Author: Melissa Patrick
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Prevention is the key to surviving tick season in Kentucky, which runs through August; here are some tips
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News With outdoor summer activities in full swing, it’s important to remember that tick season, which runs from mid-March through August in Kentucky, is upon...
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Health advocacy group says revised Medicaid program should improve health and manage cost, without creating barriers
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A health-care advocacy group says the redesign of the Medicaid program should build on the expansion of eligibility and not include any more costs...
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Clinton County coalition works to change the health lifestyle of its children, in an effort to change the local health culture
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Public officials and local leaders in a small, rural county in Southern Kentucky that ranks near the bottom of in the County Health Rankings...
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Study finds most smokers are not satisfied with e-cigarettes and don’t make the switch; study author wishes they would
image www.mirror.co.uk Although e-cigarettes did help a small group of smokers quit smoking traditional cigarettes, most smokers who tried them didn’t find them to be an acceptable alternative, says a...
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Pediatricians’ national group calls for at least one nurse in every school; Ky.’s schools have a long way to go to meet that goal
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentucky’s high schools fall far short of new recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that call for every school in the United States...
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Study says if Ky. cut its smoking rate to the national average, it could save $1.7 billion in health-care costs the very next year
Illustration from University of California-San Francisco By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News If Kentucky could cut its smoking rate to the national average, it would save an estimated $1.7 billion...
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Medicaid stakeholders OK with healthy behavior incentives, oppose penalizing recipients who don’t take part in cost sharing
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News Groups of people concerned about changes in Kentucky’s Medicaid program are open to the state offering incentives for healthy behaviors, but...
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Woman stuck by needle faces up to one year of testing for HIV and hepatitis; dirty needles becoming common in public places
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A Monroe County woman was stuck by an insulin needle found in a pair of sweatpants she purchased at the Walmart in Tompkinsville and...
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Justice secretary, drug-policy chief and ex-health boss back needle exchanges but ‘political rhetoric’ can trump science
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News CORBIN, Ky. – Local officials and legislators continue to debate and sometimes reject needle exchanges, but two state officials and a former state health...
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Nine myths about opioid drug abuse
Do you think it’s a good idea to save your leftover pain pills to have “just in case” you might need one, or that heroin is primarily an inner-city problem?...