Navigating Aging: Does our society simply not care about our vulnerable older population?
By Judith Graham
KFF Health News
The covid-19 pandemic would be a wake-up call for America, advocates for the elderly predicted: incontrovertible proof that the nation wasn’t doing enough to care for vulnerable older adults.
The death toll was shocking, as were reports of chaos in nursing homes and seniors suffering from isolation, depression, untreated illness, and neglect. Around 900,000 older...
Almost time to ‘spring forward’ into Daylight Saving Time, though sleep experts say it’s not a good idea
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
It’s almost time to “spring forward” one hour into Daylight Saving Time, which sleep experts don’t support because they say it doesn’t align with humans’ internal circadian rhythms. Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 10 at 2 a.m. local time.
CDC illustration
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says “The United...
Stateline: Fluoride in public water has slashed tooth decay, but some states, like KY, may end mandates
By Robbie Sequeira
Stateline
Kentucky state Rep. Mark Hart has been drinking fluoridated water his entire life. In 1954, five years before Hart was born, his home state mandated adding or adjusting levels of the mineral, which occurs naturally in water, in drinking water systems of populations larger than 3,000.
But after hearing from a constituent a few years ago, Hart believes the matter of what’s...
Low vision can affect people of all ages, but risk increases as we age; here’s what you should know
By Christian Meyer
University of Kentucky
Low vision is a term that commonly means partial sight, or sight that isn’t fully correctable with glasses, contact lenses, surgery or medications. Low vision can affect people of all ages, but risk increases as you get older.
Common signs/symptoms of low vision include:
(NKyTribune file)
• Not recognizing faces of family or friends
• Difficulty...
Ceremony at KY’s COVID Memorial (United We Stand. Divided We Fall) to mark 4th anniversary of first case
Gov. Andy Beshear and Dr. Steven Stack will join state and local officials, along with several Kentucky families today to mark the fourth anniversary since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in the state and to dedicate “A Day of Compassion” in the Commonwealth.
“Our fight against this once-a-century global pandemic was marked by loss – so many of our family members and friends taken...
Flu shots limit infection rates, which are still elevated in Kentucky; reduce your risk
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
The Kentucky Department for Public Health still considers hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses high and says flu activity remains elevated.
Health officials say the best way to protect yourself from these viruses is to stay up to date with your vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months old and older get the...
KY 49th in oral health; fluoride in water proven to help teeth, but group of legislators tout law to ban it
By Deborah Yetter
Kentucky Lantern
As a dental hygienist working with low-income schoolchildren in Louisville, Jennifer Hasch said the untreated tooth disease she saw was shocking. Some teens had decay so severe they had to have all their teeth pulled and be fitted with dentures. Middle-school kids reported being unable to sleep because of pain from infected and abscessed teeth. First- and second-graders...
Easterseals Redwood, Brighton Center partner to support children with ‘medical childcare’
Easterseals Redwood and Brighton Center announced this week a new partnership to support children with medical needs in Northern Kentucky through Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care (PPEC) services. The R.C. Durr Foundation provided the grant funding to make this partnership possible.
Easterseals Redwood has one of the only not-for-profit PPEC models in Kentucky. PPEC – also known as medical childcare...
Kentucky Department of Public Health is responding to outbreaks of measles in U.S.; no cases yet in state
Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH), updated Kentuckians on the response to several measles outbreaks in the United States during a press conference this week.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus that is spread through the air, Stack said. Nationally, in unvaccinated persons who contract measles, at least 1 in 5 is hospitalized, 1 in 20 children...
Are you concerned that you may have a problem with your thyroid? Here’s how to tell and what you can do
Dr. William B. Inabnet III
University of Kentucky
There are 20 million people in the United States who suffer from thyroid disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, Kentucky has a higher rate of thyroid cancer than the rest of the country.
The thyroid gland is an organ that sits in the neck and controls the body’s metabolism. The metabolism processes the food you consume and turns...
Navigating Aging: Using hearing aids can be frustrating for older adults, but necessary
By Judith Graham
KFF Health News
It was an every-other-day routine, full of frustration.
Every time my husband called his father, who was 94 when he died in 2022, he’d wait for his dad to find his hearing aids and put them in before they started talking.
Even then, my father-in-law could barely hear what my husband was saying. “What?” he’d ask over and over.
Then, there were the problems my...
New study finds e-liquids in vapes increases susceptibility to virus that spreads COVID
By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Those who vape are susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that spreads COVID-19 and continues to infect people around the world, a University of California, Riverside, study has found.
The liquid used in electronic cigarettes, called e-liquid, typically contains nicotine, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and flavor chemicals. The researchers found propylene...
St. E. Healthy Headlines: Understanding jumper’s knee, a common challenge for athletes at every level
Jumper’s knee, known as patellar tendonitis, is one of the most common knee injuries, and it can affect athletes at every level.
Patellar tendonitis and running often go hand in hand. This overuse injury is also common in other high-impact sports like soccer and basketball. It results from knee strain during continuous jumping and running motions. How you land can protect you from this common overuse...
Study by UK’s Markey Cancer Center says 134K U.S. cancer cases went undiagnosed during pandemic
By Elizabeth Chapin
University of Kentucky
More than 134,000 cancer cases went undiagnosed in the U.S. during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study.
The report published in JAMA Oncology Feb. 22 provides the first estimates of missed cancer diagnoses in 2020 using nationwide surveillance data.
Researchers have expected...
Opioid epidemic in ‘fourth wave,’ seeing multiple substance used at same time; fentanyl most common
By Colleen DeGuzman
KFF Health News
The United States is knee-deep in what some experts call the opioid epidemic’s “fourth wave,” which is not only placing drug users at greater risk but is also complicating efforts to address the nation’s drug problem.
These waves, according to a report from Millennium Health, were the crisis in prescription opioid use, followed by a significant jump in...
