Lexington marks 20 smoke-free years but smoking bans still haven't caught on in most of Ky. despite tobacco's toll on health

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton led a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the city's ordinance banning smoking in indoor workplaces and public spaces. (WEKU photo by Stu Johnson) Kentucky Health News Twenty years ago, Lexington became the first city in the South of Midwest to make indoor smoking in public places illegal....

Read More

Ticks can't jump but static electricity can thrown them onto hosts

Static electric fields naturally produced by animals, humans included, can attract ticks onto their hosts. (Video by England and Lihou, Current Biology) By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News One more thing to know as you work to guard against the influx of ticks in Kentucky this year: Static electricity that is naturally produced by humans and other animals can cause a tick to be pulled onto them, a new study shows.  “Until now, we had...

Read More

Kentucky gets $2.25 million to expand restructure reserve corps of medical and non-medical workers who help in times of need

Kentucky Health News map from iStock base map By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News With a $2.25 million grant, Kentucky will expand and restructure its Medical Reserve Corps to cover every county in the state.   The corps comprises medical and non-medical personnel who volunteer their time and expertise...

Read More

Veterans committee spends more than 2 hours learning about veteran suicide; Ky. loses about 118 to suicide per year

This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection spent over two hours hearing from organizations...

Read More

Federal judge blocks part of Senate Bill 150 that would block gender-affirming health care for transgender minors in Kentucky

By Sarah Ladd Kentucky Lantern A federal judge has blocked, at least temporarily, part of a recently passed state law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. U.S. District Judge David J. Hale ruled on Senate Bill 150, which the General Assembly passed in April. “The treatments barred by SB 150 are...

Read More

Nonprofit gets $887152 federal grant to train APRNs clinical social workers and counselors in substance-abuse counseling

MCHC has 13 clinics in seven counties. (MCHC/KHN map) Mountain Comprehensive Health Corp. of Whitesburg has received a federal grant of nearly $900,000, one of only 20 such grants in the nation, to improve substance-abuse treatment in Eastern Kentucky. MCHC and the University of Louisville’s Trager Institute will...

Read More

Headed to the water? Wear a swimsuit with colors that are easy to see and remember drowning rarely happens as you see it on TV

This girl is wearing a swimsuit with contrasting colors, easily seen in the water. (Photo by Alex Bard, iStock/Getty Images Plus) By Sherri HannanUniversity of Kentucky The temperature is rising, and everyone is heading to the pool, lake or beach to cool off. But did you know the color of your swimsuit plays a big...

Read More

Matthew Coleman is new director of state Office of Rural Health

Matthew Coleman By Beth Bowling University of Kentucky HAZARD, Ky. — Matthew Coleman has been named director of the Kentucky Office of Rural Health at the Hazard-based University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health, effective July 1. He succeeds Ernie Scott, who died unexpectedly March...

Read More

Kentucky farmers deal with uncontrollable stressors; there's a mental-health coalition that helps them

Sarah Jones poses for a photo a flock of her sheep at he family's Red Hill Farms, which straddles the state line in Allen County and northern Tennessee. (Photo by Austin Anthony for the Kentucky Lantern) By Sarah Ladd Kentucky Lantern This story discusses suicide and mental health among farmers. If you or someone...

Read More

Electronic cigarette sales are way up and so are calls to poison-control centers about children's exposure to the devices

Truth Initiative photo By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Electronic cigarette sales are up, and so are calls to poison control centers, according to two new reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  E-cigarette sales increased by nearly 47% over the past three years, increasing from...

Read More

Kentucky keeps losing doctors when it needs more of them; in the 2022 fiscal year it had only seven for every eight it had in 2018

Ky. Health News graph from UK Center for Excellence in Rural Health data; 2021 Fiscal Year numbers are missing due to the pandemic. (Click on any image to see a larger version.) Kentucky Health News Kentucky is losing physicians at a time when it needs many more of them, the top executive of the Kentucky Medical Association...

Read More

Nominations sought by Aug. 31 for Dan Martin Award which recognizes a lifetime contribution to rural health in Kentucky

The Kentucky Rural Health Association is seeking nominations for the 2022 Dan Martin Award, which honors an individual's lifetime contribution to rural health in Kentucky. The award is named for its first recipient, a physiciamn at the Trover Foundation in Madisonville. Winners' contributions have come in areas of direct patient care, health-professions education, health administration, health promotion and public advocacy. To nominate someone,...

Read More

Electronic cigarettes get bigger and badder: Sales rose nearly 50% in last 3 years nicotine content went up 76% in last 5 years

Disposable e-cigarette sales soared after the Food and Drug Administration banned fruity and minty flavors in cartridge-based devices such as Juul. (Centers for Disease Control graph; click to enlarge) By Liz Szabo KFF Health News When the Food and Drug Administration first asserted the authority to regulate...

Read More

Herald-Leader digs into idea of using a psychedelic drug to treat opioid-use disorder talks to a Ky. woman about her use of it

The head of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission has suggested using up to $42 million of the more than $900 million in settlement funds with drug companies to invest in clinical trials to study a psychedelic drug, ibogaine, as a treatment for opioid-use disorder. Ibogaine is a powerful psychedelic that comes from...

Read More