Health Archives - Ohio Valley ReSource

Jan 9

Health

Rural Americans Increasingly Concerned About Opioid Addiction, Study Finds

Researchers at Harvard University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that rural Americans identified drug addiction and economic concerns as the most serious problems facing their communities. The open-ended survey of 2700 rural adults aimed to identify the major concerns of rural voters, and found that 25 percent of rural Americans said drug addiction was […]

By Sydney Boles

Jan 9

Health

Rural Americans Increasingly Concerned About Opioid Addiction, Study Finds

By Sydney Boles

Dec 20

Health

Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis

After years of leading the nation in overdose death rates, Ohio Valley communities are looking for new ways to deal with the addiction crisis. A national nonprofit organization promotes and partners with programs that do just that. The Addiction Policy Forum celebrated new ideas at events in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia to honor programs […]

By Aaron Payne

Dec 20

Health

Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis

Aaron Payne

Dec 10

Health

Study Shows Surface Coal Miners Are Exposed To Toxic Dust That Causes Black Lung

Appalachian surface coal miners are consistently overexposed to toxic silica dust, according to new research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and surface mine dust contains more silica than does dust in underground coal mines. The research is the first to specifically analyze long-term data on exposure to toxic silica dust for […]

By Sydney Boles

Dec 10

Health

Study Shows Surface Coal Miners Are Exposed To Toxic Dust That Causes Black Lung

Sydney Boles

Dec 6

Health

Mountain Air: Youth Help Identify Causes Of Ohio Valley’s High Lung Disease Rates

Isabella Back, 18, pulls her jacket tight around herself as she crosses the gravel driveway. “So we’re going about 10 feet from my house to my dad’s workshop,” she says, and pushes through a door in a big, red barn. The Kona, Kentucky, shop is crowded with cluttered work tables and hulking machines, and the […]

By Sydney Boles

Dec 6

Health

Mountain Air: Youth Help Identify Causes Of Ohio Valley’s High Lung Disease Rates

Sydney Boles

Dec 5

Health

New SNAP Rule Could Hit Ohio Valley Hardest

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates almost 700,000 people across the country will lose food stamps in a new Trump Administration rule announced Wednesday. Regional anti-hunger advocates and policy analysts say the Ohio Valley — and Appalachia in particular — could be disproportionately affected by this rule. In general, the rule will make it harder […]

By Liam Niemeyer

Dec 5

Health

New SNAP Rule Could Hit Ohio Valley Hardest

Liam Niemeyer

Nov 26

Health

Study Shows Ohio Valley’s Premature Deaths Driving Down National Longevity Rates

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 among people in the Ohio Valley due to the opioid epidemic, suicide and alcohol abuse. The article published Tuesday in the Journal of the American […]

By Mary Meehan

Nov 26

Health

Study Shows Ohio Valley’s Premature Deaths Driving Down National Longevity Rates

Mary Meehan

Nov 22

Health

MSHA Comment Period Shows Divide on Measures to Protect Miners Health

The comment period has closed for the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s proposed rule on respirable silica, a major contributor to skyrocketing rates of lung disease among coal miners. The 49 relevant comments included a striking testimony from an anonymous coal miner sharing details of the ways in which current mine operators cheat on dust […]

By Sydney Boles

Nov 22

Health

MSHA Comment Period Shows Divide on Measures to Protect Miners Health

Sydney Boles

Nov 19

Health

Black Lung Trust Fund Likely Burdened by Murray Bankruptcy

The recent bankruptcy of Murray Energy is likely to significantly increase the debt of a struggling federal trust fund that supports disabled miners’ health care expenses. According to court filings, Murray Energy could be responsible for as much as $155 million under the Black Lung Act and general workers’ compensation, but testimony from the Government Accountability […]

By Sydney Boles

Nov 19

Health

Black Lung Trust Fund Likely Burdened by Murray Bankruptcy

Sydney Boles

Nov 15

Health

Homelessness And Health Costs: This Kentucky Mom Faced Cancer While Living In Her Car

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 her family’s furniture store. Most of her work was in retail. It was paycheck-to-paycheck but she kept her kids together and a roof over their […]

By Mary Meehan

Nov 15

Health

Homelessness And Health Costs: This Kentucky Mom Faced Cancer While Living In Her Car

Mary Meehan

Oct 23

Health

Advocacy Group Finds Trace Contamination In Many Regional Water Systems

Tap water delivered by more than 2,000 water systems across the Ohio Valley contain pollutants, many harmful to human health, even though they mostly meet federal drinking water standards. That’s according to a newly-updated database released by the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. Millions of residents in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia are being […]

By Brittany Patterson

Oct 23

Health

Advocacy Group Finds Trace Contamination In Many Regional Water Systems

Brittany Patterson