Health Archives - Ohio Valley ReSource

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

By 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

Oct 18

Health

How Should Opioid Lawsuit Money Be Spent? Ohio Valley Has No Shortage Of Needs

At a town hall event in Logan, Ohio, Kelly Taulbee walks through the steps of an encounter with someone experiencing an opioid overdose. She’s training a group to use NARCAN, the opioid reversal medication. She pulled out the small applicator and demonstrated how easy it is to spray the medication in someone’s nose. As the […]

By Aaron Payne

Oct 18

Health

How Should Opioid Lawsuit Money Be Spent? Ohio Valley Has No Shortage Of Needs

Aaron Payne

Oct 16

Health

Federal Agency to Hear Comment on Silica Dust as Black Lung Epidemic Rages

The Mine Safety and Health Administration will host a public meeting Thursday as it considers action on regulating respirable silica, one of the major contributors to Appalachia’s skyrocketing rates of black lung disease. MSHA issued a request for information in response to calls for increased regulation after a 2018 investigation from NPR and PBS Frontline. […]

By Sydney Boles

Oct 16

Health

Federal Agency to Hear Comment on Silica Dust as Black Lung Epidemic Rages

Sydney Boles

Oct 13

Health

New Kentucky Memorial Honors Miners Who Died Of Black Lung

Coal miners and family members of miners who have died from black lung disease gathered Sunday in Whitesburg, Kentucky, to dedicate a new memorial to miners who perished from the workplace disease. While Appalachian coal country has several memorials to mining disasters, this is believed to be the first memorial to remember the thousands of […]

By Sydney Boles

Oct 13

Health

New Kentucky Memorial Honors Miners Who Died Of Black Lung

Sydney Boles

Oct 10

Health

Report Ranks Ohio Valley High In Childhood Obesity Amid Cuts In SNAP Benefits

A report released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds nearly 323,000 children are obese in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio. Obesity rates among the region’s children remain some of the highest in the nation. West Virginia has the nation’s second-highest rate of obese children, Kentucky third, and Ohio tenth. Mississippi has the highest […]

By Mary Meehan

Oct 10

Health

Report Ranks Ohio Valley High In Childhood Obesity Amid Cuts In SNAP Benefits

Mary Meehan