By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentucky's top two state senators said Tuesday that none of the advocates for more funding of tobacco prevention spoke to them about it during the legislative session that ended Monday night. "I never heard from those advocates. They never came to meet with me, and they probably should've. . . . I was in the room where it happened, and nobody ever spoke to me," Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown said in response to a question from Kentucky Health News. Thayer spoke at a Capitol rotunda press conference where leading Senate Republicans discussed wh ..read more

Rep. Kim Moser presents SB 74 to the state House (Ky. LRC photo) By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News On the last day of the 2024 legislative session, a bipartisan bill aimed at improving Kentucky's dismal maternal-mortality rate was finally passed, after parliamentary maneuvering to avoid divisive issues. Provisions of House Bill 10, known as the "Momnibus" bill for its varied approach, were added to Senate Bill 74, a bill to require analysis of child and maternal fatalities and add reporting requirements. The Momnibus bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Kim Moser ..read more

By Sarah Ladd  Kentucky Lantern In a year when the American Cancer Society asked the Kentucky legislature to increase spending on tobacco prevention, lawmakers cut it and passed an anti-vaping bill that some say could increase cigarette use in the state. Kentucky Lantern graphic The two-year state budget’s allocation for tobacco prevention — about $8 million shy of advocates’ ask — “certainly is not” enough to combat use in the state, said Doug Hogan, the government relations director in Kentucky for the American Cancer Society and its Cancer Action Network. The cancer society ..read more

Kentucky State Capitol (Wikipedia photo) By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News In its 2024 session the Kentucky General Assembly has passed dozens of health-related bills that address a range of topics. With one day left in the session, here are some of them:  Vaping: House Bill 11 limits legal sale of vaping products to those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It also creates a database of retailers that sell the products and sets fines for retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers who violate the law. HB 142 requires school districts to adopt spec ..read more

Graphic from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention magazine, Vital Signs By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that the more health-related social needs a woman has, the less likely she is to get a mammogram.  The study defines health-related social needs, or HRSNs, as social conditions that adversely affect a person's health. Examples include feeling socially isolated, loss of work or reduced hours, dissatisfaction with life, the cost to access health care, a lack of transportation, and receiving food stamps ..read more

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chart, adapted by Kentucky Health News By John McGary, WEKU Kentucky has the fourth-highest teenage birth rate in the U.S., according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed Kentucky’s teen birthrate to be 38 percent higher than the national average. That said, teen-birth rates are declining in Kentucky and the nation. The state's rate was 22.8 per 1,000 females aged 15-19 in 2019-21, down from 31.7 in 2014-16. This rate has decreased steadily since 2014-16 when that rate was 31.7 teen bi ..read more

A program to bring more nurses into the workforce will be offered in the Jefferson County Public Schools. The program will allow high-school seniors to graduate with a licensed practical nurse degree, while they finish their remaining high school credit.  “We are offering students the ability to graduate from high school ready for a practical nursing career — all while learning within an organization devoted to safe, quality nursing care," Brittany Burke, system director of the Norton Healthcare Institute for Education & Development, said in a news release.  The LPN prog ..read more

WKYT map, adapted by Kentucky Health News By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Several Kentucky water systems, mostly on and near the Ohio River, will have to fund ways to reduce certain cancer-causing substaces for which the first federal limits were issued Wednesday, April 10. The substances are PFAS, a joint acronym for per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, which are widespread and last a long time in the environment without breaking down, so they accumulate in the human body. They have been linked to low birth weights, liver disease and kidney cancer. The substances have b ..read more

Kentucky State University’s nursing program has outgrown the Betty White Health Center, opened in 1971. Nursing classes are spread in buildings across campus. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke) By Sarah LaddKentucky Lantern Kentucky State University requested $50 million this year to build a nursing school for its growing class of future health care providers. The governor and legislature rejected the request, even though the KSU program has a waiting list and Kentucky suffers from a shortage of nurses but enjoys a record-revenue surplus. “The real tragedy is that we had the mo ..read more

Photo by Fat Camera via Getty Images and Country Living April is Move More Month, a natural as temperatures warm and outdoor activity is more pleasant. The American Heart Association recommends that children stay active throughout the day and that older youth get an hour of more vigorous physical activity daily. Exercising as a family is a great way to show your children the importance of physical activity at an early age, the AHA says. Country Living magazine has a list of 40 simple but memorable famili activities for the spring. Here are four ways to get your family moving mor ..read more