Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and state agency start effort to encourage Kentuckians to improve immunity and overall health

One of the graphics used to promote the campaign

A new campaign encourages Kentuckians to boost their overall health and immunity to combat chronic conditions and Covid-19, the effects of which are still being felt across the state.

“Raise Your Guard, Kentucky” is a partnership between the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to encourage Kentuckians to adopt habits that will improve their health and reverse negative health impacts.

Since the pandemic began about three years ago, chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease have increased in Kentucky, especially among African Americans. 

“Kentuckians have long struggled with chronic conditions, but the pandemic has certainly made it worse,” said Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the foundation. “We don’t have to accept this as status quo. We can take action to help our bodies be in better condition to fight off the next virus – whether that’s a new Covid-19 variant, the flu, or another illness, as well as combat chronic disease.”

“Raise Your Guard, Kentucky” encourages people to:

• Eat well: Emphasize fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and low-fat or fat-free dairy. Limit saturated fats, cholesterol, salt and added sugars.
• Move more. Physical activity is one of the most important aspects of overall health.
• Stay up to date on all immunizations. Children and adults need protection from vaccine-preventable diseases including measles, shingles, flu, and Covid-19.
• Schedule annual check-ups and screenings: Preventive check-ups with your health-care provider and dentist can catch potential issues in the early stages. Get recommended screenings, including mammograms, colonoscopies, bone density and lung cancer screenings.
• Maintain a healthy weight: Excess weight can affect how your body functions. It can also lower vaccine effectiveness for numerous diseases including influenza, hepatitis B and tetanus.
• Drink lots of water: Getting enough water every day is important to prevent dehydration, a condition that can cause unclear thinking, mood change, your body to overheat, and lead to constipation and kidney stones.
• Get enough sleep: Studies show not getting enough sleep can negatively affect the immune system and is linked with many chronic diseases and conditions.
• Quit smoking and vaping. They harm the immune system and can make the body less able to fight off disease.
• If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. Over time, excessive alcohol use can weaken the immune system and lead to various short- and long-term health impacts such as heart disease, cancer, and increased risk of getting sick from a cold or virus.
• Try to minimize stress. Long-term, stress promotes inflammation and an imbalance of immune cell function. Learning to cope with everyday stressors and challenges is vital for success in life, school and work.
• Wash your hands. Good personal hygiene can prevent the spread of infection.

“Small healthy choices add up to a big positive impact to ensure that every Kentuckian has the opportunity to reach their full human potential,” said Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the state Department for Public Health. “Working together, we can create the conditions that enable every Kentuckian to thrive.”

The “Raise Your Guard, Kentucky” campaign includes a video series featuring everyday people from across the state who share why and how they stay healthy:

• Lacretia Dye, an associate professor at Western Kentucky University, hosts a community yoga class each week.
• Fannie Callahan, a Beattyville retiree, walks every day to prevent diabetes and improve her overall health.
• Kota Young, the Caldwell County judge-executive, has a passion for his community. He shares how he stays healthy so he can better serve.
• Harlan Holmes, a Bowling Green man who learned at 25 that his blood pressure was alarmingly high. He began a “couch to 5K” program, reduced his blood pressure to healthy levels, and has continued running to maintain his health.
• Bethany Pratt of Louisville, an urban farmer, teaches others how to grow their own food, even with limited space.
• Mike Wilkinson of Lexington visits Red River Gorge to climb and hike for physical and mental stress relief.

Kentucky organizations are encouraged to download the videos, graphics, and other educational materials to share with their contacts and use on social media. Materials may be downloaded for free here. Additional videos will be added.

The foundation says it has engaged with nearly 2,000 Kentuckians through focus groups, surveys and polls to learn their perspectives on Covid-19 vaccines and boosters, as well as the pandemic, in general. “Raise Your Guard, Kentucky” messages and delivery vehicles reflect the insights gleaned from this input and are culturally relevant and responsive to the audience. The campaign's resources are available in English, Spanish and Swahili. Learn more at RaiseYourGuardKY.org.

How to manage your mental health in the holiday season

By Dr. Gopalkumar Rakesh

Assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Kentucky

For many, the holiday season is not always the most wonderful time of year. With work and school deadlines quickly approaching, holiday shopping expenses piling up, and back-to-back large social gatherings, this time of year can eventually take a toll on one’s mental wellness.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a study showed that 64% of people with mental illness report holidays make their conditions worse. In a separate study conducted by the American Psychological Association, 38% of people surveyed said their stress increased during the holiday season.

Photo by Tommaso79, Getty Images / iStock Plus

Increased stress can cause symptoms of physical illness, depression, loneliness and more. If you or a loved one are experiencing increased stress this year’s holiday season, here are some tips to help make your season a bit jollier.

Manage your time: Remember that your priorities still matter, and procrastination is not your friend. Putting off important projects can cause unwanted stress. Be sure to prepare ahead of time if you have important deadlines approaching to ensure that you do your best. Try making a schedule of when you will work on your projects and do your holiday prep to make sure your schedule is balanced, productive and not rushed.

Set boundaries: Communicate your limits as early as possible to friends and family so that everyone is on the same page. It is okay to say no to social obligations that may be too stressful. Choosing to set boundaries surrounding stressful conversations on topics that may be contentious in a family setting may also be advised.

Take care of yourself: The holiday season is not only about spoiling those you love but making yourself a priority as well. Fight seasonal depression by staying on top of your sleep and exercise schedule. If you can, work near a window throughout the day to get as much sunlight as possible. Even adding bright holiday lighting throughout your work or engaging with mindfulness apps on your smartphone can help boost your mood.

Seek support: Check in with a local support group or friends who understand what you may be going through. Surrounding yourself with people who feel similar can help combat feelings of loneliness.

If you or someone you know needs additional support, reach out to your therapist if you have one, talk to a mental-health professional or contact your primary-care physician.

Additionally, if you or a loved one are experiencing a suicidal crisis or mental distress, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) to access free and confidential support 24/7.

Tornado cleanup is more than physical; loss and suffering take emotional and psychological tolls that can be harder to deal with

Downtown Mayfield is pictured on Feb. 2. (Photo by William Widmer for The New York Times)

About 40 percent of the debris from the gigantic tornado that plowed through 200 miles of Western Kentucky Dec. 10 has been picked up, but Rick Rojas of The New York Times reports, "Communities along that path are now confronting another form of devastation that is less tangible but just as staggering: the emotional and psychological toll that comes from enduring so much loss and suffering."

Rojas adds, "The long and unforgiving reach of the storm is evident in nights that are sleepless or disrupted by harrowing dreams, unexpected bursts of tears, flashes of anger, fuzzy memories, a diminished appetite — the multitude of ways that trauma can manifest itself after a disaster. Now, more than a month after the storm, some — because of resources or simple luck — have been able to emerge from the shock of the storm. On the other side of a growing gulf, though, are the many others whose lives were upended and are still being whirled by turbulence. For them, mental health experts warn, the sense of security and calm integral to recovery remains elusive."

The focus of Rojas's story is Mayfield, a town of 10,000 "walloped by the initial shock of seeing entire stretches pulverized by the worst of the storm. Downtown remains mangled," he writes. "People point to piles of debris and refer to them by what they used to be: a church, a shop, a family home."

Steven Elder, the president of the Mayfield Community Foundation, which is raising money to help residents recover, told Rojas that it has been hardest for people who were already disadvantaged: “People were hurting long before Dec. 10. That’s the disaster that’s going to set these people back a lifetime. They’ve fallen into a hole they’ll never get out of.”

Rojas focuses on several victims, primarily Isaiah Holt, who "sustained nerve damage while trapped in the rubble of the candle factory where he worked and fears it will be permanent. His skin is etched with cuts and chemical burns. A strong gust of wind or an exploding building in an action movie can unleash in him a rush of terror. Lately he has spent $400 on DoorDash deliveries, as the pain — physical but also psychological — makes it difficult to venture outside."

“I felt good today,” Holt told Rojas after making phone calls and taking a shower, but "He confessed that it was only the second one he had taken in 2022."

“That’s what ‘feeling good’ means, just be feeling normal,” Holt said. “What makes it hard is I have nothing to do right now. I’m single with no kids, and I have no job.” So, Rojas writes, "He sits and he stews."

Holt was "pinned under the rubble for hours," Rojas reports. "He drained the battery on his cellphone posting videos on Snapchat, desperate to tell his family and friends he loved them. He feared he would not make it out. He feared for his brother, who worked there too and was similarly trapped. Weeks later, Mr. Holt is grateful to be alive and for the company of his brother, who spent several days in a coma but is now recovering at home. But he is also depressed and saddled with new fears."

Holt "lost 20 pounds in the hospital and feels out of shape. He is even more concerned about his mental health," Rojas writes, quoting him: “An able mind is 10 times better than an able body.” Holt has already had post-traumatic stress, after serving in the Army as a door gunner on a helicopter.

"Before he started at the candle factory about three months ago, Mr. Holt was working with young people, coaching them in sports and taking them on college tours," Rojas reports. "In a way, he is still coaching. He is often on the phone with his candle factory co-workers, trying to help them deal with the trauma. “Instead of sugarcoating,” he said, “I’m just letting them know: There are going to be bad days.”

Family members of the injured are affected, too: "Darryl Johnson, whose sister was killed at the factory, has checked in just about every day with his nieces and nephew — her grown children. He was trying to give his brother-in-law some space. He could tell he needed the room to grieve," Rojas reports.

“Eventually, it got to me,” Johnson told him. “I’m a fisherman. I was at the lake one day. I turned into the lake — that’s how hard I cried. You cry so hard your throat gets sore and you can’t speak, and finally, it was over. I just put my feet on the ground and said, ‘Get back to work. You’ve got a job to do.’”

Coronavirus cases top 800 for 4th straight day; as another surge threatens, Beshear urges people to follow the rules and be careful

Department for Public Health map, labeled by KHN; for a larger version, click on it. Get update here.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear announced 809 new cases of the novel coronavirus Friday, the first time Kentucky has seen four days in a row with more than 800 new cases each day. And his announcement of 11 more deaths made this week's death count the highest yet, 66 since Sunday. 

Beshear again implored Kentuckians to keep their social gatherings small and follow public-health guidelines as the state heads into the Labor Day weekend and the running of the 146th Kentucky Derby -- without fans at Churchill Downs, but perhaps at many Derby parties. 

Kentucky has been on an elevated, rough plateau of cases for several weeks, and it got there following a surge after the last big holiday, July 4.

“I know this is a big weekend: Derby weekend, even though it’s September, and Labor Day weekend,” Beshear said in a news release. “Traditionally, we’d get together with a lot of people over this weekend. This year, I need you to do it a little differently. Just this one time, probably in your entire life, please keep your gatherings small, 10 people or fewer.”

Today's new cases created new records. The state's unadjusted seven-day total of daily new cases is 5,006, the first seven-day period above 5,000 cases. The seven-day rolling average is 715. 

The good news continues to be that the share of Kentuckians testing positive in the last seven days continues to be under 5 percent, a key threshold for suppressing the virus. Today's positive test rate is 4.70%. It has remained under 5% for 10 days. 

Of today's new cases, Beshear reported that 98 are age 18 and younger, and of those, eight were 5 and under. The youngest was a 2-month-old baby from Jefferson County.

“We’re trying to keep our businesses open and get our economy to bounce back,” said Beshear. “We’re going to get our kids back in school later this month. We’re trying to get high school sports up and going and keep them going. So we really need you to help us on all the other things like wearing a mask, washing your hands frequently and social distancing.”

Friday's deaths were a 61-year-old man from Barren County; an 88-year-old woman from Carroll County; an 82-year-old man from Clinton County; an 82-year-old woman from Hardin County; two men, 72 and 77, from Jefferson County; a 77-year-old woman from Kenton County; a 67-year-old woman from Marion County; a 75-year-old man from Owsley County; a 79-year-old woman from Rockcastle County; and a 64-year-old woman from Warren County.

“I know how much we all want to see our families and friends for this holiday, but for one year, we need to prioritize making sure every person we care about is around to celebrate with us next year,” said Beshear. “We have already lost so many Kentuckians, and I don’t want that loss to be even greater. It will be if we have a spike in cases.”

Beshear extended several health-related executive orders, including his mask mandate and an order that allows pharmacists to dispense 30-day refills. 

Counties with more than 10 new cases Friday were Jefferson, 249; Fayette, 56; Pulaski, 36; Daviess, 26; Madison, 23; Warren, 22; Union, 21; Henderson, 20; Laurel, 16; Boone, 15; Greenup, 14; Kenton, 14; Grayson, 13; Bullitt, 12; Nelson, 12; Hardin, 11; and Shelby, 11.

Hospitalizations for covid-19 in Kentucky remained stable, at 574, with 132 of them in intensive care. Each figure was up six from Thursday.

In long-term-care facilities, 51 more residents and four more employees were found to be infected. At least 310 facilities statewide have had at least one case, and there active cases among 585 residents and 352 employees.

In K-12 schools, the daily report showed 27 new cases among students, raising the active-case total to 300. Seven more employees were added to the case list, making 109 active cases. The total cases reported so far are 459 students and 128 employees.

Kentucky Kernel graph, labeled by Ky. Health News; click it to enlarge

At Kentucky colleges and universities, the state added 51 more students and four more employees to its list, making active-case totals of 710 and 27, respectively. The report was incomplete, or not up to date, or both; for example, no new cases were reported at the University of Kentucky, but the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, which reports on a different schedule, reported 111 new cases, 50 of them at UK. The state report said UK has 390 active cases, but UK's own site, which had date through Tuesday, Sept. 1, said it had 459 active cases.

UK has started testing dormitories' wastewater to detect infection by the virus. "Increasing levels in wastewater could be an early indicator of an outbreak or increased prevalence," UK President Eli Capilouto said in a campus-wide email.

In other covid-19 news Friday:

• The Christian County Board of Education voted 4-1 to approve Supt. Chris Brentzel's recommendation that in-person classes begin Tuesday, while allowing students to opt out, Hoptown Chronicle reports: "Elementary school students will be on a traditional schedule and attend in-person classes five days a week. Middle- and high-schoolers will be on a hybrid schedule. They will be in class two days and have virtual learning the remainder of the week."
• "The pandemic has heightened stress and upset routines" so much that "physicians and researchers are seeing signs it is doing deep damage to people’s sleep," The Washington Post reports. “Coronasomnia,” as some experts call it, could "have profound public-health ramifications — creating a massive new population of chronic insomniacs grappling with declines in productivity, shorter fuses and increased risks of hypertension, depression and other health problems."
• The Louisville Courier Journal reports on what happens to public health when a city has "uncontrolled spread" of the coronavirus. Dr. Sarah Moyer, the city's chief health officer, told Grace Schneider that like a wildfire, extinguishing the spread is nearly impossible "after we have the wildfire going." Louisville Metro's public health officials encourage people who have tested positive for the virus to go ahead and do their own contact tracing by alerting those they were within six feet of for at least 15 minutes in the days before they began to feel symptoms. 
• The Courier Journal's Deborah Yetter tells the story of covid-19 from the perspective of people who have recovered: the administrator of a nursing home that had a big covid-19 outbreak in May that resulted in the loss of 16 residents and one staff member to the disease; a nurse who works on a covid-19 ward; and a physician. Dr. Briones-Prior of U of L Health told Yetter that she is seeing whole families affected by the disease, instead of just the frail and elderly: "It gets into the household, and the whole household gets it."
• University of Louisville Physicians offer tips on how to increase your activity during the pandemic, saying that adding an extra 2,000 steps a day and reducing calories by 100 a day will help you achieve an energy balance that can stop weight gain. 

The chronic pain of fibromyalgia, often worse in the winter, can still be effectively managed and treated, doctor writes

Winter can be tough for people with fibromyalgia, "a complex, long-term illness that causes severe musculoskeletal pain and fatigue," and affects women more than men, Dr. Indhira Bisono-Jimenez of KentuckyOne Health Rheumatology Associates writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Dr. Indhira Bisono-Jimenez

"Chronic feelings of intense joint or muscle pain and increased fatigue are the most prominent symptoms of fibromyalgia," Bisono-Jimenez writes. "Other symptoms might include depression, anxiety, stress, sleep deprivation, headaches or migraines, tingling or numbness in the hands and feet, and problems with the digestive system, such as constipation and irritable bowel syndrome."

Fortunately, the doctor writes, fibromyalgia can be "effectively treated and managed," with "narcotic medications used to relieve intense pain, duloxetine or milnacipran to treat pain and fatigue, pregabalin for nerve pain, and over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen, aspirin or naproxen.
A series of therapeutic treatment options are often recommended to alleviate pain. Massage therapy, chiropractic therapy, movement therapy and acupuncture are all recommended as a supplement to reducing pain and treating fibromyalgia. Physical and occupational therapy are often recommended as well, along with counseling to help sufferers learn strategies to better manage stress."

Aside from medicine and therapy, doctors may also recommend lifestyle changes to help treat and manage fibromyalgia. Those include "getting plenty of sleep and exercising regularly," Bisono-Jimenez writes. "Walking, biking or swimming at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week is often recommended. Maintaining a proper diet, getting enough sleep and modifying workloads are also key to effectively managing fibromyalgia."