Princess Health and Princess Health andThis is Asthma Awareness Month, more important in Kentucky than in most states; we have one of the nation's highest rates.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andThis is Asthma Awareness Month, more important in Kentucky than in most states; we have one of the nation's highest rates.Princessiccia

asthma children's health respiratory illness schools smoking tobacco

Gusty 15:52 Add Comment

In May the Kentucky Department for Public Health is observing Asthma Awareness Month by cultivating awareness about the disease's impact and working with the Kentucky Asthma Partnership to reach both health care providers and schools to assist people with asthma.

Asthma sometimes creates disability, reduces quality of life and diminishes work productivity.  "While there is no cure for asthma, the burden of the disease can be lessened with proper management. With the right tools and resources, the numbers of missed schools days and work days, emergency room visits and hospitalizations can be greatly reduced," Public Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield, M.D., said in a news release from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Kentucky has one of the nation's highest rates of asthma: one in 10 children and one in 11 adults. The disease costs Kentucky $399 million every year in direct medical costs, estimates the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asthma also causes loss of money through work absenteeism and is one of the top reasons children miss school.

This month the state health department will collaborate with the Kentucky Asthma Partnership to encourage providers, schools and communities to both assist people with asthma and create an asthma action plan. "Educational tools will be made available, including Creating Asthma Friendly Schools, the EPR-3 Asthma guidelines and Asthma 1-2-3 Training. In addition, the American Lung Association of the Midland States will be sponsoring the Fight for Air Walk June 7 at Iroquois Park in Louisville," according to the press release.

According to health department staff, people need to know what to do in response to asthma attacks. "An asthma action plan helps patients identify when asthma is out of control and what steps need to be taken to respond to asthma attacks," said Pam Spradling, manager of the state asthma program. "Parents and caregivers can help schools identify children with asthma, make sure medications are available to the child and that an asthma action plan is on file," Spradling said. "Schools and workplaces can help reduce the risk of exposure to indoor asthma triggers year round by improving air quality and reducing exposure to second hand smoke."

To learn more, go to the Kentucky Asthma Program's website or the CDC's National Asthma Control Program website.

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.

Princess Health and Princess Health andUK study reports high rates of trauma exposure in Kentucky children who are raised by their grandparents.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andUK study reports high rates of trauma exposure in Kentucky children who are raised by their grandparents.Princessiccia

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Gusty 19:01 Add Comment

The University of Kentucky Center for Trauma and Children sent out a report about the well-being of trauma-exposed families in which a grandparent is the primary caregiver and where no biological parent is present. The report calls these families "grandfamilies." In Kentucky, more than 67,000 children live with a grandparent, and biological parents are absent in more than half of those cases. "According to the study, substance abuse, child maltreatment and incarceration were the top three reasons these children lived with a grandparent," Elizabeth Adams writes for UK Public Relations.

The report also found that 73 percent of children in the sample of grandfamilies had suffered one or more traumatic experiences, and more than 16 percent had suffered four or more. Forty-three percent of the grandparents said their grandchild had a special mental-health need, and more than 17 percent said their grandchild had been diagnosed with a disorder related to trauma. Also, the grandparents participating in the study said they suffered from an average of at least two chronic illnesses.

Almost 300 grandparent caregivers participated in the study through the Caregiver Program for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren between March 2013 and December 2013. Both rural and urban families were interviewed. The study highlights a need for more specialized services for traumatic stress in children and "enhanced legal, financial and health care resources for their caregivers," Adams writes.

Dr. Ginny Sprang, director of the UK Center for Trauma and Children, served as the principal investigator for the study. To schedule an interview about the study, contact Elizabeth Adams at ElizabethAdams@uky.edu. Electronic copies of the report are also available.

Princess Health and Princess Health andPaducah Sun editorial criticizing Medicaid expansion was off base; Beshear sends the newspaper a response.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andPaducah Sun editorial criticizing Medicaid expansion was off base; Beshear sends the newspaper a response.Princessiccia

health reform jobs Medicaid newspapers obamacare research state budget state government taxes

Gusty 18:58 Add Comment

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

The Paducah Sun relied on incomplete and inaccurate information for an editorial Thursday that criticized Gov. Steve Beshear's expansion of the Medicaid program under federal health-care reform, and the governor is complaining about it.

The newspaper said Beshear had created a "financial mess" because when he was running for governor, he "told our editorial board that he had 'no idea where we would get the money' to pay the state's share of the cost of Medicaid expansion if the Affordable Care Act was passed. He still doesn't."

Actually, when he announced the Medicaid expansion a year ago, Beshear cited a study by the international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers which concluded that the expansion would pay for itself by adding patients to the health-care system and creating 17,000 jobs by the 2020-21 fiscal year.

The editorial made no mention of the study. Beshear's communications director, Kerri Richardson, told the paper Tuesday that the editorial was "grossly misleading, and we are disappointed that your editorial board has chosen not to seek information from anyone in our administration regarding actions on the Affordable Care Act."

In the formal response from Beshear, submitted for publication, the governor says the editorial "was so breathtakingly disingenuous that it demands a factual response. That a newspaper of this size would trot out such unsubstantiated tripe disguised as analysis is a disservice to its readers."

Sun Editor Steve Wilson said the editorial was written by Publisher Jim Paxton, who did not return a call seeking comment. The Sun's editorials generally support conservative causes and Republicans; Beshear is a Democrat and the only Southern governor to both expand Medicaid and create a health-insurance exchange under the reform law.

The editorial also misstated when Kentucky would have to start sharing in the cost of care for the newly eligible Medicaid recipients, those with household incomes between 69 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level. It cited a study by the conservative Heritage Foundation which "suggests that even when savings from ACA managed-care features are added in, the expansion will cost Kentucky an additional $846 million between 2014 and 2022."

Actually, the state will not have to pay anything for the newly eligibles until 2017 because the federal government will pick up the entire cost until then. In 2017, the state will have to pay 5 percent of their cost, rising to a cap of 10 percent in 2020. Republican critics of the law have said the cap will have to be raised, but have not found fault with the study.

Studies by the accounting firm and the University of Louisville's Urban Studies Center, drawing on Congressional Budget Office data, estimated the state would actually gain $802 million through the 2020-21 fiscal year from Medicaid expansion. "Without expansion, our budget would see a negative impact of nearly $40 million, because we would be forced to absorb costs such as increased payments to hospitals for uncompensated care, " Beshear wrote. "In other words, the state would lose money if we didn�t expand." Click here for the rest of his reply.

Beshear said in his response that he sent the Sun an op-ed piece a year ago this week explaining the facts, but the paper apparently refused to publish it.

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy in Ky., 3 other states indicates exposure to secondhand smoke in vehicles can cause asthma attacks in non-smokers.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy in Ky., 3 other states indicates exposure to secondhand smoke in vehicles can cause asthma attacks in non-smokers.Princessiccia

asthma research smoking tobacco tobacco prevention

Gusty 08:06 Add Comment

Kentucky adults who have never smoked are more likely to have an asthma attack when exposed to secondhand smoke in a vehicle than those who are not exposed, according to a research paper recently published in Tobacco Control, an international, peer-reviewed journal.

The study looked at 17,863 adults in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi who said they had never smoked; 7.4 percent reported having asthma, and 12.3 percent reported exposure to secondhand smoke in a vehicle in the past seven days.

As expected, the study found that adults with asthma in vehicles in which smoking was voluntarily prohibited had less exposure to secondhand smoke, 9.5 percent, than those in vehicles without such a prohibition, 56.7 percent.

The conclusion was that adults exposed to secondhand smoke in a vehicle had a higher odds of having current asthma compared to unexposed adults, says the study's lead author, Kimberly Nguyen of the Office on Smoking and Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Data for the research came from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and was restricted to states that offered information on secondhand smoke. The data, from 2011, was gathered via telephone from adults aged 18 or older. The article is available for purchase here.

Princess Health andMay 3rd-4th, 2014.Princessiccia

Princess Health andMay 3rd-4th, 2014.Princessiccia

Gusty 16:39 Add Comment

There wasn't a specific race targeted as a team this weekend...but there were still plenty of H+P-ers in action in a variety of races.  Here is how we did:

Mississauga Half:

Holger Kleinke has ANOTHER PB, coming in with a time of 1:26:14 (4th in AG)

Mississauga Full:

Mike Piazza battled hard and finished with a final time 3:11:22.  This time was good enough for 2nd in his AG!

Mississauga 10k:

Rob Brouillette ran another very sold 10K.  He finished with a time of 33:44, winning his AG and placing 4th OA.  

Half Marathon in Vermont:

Chris Goldsworthy crushed his half with a new PB, hitting 1:25 low!

Goodlife Half:

Pat had a massive PB, running 1:25! This was good enough to place him 4th out of over 200 runners in his AG!

Katelyn also had an amazing result.  She wanted to break 2 hours...and she did that by over 10 minutes, coming in with a time of 1:49!

Goodlife Full:
Tracey finished with a VERY strong time of 3:46! Nice work!

Mudpuppy 3 and 5K

New H+P-er, Nicole Green had an awesome race.  After taking some time away from running, she still managed an excellent time, running 23-low!

Luke and his little future H+Pers had awesome races.  Here's what Luke had to say:

Taters ran his first ever 3K, in 15:50 and came in 20/148 in AG 5-9 (not bad given he's only 6) and Holden ran his 2nd ever 5K in a good time of 23:21 and came in 13/46 in AG 10-14 (and he's only 10). Good results for a cool and windy day!

Princess Health and2014 Waterloo Marathon.Princessiccia

Princess Health and2014 Waterloo Marathon.Princessiccia

Gusty 16:14 Add Comment

Less than 24 hours after we raced the ENDURrace 8K the team was back in action trying to conquer the 2014 Waterloo Half and Full Marathon.

We were treated to perfect race conditions, and an overall outstanding race experience.  Here is how we did as a team:

Half Marathon

Luke had an awesome race.  Despite just racing the 8K the night before, he still manged to run under 1:24 and finish 3rd OA!

Coach Dyce was in next for the team.  Despite limitted training because of travelling, he still pulled off a 1:26 half and placed 6th OA.

Adam Dixon had an outstanding race.  He had a massive PB, running 1:29, and just cracked the top-10 OA!

Vicki, like Luke, had just raced the 8K the night before.  Despite that, she still crushed a 1:41minute PB, bringing her in 11th OA!

Will had an awesome half.  Running much of the race by himself, he still finished with a very respectable time just over 2:10.

Also we have to say congrats to Ed, who trained with us last summer, on his OA win!

Full Marathon

We only had ONE H+Per in the full.  Despite just racing a 50K the day before, Steve still crushed a sub 3:30 marathon, placing him comfortably in the top 15 OA!