginia, this time in Kentucky."

The volunteers interviewed 544 participants lived in Floyd County and 351 in Rowan and Elliot counties, where coal is not mined. It used standard statistical devices to control for factors that might influence health status: age, sex, education, marital status, work as a coal miner, weight and tobacco habits. However, there was no consideration of health behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, wellness measures, exercise or other healthy lifestyle habits that could have positive influences.

"The survey had to be brief with the time and resources we had," said Hendryx. "We did measure overweight and obesity, which is a reflection of diet and exercise. We measured tobacco use. We did not measure alcohol use in this survey but in other studies we have found that heavy alcohol use is not common and is not an explanation for the findings."

Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who is from Floyd County, said he disagreed with the use of Rowan County, home of Morehead State University, as a control group due to the higher rates of education attainment and per capita income, reported Ronnie Ellis of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.

Stumbo told Ellis, �Everybody in the world knows that you can take a population that is less well educated and that has a lower per capita income and you�ll see their health habits are (worse) and hence their rates of diseases are attributable to those two things.� Rowan has a much better health status than surrounding counties, according to the latest national County Health Rankings.

Hendryx defended his research controls and the process of relying on self-reported medical histories. He said the health problems may be caused by tiny particles of dust from coal mining, which have been linked to health problems, can penetrate the lungs to cause health impacts, reported James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal. Hendryx said there are also concerns about polluted water and soil.

The study's data only hint at a connection between surface coal mining and poor health. Hendryx said he can�t prove that mountaintop removal is causing people to get sick, but he believes it is. What is needed, he told Bruggers, is a more thorough and expensive �gold standard� study of air and water quality near residences, and samples of blood, hair and toenails that can reveal exposure to pollutants.

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.