healths

State legislators want a hearing on  nursing home staffing in Kentucky , following a  series  of stories in the Lexington Herald-Leader that showed how some residents have died as a result of neglect. "A Republican leader of the key committee on health care said she is getting letters from dozens of concerned nursing home residents in her district, urging her to support minimum staffing standards for the facilities," the newspaper reports . �It sounds to me like a public discussion is due on this sooner rather than later,� state Sen. Julie Raque Adams , R-Louisville, told reporter John Cheves, who wrote the series. Adams is co-chair of the legislature�s Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare and Family Services . Committee co-chair Rep. Addia Wuchner The House chair of the panel, retiring Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Florence, expressed doubt that it would be able to take up  a bill pre-filed for the 2019 session  to set staffing standards for nursing homes at ...

A Frankfort fast-food restaurant closed for cleanup after one of its employees was found to have the liver disease hepatitis A, usually caused by ingestion of fecal material. �The risk of infection from this food-service worker is very low due to hand-hygiene requirements at Hardee�s and all eating establishments,� Franklin County Health Department Director Judy Mattingly said in a news release. Top of health department news release The restaurant, at 1248 South US 127, "voluntarily closed . . . for a thorough cleaning and sanitizing after being notified," and ensured that all employees received a hepatitis A vaccination immediately, said the release, posted on the department's Facebook page . The department later posted, "Prior to Oct. 4 the food service worker was in roles wearing gloves, or roles where there was no contact with food. So, the minimal risk of exposure occurred on Oct. 4. Any concerned community member should get a hepatitis A vaccine before Oct. 1...

The number of hepatitis A cases in Fayette County more than doubled last month, says the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department . It confirmed 13 cases in September, increasing its total in the year-long statewide outbreak ro 24. Of the total, 13 were from drug use, four were homeless people involved with drug use, and two were people who were in contact with a homeless person affected, department spokesman Kevin Hall told Mike Stunson of the Lexington Herald-Leader . Four of the cases had no risk factors, �so it�s important for everyone in the community to be aware of the need for the hepatitis A vaccine,� Hall said. Last month,  the health department advised  all residents of the county to get vaccinated for the liver disease as the outbreak continued to spread. The vaccine is given in two doses, six months apart. �The best way to prevent hepatitis A is to get vaccinated,� said Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, the county health commissioner. �The vaccine is effective and has an ...

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Concerned that historic declines in youth tobacco use will be undermined by the "exploding popularity" of Juul and other e-cigarettes, Kentucky's  Coalition for a Smoke-Free Tomorrow says it will lobby for a law making all schools in the state 100 percent tobacco-free in the upcoming year. Photo by The Sentinel-Echo, London, Ky.   "We're suddenly seeing epidemic levels of kids vaping e-cigarettes, and we've got to get a handle on it before we totally reverse the gains we've made in the last couple of decades in reducing youth tobacco use," Ben Chandler, chair of the coalition, said in a news release. The latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll  found 87 percent of Kentucky adults would support such a law, and polls since 2013 have found strong support for the policy, but there has been little legislative progress toward it, and fewer than half of local school boards have acted. School-board seats are on the ballot ...

By a 98-1 vote Wednesday, the Senate passed the final version of a comprehensive package to address the opioid epidemic and sent it to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it "just in time for lawmakers to campaign on the issue before the November elections," Colby Itkowitz reports for The Washington Post. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) cast the only opposing vote. The House passed its version of the bill last week 393-8. Trump issued a statement saying "I look forward to signing this historic legislation." The 653-page bill "unites dozens of smaller proposals sponsored by hundreds of lawmakers, many of whom face tough reelection fights," Itkowitz notes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted that more people in recovery will have access to housing and work opportunities because of his legislation that was included in the package. "With today�s vote, the Senate will say this to every American affected by the opioid epidemic: America is fight...

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News More than 325 new and returning AmeriCorps members were recently sworn in and have committed themselves to a year of service with one of the 20 different AmeriCorps groups across Kentucky. More than 325 AmeriCorps members were sworn into service Sept. 25 at the Capitol. (Commonwealth of Kentucky photo) AmeriCorps is a national service program administered by the bipartisan, governor-appointed group Serve Kentucky , formerly the Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service. Serve Kentucky is part of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the federal Corporation for National and Community Service. In all, Kentucky has about 900 AmeriCorps members in 105 of the state's 120 counties. The program is funded by nearly $6.7 million in federal grants and varying local matches. The 20 Kentucky programs are dedicated to efforts such as providing drug-resistance education, teaching and tutoring children, combating homelessness, em...

Gary Ball, editor of the weekly Mountain Citizen , has been reporting on water issues in Martin County for nearly two decades, prompting the state to open the first investigation into the local water district. (Photo: Rich-Joseph Facun for NPR ) U.S. News and World Report ranks Martin County in Eastern Kentucky "as the worst-performing white-majority county in the nation, in a special report released Tuesday that analyzes links between race, geography and health outcomes," Will Wright reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Screenshot of interactive U.S. News and World Report map, showing data for each Kentucky county.  Click here  to access the actual map. The national analysis found that living in a predominantly white county was a strong predictor of communities' overall health and well-being, but that wasn't the case in Martin County, which has been hammered with a two-decades old water crisis, high poverty rates, poor health outcomes and the national opioid ep...