Jul 20 Health Battling An Outbreak: Businesses And Health Officials Respond As Ohio Valley’s Hep A Cases Climb 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 dozens of people sit camped on couches in the entryway, or slouch at tables nearby. Despite the fans the air is stale from […] By Mary Meehan Jul 20 Health Battling An Outbreak: Businesses And Health Officials Respond As Ohio Valley’s Hep A Cases Climb Mary Meehan
Apr 27 Health Regional Hep A Outbreak Linked To Ohio Valley Addiction Crisis 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 to get a Hep A vaccine. Soon, Kentucky’s Acting Commissioner for Public Health Dr. Jeffrey Howard was pushing back. “Let me say that it […] By Mary Meehan Apr 27 Health Regional Hep A Outbreak Linked To Ohio Valley Addiction Crisis Mary Meehan
Apr 10 Health Surgeon General Supports Needle Exchanges To Limit Disease From Opioid Crisis 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. Adams visited Florence, in northern Kentucky, for an event to encourage more people to get trained to administer the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. Dressed in […] By Mary Meehan Apr 10 Health Surgeon General Supports Needle Exchanges To Limit Disease From Opioid Crisis Mary Meehan
Mar 30 Health Exchange of Ideas: How A Rural Kentucky County Overcame Fear To Adopt A Needle Exchange 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 a standing-room only crowd. Most hands go up. “Amazing,” he says, sadly. The meeting is at the Bourbon County Public Health Department, just next to […] By Mary Meehan Mar 30 Health Exchange of Ideas: How A Rural Kentucky County Overcame Fear To Adopt A Needle Exchange Mary Meehan
Feb 14 Energy & Environment Fracking Waste Disposal: Still A Hot Mess 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 oil and gas industry in a process known as fracking was dumped near some schools. As the Ohio Valley ReSource reported in 2016, tons […] By Mary Meehan Feb 14 Energy & Environment Fracking Waste Disposal: Still A Hot Mess Mary Meehan
Jan 19 Health Trump’s First Year Leaves Obamacare on Life Support in Ohio Valley 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 Act, also known as Obamacare. If 2017 was the year of endless Obamacare debates, 2018 could be the year when we see the effects on […] By Mary Meehan Jan 19 Health Trump’s First Year Leaves Obamacare on Life Support in Ohio Valley Mary Meehan
Jan 5 Health Restricted Right: Ohio Valley Women Face Abortion Barriers 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 few feet from the open door of the office of Governor Matt Bevin near the Capitol rotunda. Crim and Bevin may be physically close in […] By Mary Meehan Jan 5 Health Restricted Right: Ohio Valley Women Face Abortion Barriers Mary Meehan
Nov 22 Economy Changing Course: A School Cooperative Aims To Remake Coal Communities Betsy Layne High School serves rural Floyd County in the eastern Kentucky town of Stanville, population 206. Students there produce a video program called “Bobcat Banter” where they usually talk about sports and student life. But early last year “Bobcat Banter” introduced some special guests. “We’re here with Mr. and Mrs. Gates from the Gates […] By Jeff Young , Mary Meehan and Benny Becker Nov 22 Economy Changing Course: A School Cooperative Aims To Remake Coal Communities Jeff Young, Mary Meehan and Benny Becker
Nov 3 Health Tobacco’s Toll: New Push To Stop Smoking In Country’s Sickest States 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 advocate Jacob Steward unfurls a six-foot scroll with earth-toned papers trapped between clear sheets of laminate. He begins reading the anti-smoking slogans he’ll post around […] By Mary Meehan Nov 3 Health Tobacco’s Toll: New Push To Stop Smoking In Country’s Sickest States Mary Meehan
Sep 15 Health The Big Latch: Rising Breast-feeding Rates Could Boost Region’s Health 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 hungry with a sharp and persistent yelp. Soon after he gets her attention, Edwin is practicing his sucking technique. His mom, Sarah, with the dazed […] By Mary Meehan Sep 15 Health The Big Latch: Rising Breast-feeding Rates Could Boost Region’s Health Mary Meehan