Princess Health and Princess Health andKET's 'Safe and Sound: Raising Emotionally Healthy Children in a Stressful World' premieres April 17, first airs April 21.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andKET's 'Safe and Sound: Raising Emotionally Healthy Children in a Stressful World' premieres April 17, first airs April 21.Princessiccia

children children's health health journalism mental health parenting television

Gusty 21:07 Add Comment

Though new parents often have access to many resources of information on how to care for their children physically, they are usually not as well-informed about raising them to be strong and healthy emotionally, and esearch shows that children who grow up stressed can face brain development  and long-term health issues, KET "Be Well Kentucky" reports.

The state network will present a special report, "Safe and Sound: Raising Emotionally Health Children in a Stressful World," designed to teach parents to be the best they can be, in various locations across the state.

The program will be aired Monday, April 21 at 9/8 p.m. It was produced partly with funding from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

A public screening and panel discussion of the program will be held Thursday, April 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville.

Guests are invited to a 4:30 p.m. reception at the Leadership Louisville Center at 732 W. Main St. The event is free, but registration is required, and seats are limited. Click here to register.

Princess Health and Princess Health andBeshear signs bill allowing limited use of oil extracted from marijuana to treat children's seizures.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andBeshear signs bill allowing limited use of oil extracted from marijuana to treat children's seizures.Princessiccia

drugs General Assembly legislation legislature prescription drugs research

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Gov. Steve Beshear has signed into law a bill allowing doctors at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, or those conducting a clinical trial approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to prescribe a marijuana extract to treat seizures in young people.

Denton (Herald-Leader photo)

Senate Bill 124 was sponsored by retiring Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, who said its passage was unimaginable a decade ago, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. The General Assembly rejected legislation to authorize medical use of marijuana, but legislators and the Beshear administration agreed to SB 124 because tearful parents testified for the bill and cannabidiol contains none of marijuana's psychoactive ingredient.

"Both our law enforcement leaders and our drug policy director worked with the legislators on this bill, and they gave the bill their support," Beshear said in a press release. "Because the bill has been carefully constructed to require that any prescriptive recommendation for the oil can come only from physicians at the state�s research universities or through an FDA clinical trial, I am confident that this law will provide the relief that these families seek, without creating complications for our law enforcement community.�

Princess Health and Princess Health andRoy Butler, 'father of Medicaid' in Kentucky, passes.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andRoy Butler, 'father of Medicaid' in Kentucky, passes.Princessiccia

Medicaid rural health

Gusty 14:40 Add Comment

Roy Butler, called "Father of Medicaid" in Kentucky, died Monday morning of complications from Parkinson's disease. He grew up during the Great Depression on a farm in Franklin County, where he learned to work hard, reports Kristie Hamon of The State Journal. He served in the Army with occupation forces in Japan, then Georgetown College and the University of Kentucky. In 1951 he began working with the commonwealth of Kentucky; he spent more than 41 years with the state, and he prioritized "health and social programs within the Cabinet for Human Resources," Hamon writes.

Roy Butler and his family (State Journal photo)

Butler had a very positive influence on Kentucky Medicaid. "The most satisfying aspect was being able to expand the program in terms of the number of health services being offered as well as increased benefits to the providers of care," Butler said recently. He acknowledged co-workers' contributions: "The second-most satisfying aspect of the job was the number of terrific, talented people that I met, especially the staff of people that I worked with such as Janie Miller and Mark Birdwhistell, and having a major impact on the direction of the program."

Miller, a former secretary of health and family services, now runs the Kentucky Health Cooperative, a non-profit insurer created under federal health reform. Birdwhistell, a UK HealthCare executive, told Hamon, "Roy Butler is an extremely phenomenal administrator, extremely knowledgeable and hardworking. . . . I owe him a great deal of gratitude for teaching me everything I learned."

Butler was named to UK's College of Public Health Hall of Fame last fall. He remained married to Elise Lois Watkins Butler for 53 years until she died in 2004, and they had three children. One, Lane Butler Jacobs, recalled an occasion when he father was very upset that someone required a medical procedure and no apparent way to get it covered by Medicaid. Jacobs said she asked her father if he knew the person, and he said, "No, but then what difference would that make? What if this was your mother or your aunt or your daughter? Wouldn't you want to do everything you could do to save their life?"

Jacobs told Hamon, "He also benefited the lives of many other people. Probably more than he can possibly imagine." The story requires a log-in and password to view.

Princess Health and Princess Health andPoll gauges Kentuckians' consumption, sources and opinions of drinking water; E. Ky. likes bottled water more than other areas.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andPoll gauges Kentuckians' consumption, sources and opinions of drinking water; E. Ky. likes bottled water more than other areas.Princessiccia

diet food water

Gusty 14:34 Add Comment

Drinking water is necessary for the human body to work properly. Because one can consume water through drinking other beverages or eating foods like lettuce, tomatoes, oranges and melons, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend drinking a particular number of cups per day. However, it does recommend drinking water instead of other high-calorie beverages, especially if a person is trying to remain at a healthy weight, according to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's latest release of information from its 2013 Kentucky Health Issues Poll.

The poll, in October and November, gauged Kentuckians' consumption, sources and opinions of their drinking water. While 24 percent reported drinking eight or more cups of water each day, 8 percent said they don't drink water daily. Thirty-two percent said they drink one to three cups per day, and the remaining 35 percent say they drink between four and seven cups.

About half of those surveyed (52 percent) reported drinking tap water most often, and 39 percent said they drink mostly bottled water. Only 4 percent said they primarily drink well water, showing how extensive water lines have become in rural areas. Louisville-area citizens are more inclined (61 percent) to report drinking tap water than people from other areas, and Eastern Kentucky residents were most likely to report drinking bottled water (50 percent) or well water (10 percent).

Why don't some Kentuckians drink tap water? More than four in ten (43 percent) cite the taste of the water as an explanation. Some also say it seems unsafe (13 percent), that they have access to bottled water (13 percent) or that they believe chemicals are in the water (11 percent).

The poll, co-sponsored by Interact for Health of Cincinnati, has an error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Princess Health and Calorie Intake and the US Obesity Epidemic. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Calorie Intake and the US Obesity Epidemic. Princessiccia

overweight

Gusty 05:00 Add Comment

Between 1960 and 2008, the prevalence of obesity in US adults increased from 13 to 34 percent, and the prevalence of extreme obesity increased from 0.9 to 6 percent (NHANES surveys). This major shift in population fatness is called the "obesity epidemic".

What caused the obesity epidemic? As I've noted in my writing and talks, the obesity epidemic was paralleled by an increase in daily calorie intake that was sufficiently large to fully account for it. There are two main sources of data for US calorie intake. The first is NHANES surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. They periodically collect data on food intake using questionnaires, and these surveys confirm that calorie intake has increased. The problem with the NHANES food intake data is that they're self-reported and therefore subject to major reporting errors. However, NHANES surveys provide the best quality (objectively measured) data on obesity prevalence since 1960, which we'll be using in this post.

Read more �

Princess Health and Princess Health andKentucky ranks 49th in well-being survey, and Eastern Kentucky's congressional district ranks last in the nation.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andKentucky ranks 49th in well-being survey, and Eastern Kentucky's congressional district ranks last in the nation.Princessiccia

Appalachia economy poll public health rural health rural-urban disparities state government survey wellness

Gusty 13:32 Add Comment

Kentucky ranked 49th in the nation in a survey that measures perception of well-being, ranking higher than West Virginia and lower than Mississippi, and its 5th Congressional District ranked dead last in the nation.

"The survey assessed people's emotional and physical health; behavior that affects health, such as smoking or exercising; job satisfaction and access to basic needs, including food and housing; and their outlook on life," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The Gallup Organization and Healthways, a Tennessee-based company that provides services to improve well-being, administered the survey.

Kentucky has ranked 49th each year except for 2008, the year the index began, when it ranked 48th. Factors contributing to this result include high poverty, top smoking rates, many uninsured people, high depression rates, drug abuse, obesity and other health issues. "Our health status is dismal in Kentucky," state Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield told Estep.

Louise Howell, a consultant for Kentucky River Community Care, said Eastern Kentucky has "profound health disparities." Harlan County lost 13,054 years of individual lives due to premature death, according to the survey. In Breathitt County, only 25.1 percent of people have access to satisfactory exercise opportunities. In Martin County, 37.4 people smoked.

Shaping Our Appalachian Region, a program Gov. Steve Beshear and 5th District Rep. Hal Rogers began last year, is forming strategic plans to improve the region's economy through expansion and diversification. This summer the public meeting will take place to brainstorm ideas and promote involvement. "I think this is the toughest most difficult region we've worked in, ever," said Charles W. Fluharty, who heads the Rural Policy Research Institute and is interim executive director of SOAR. However, he said the region will benefit from people's awareness that the coal-depend region has to try to a new strategy, Estep writes.

Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, told Estep: "People realize if we've got any chance at all we've got to seize the reins; we've got to diversify the economy." (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andRepublicans wait for elections and chance to roll back Medicaid expansion; few Kentucky Democrats defend Obamacare.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andRepublicans wait for elections and chance to roll back Medicaid expansion; few Kentucky Democrats defend Obamacare.Princessiccia

Affordable Care Act Appalachia elections General Assembly governor health insurance health reform legislature Medicaid obamacare Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act politics poverty

Gusty 17:38 Add Comment

Though thousands of their constituents have benefited from it, Republican state legislators say they are planning to roll back Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear's expansion of Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act if they take control of the state House this fall or win the governorship next year.

In other words, the "wildly successful" rollout of the health-reform law in Kentucky has not changed the politics of it in the state, reports Louisville native Perry Bacon Jr., political writer for Yahoo! News.

Stivers and Beshear

Bacon starts his story by focusing on the home county of state Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican from Manchester: "In one of the poorest areas of Appalachia, about 2,500 people have signed up to get health insurance over the last six months � a number that represents more than a tenth of Clay County�s residents. One hundred and twenty miles way, the county�s state senator, Robert Stivers, is laying out his plans to gradually gut the Affordable Care Act in Kentucky, which provided his constituents with insurance."

Stivers acknowledged that the Medicaid expansion has benefited his neighbors, but told Bacon that it is �unsustainable� in the long run. For the first three years, the federal government is paying the entire cost of the expansion, but starting in 2017, the state will have to pay 5 percent, rising in steps to a cap of 10 percent in 2020.

Beshear cites a study showing that the expansion will pay for itself, largely by creating jobs in health care, and Health Secretary Audrey Haynes told Kentucky Health News that the expansion brought $45 million to health-care providers in the state in January, the first month it was in effect.

Republican Rep. Robert Benvenuti of Lexington, a former state health official, doesn't buy the Democratic sales pitches. �I think it�s immoral to give you something you know we can�t pay for,� he told Bacon. �Why are you creating dependency you know you can�t afford?�

Stivers suggested that Republicans could gradually reduce the income limit for Medicaid eligibility, now 138 percent of the federal poverty level, to reduce costs, but "The Obama administration has long said it would not support such a partial expansion of Medicaid," Bacon reports.

Also, "Some Republicans privately concede it will be difficult to roll back expansion of health insurance to so many," Bacon reports, quoting a "top GOP operative" as saying, "Three hundred thousand people are on this now. It's going to be hard to take this away from people." And since that anonymous person spoke, the number is close to 400,000.

House Republicans tried to force a floor vote on Obamacare in the current legislative session, but Democrats foiled that through a parliamentary maneuver.

"Steve Robertson, chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party, said the GOP statehouse candidates would run this fall on the mantle of repealing the health care law, looking to gain five seats and the House majority," Bacon reports. "And a Republican could replace Beshear," who can't seek re-election in 2015. Robertson said, �It�s a question of when, not if, when Kentucky will become just truly a red state.�

Bacon writes, "Democrats acknowledge the political challenge in defending the law. They say the policy success has done little to shift the politics because anything associated with Obama is unpopular in Kentucky. . . . The stories of the newly insured are drowned out, politicians in both parties here say, by the enduring unpopularity of Obamacare and the man it is named after, concerns (often unfounded) that the law has caused premiums to increase for people who previously had insurance and general confusion about the law, particularly the individual mandate" to buy insurance.

"Other than Beshear, many of the state's leading Democrats, aware of the lingering tensions around the ACA, avoid speaking about it publicly, wary of being seen as too supportive of 'Obamacare'," Bacon reports.