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Ohio Valley’s Premature Deaths Driving Down Nation’s Longevity Rates
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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A new medical study shows that after decades of increasing life expectancy across the country, people are living shorter lives. And that trend is in part driven by premature deaths… Read More
Homelessness and Health Costs: This Kentucky Mom Faced Cancer While Living in Her Car
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Cancer was what finally pushed Kristi Reyes into living in her car. The mother of four had worked all her life, starting at age 7 when she helped out at… Read More
HIV Infection “Clusters” Put Focus On Harm Reduction Programs
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Health officials in Huntington, West Virginia, say a cluster of HIV infections has grown to 71 confirmed cases. That’s in a city that usually sees about eight HIV infections in a year…. Read More
“They Are Invisible.” Rural Homelessness, Made Worse By Opioid Crisis
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Charles “Country” Bowers takes long, quick strides down a worn dirt path and is soon in front of a thicket of bushes made deep and tall by spring rains. He’s… Read More
Country Closures: Rural Communities Adapt As More Hospitals Shut Down
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Carey Ellis grew up just a few houses away from the Owen County Hospital in Owenton, Kentucky, so he knows the essential role a rural hospital plays in a small… Read More
Kentucky Center Among The First Certified By American Society Of Addiction Medicine
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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A Louisville treatment center is among the first programs in the nation to be certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The Volunteers of America Mid-States’ Freedom House serves women… Read More
Amid Measles Outbreaks, Debate Grows Over Religious Exemptions From Vaccination
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Toni Wilkinson has seven children, three of them under six, and all of them home-schooled. So her house on a Lexington, Kentucky, cul-de-sac is rarely quiet. Just inside the front… Read More
Kentucky Called A “Warning Signal” On SNAP Work Requirements
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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The federal government is considering a work requirement for some people who get food assistance through SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A new study uses Kentucky as an example… Read More
Report Links Housing To Health
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation confirms the significant health challenges in the Ohio Valley, including premature deaths. It also lays out the often overlooked connection between… Read More
Serving Survivors: In Rural States, Telemedicine Brings Treatment For Sexual Abuse
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Gillette, Wyoming, isn’t the kind of place you just happen to come across. “It’s about a four hour drive through vast, unimpacted, wide, sweeping plains,” said Matt Gray, a professor… Read More
Health Experts Say Poor Practice By Company Likely Source Of Vaccination Infections
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Infectious disease experts say poor practices in vaccine delivery are the likely cause of infections reported by some people who received vaccine shots at their places of employment in the… Read More
The Vexing Vape: Officials Say Small Vaping Device Juul A Major Health Risk To Youth
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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A slender, black, rectangle, the Juul fits easily in the palm of your hand. You don’t light it, you trigger it with a click of a finger. The mist that… Read More
Sensitive Santa: A Kinder, Gentler Kringle For Kids With Special Needs
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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I’m not usually one to name-drop but my brother Pat Meehan is Santa Claus. A real, professional Santa. Sitting in his home office fresh from work, he’s wearing black suspenders… Read More
“A Failure Of Public Health.” Sexually Transmitted Diseases Rise As Health Budgets Fall
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Health officials are tracking record-breaking rates of sexually transmitted disease, including a resurgence of some infections which had been considered rare, such as gonorrhea and syphilis. These STDs are on the… Read More
Healthy Debate: Ohio Valley Health Concerns Driving Competitive Midterm Races
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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The political ads in the Ohio Valley are playing on what seems like a constant loop. That’s not unusual for election season. But what is unusual this year is how… Read More
Infection And Inequality: How The Income Gap Fuels Ohio Valley’s Hep A Outbreak
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Jim Thacker is frustrated. The spokesperson for the Madison County, Kentucky, Health Department said there is a real threat of a Hepatitis A outbreak at the detention center right down the road… Read More
Battling An Outbreak: Businesses And Health Officials Respond As Ohio Valley’s Hep A Cases Climb
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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The low rumble of industrial fans fills the Catholic Action Center in Lexington, a shelter that provides meals and other services for homeless people. It’s mid-morning on a hot July day and… Read More
Regional Hep A Outbreak Linked To Ohio Valley Addiction Crisis
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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A Hepatitis A outbreak growing in the Louisville area since last summer reached a new peak recently with a travel advisory from Indiana health officials. They told Hoosiers heading to Kentucky… Read More
Surgeon General Supports Needle Exchanges To Limit Disease From Opioid Crisis
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams threw his support behind syringe exchange services as an important tool to address the Ohio Valley’s high risk of needle-borne disease associated with the opioid epidemic…. Read More
Exchange of Ideas: How A Rural Kentucky County Overcame Fear To Adopt A Needle Exchange
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Greg Lee, Kentucky’s HIV/AIDS educator, starts the town hall on a somber note. “How many people in this room know someone who has died of an overdose death?” It is… Read More
Fracking Waste Disposal: Still A Hot Mess
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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The slogan for Estill County is “where the bluegrass kisses the mountains.” But since 2015 the county, population 15,000, is widely known as the place where radioactive material generated by the… Read More
Trump’s First Year Leaves Obamacare on Life Support in Ohio Valley
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Remember the American Health Care Act, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, or the Obamacare Repeal and Reconciliation Act? They were among the many Congressional proposals to end the Affordable Care… Read More
Restricted Right: Ohio Valley Women Face Abortion Barriers
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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A small gaggle of reporters points their microphones at reproductive rights activist Marcie Crim as she bluntly decries the shrinking access to abortion in the region. Crim stands just a… Read More
Tobacco’s Toll: New Push To Stop Smoking In Country’s Sickest States
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Hundreds of kids scurrying to buses are oblivious to a sign above them declaring Bourbon County High School “100 percent Tobacco Free.” But upstairs in the library, sophomore and anti-smoking… Read More
The Big Latch: Rising Breast-feeding Rates Could Boost Region’s Health
By: Mary Meehan | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Edwin Hall is dressed in a footed onsie covered in the pastel shades of monkeys and hippos. Although Edwin’s just seven weeks old he already tells his mom when he’s… Read More