Adair paper's health section is latest to appear in edition sent to all postal patrons; most stories are from Kentucky Health News

Kentucky newspapers appear to be publishing more special sections on health, supported by advertising from health-care providers. They often putting the sections into sample-copy editions that are mailed to all postal patrons in the paper's home county, or rely heavily on stories from Kentucky Health News, or both.

The latest example of that is the section published last month by the Adair County Community Voice, in which most of the stories came from KHN. "They are always timely and pertinent," Editor-Publisher Sharon Burton told us in an email. "A great resource for community papers with limited resources to cover all the news."

Burton said she always puts the health section in her "total market coverage" edition. The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes Kentucky Health News, advises papers to do that, not only because advertising is easier to sell, but because the people who most need health information are unlikely to be subscribers. Most weekly newspaper sales in Kentucky are by single copy, not subscription.

"The community has been extremely supportive of our health sections," Burton wrote. "We provide one every time we publish a TMC product and believe it’s a well-read section. Statistics show Kentucky does not rank well when it comes to health, and our community is striving to get more active and focus our efforts on becoming healthier. This issue featured a local Refit class that has a huge following. Our local WATCH group sponsors a monthly community walk. Sadly, our city earmarked funds for parks and recreation at the end of last year but reversed that just recently. Those are all issues we cover throughout the year." And she adds that the health-related advertisers "are partners in our effort to make Adair County healthier."

The section is not on the Voice website, but is posted on the Institute site as a 35 mb PDF, downloadable by clicking here.