Invisible radon gas is the No. 2 cause of lung cancer in Kentucky but only 0.13% of houses in the state have been tested for it

Radon potential is measured in becquerels per cubic meter; a becquerel is one radioactive decay per second. Generally, the rate depends on the geology of a location and how much uranium and thorium are in the rocks, but levels in individual buildings vary depending on construction and exact location. Three of every...

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Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman announces $40 million in federal funds for Kentucky schools to provide mental-health services

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman (Image from Facebook) Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman announced $40 million in federal funding is coming to Kentucky schools to support and expand access to school-based mental health services, Tom Latek reports for Kentucky Today.  Coleman said this is important because "Students are six...

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New Kentucky website provides data, maps and charts on how the environment affects human health, county by county

The website's address is Healthtracking.ky.gov. The state Department for Public Health has launched a new resource for tracking a variety of topics that affect health in Kentucky.  The website Healthtracking.ky.gov not only includes information and data about how the environment affects human health...

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Rep. Guthrie's bipartisan bill to increase access to breakthrough therapies for people on Medicaid advances out of committee

Rep. Brett Guthrie addresses the House Energy and Commerce Committee May 24. (Screenshot)  U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie's bipartisan bill to help Medicaid patients access breakthrough therapies, including gene therapies, to treat and cure rare diseases was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday,...

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Hospital group honors health-care leaders at annual convention

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Larry Gray of Baptist Health Louisville and Carl Herde of the Kentucky Hospital Association were awarded the KHA's Distinguished Service Award at the association's 94th annual convention in Lexington May 17.  The award, considered the association's highest honor, is given...

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Surgeon general issues public-health advisory that warns about the dangers of social-media use to children's mental health

CNN image By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Concerns about the effects of social media on youth mental health prompted America's top public-health official to issue a rare public-health advisory that calls for a multifaceted approach to find ways to minimize the harm.  "The bottom line is we do not have...

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Rabbi at dedication of pandemic memorial says 'Denial can never cure disease, and ... distortions can never change facts'

Rabbi David Wirtschafter Wednesday's dedication of the state's pandemic memorial closed with a prayer from Rabbi David Wirtschafter of Lexington's Temple Adath Israel, who first read his adaptation of Archibald MacLeish's poem "The Young Dead Soliders Do Not Speak," written about World War I. MacLeish had the soldiers...

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Pandemic memorial at Capitol to be dedicated Wednesday

The memorial is pictured on Monday, after the final sod had been laid and watered. The Capitol steps are in the background on the right. (Kentucky Health News photo by Al Cross; click on it to enlarge) The state's permanent memorial to Kentucky vicims of the Covid-19 pandemic will be dedicated at 2 p.m. Wednesday...

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Ky. kids still aren't as immunized as they were before pandemic; pertussis threat rises; cancer-preventing vaccine rates still low

Slide from state epidemiologist's presentation at Immunize Kentucky's Immunization Summit shows Kentucky's overall rate of immunization against childhood diseases is lower than all bordering states. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The Immunize Kentucky Coalition's Immunization Summit, held May 10 in Lexington,...

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Meet some of the Kentuckians answering the new 988 crisis line: they're first responders driven by empathy

Sunshine Randolph, an engagement specialist for New Vista in Lexington, answers calls to the 988 suicide prevention line. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Carter Skaggs) This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at...

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Boyle County named Kentucky's first Recovery Ready Community

Boyle County Judge-Executive Trille Bottom accepts the Recovery Ready Community certificate from Gov. Andy Beshear. (Screenshot) Boyle County is Kentucky's first Recovery Ready Community, a designation that reflects commitment to providing residents with access to addiction treatment and recovery support and removing...

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Hazard-area facilities, which offer a wide range of services, show that rural health clinics can be more than mere safety nets

One of the clinic's locations (Photo by Taylor Sisk) By Taylor Sisk, The Daily Yonder At just five weeks old, Waylon Williams is a trailblazer. He’s the first baby born in Primary Care Centers of Eastern Kentucky’s new women's residential center. The facility, called Beacons of Hope, offers temporary housing for women...

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After three years of Medicaid enrollments piling up to a record number, those on the program must go through a renewal process

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentuckians on Medicaid need to pay attention to any correspondence from the state's Medicaid program. The Department for Medicaid Services has resumed its annual renewal process for Medicaid members because the pandemic rules that allowed continuous enrollment have ended.  The process...

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New UK medical-school graduate plans to pay it forward with a career in rural Kentucky, which needs many more physicians

Dr. Shelley Stiltner (UK photo) By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The University of Kentucky's Rural Physician Leadership Program is designed to increase the number of doctors in rural Kentucky, with graduates like Pike County native Shelley Stiltner. After earning a UK undergraduate degree in nutrition,...

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Questions and answers about end of public-health emergency

By Kate YandellSciCheck, a service of FactCheck May 11 marked the end of the federal public health emergency for Covid-19, bringing changes to health care and public benefits. These differences include changes in the cost of Covid-19 tests and treatments and the potential loss of access to free Covid-19 vaccines for people...

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