UK's largest academic building will be the Michael D. Rankin M.D. Health Education Building, named for an alumnus from Danville

A rendering of the building, to be built on University Drive between the main library and Cooper Drive

By Kristi Willett
University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved Tuesday the naming of the university's new building for health education as the Michael D. Rankin M.D. Health Education Building.

As an alumnus, Rankin has devoted himself to the UK College of Medicine, its success and the success of its students. He has been an invaluable member of the UK Medical Alumni Association, its past president, chair of the Dean's Advisory Council and volunteer faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. In addition, he has served many years on the College of Medicine scholarship and admissions committees.

The Board of Trustees previously accepted a gift commitment of $22 million from Rankin for scholarships in the college and to support the construction of the building — which, when completed, will be the largest academic building in the history of UK.

“Dr. Rankin has left an indelible mark of healing and hope, not just on this university, but on the state of Kentucky,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “His influence will be felt by generations of students and the patients they later serve.”

At over 500,000 square feet, the new Health Education Building will house programs in the colleges of Medicine, Public Health, Health Sciences and Nursing as well as the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education. The new facility will become a prominent campus landmark at the intersection of Huguelet and University drives when it opens in 2026.

Rankin when his gift was revealed in 2021 (UK photo)

Rankin, of Danville, received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UK in 1971 and his medical degree from the College of Medicine in 1980. He completed his residency in family medicine in 1983 at UK HealthCare and pursued a successful practice in primary care and family medicine in Atlanta before retiring and returning to Boyle County on a farm 10 miles from where he grew up.

“One of the greatest challenges facing the commonwealth is the current and growing shortage of health care providers, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, athletic trainers, medical laboratory scientists, speech language pathologists, audiologists, public health officials and other health care professionals,” Capilouto said. “With this new facility, we will be addressing this health care workforce shortage head-on and, but it couldn’t be done without our partners like Dr. Michael Rankin, who share with us a vision for a healthier Kentucky.”

Kentucky gets $2.25 million to expand, restructure reserve corps of medical and non-medical workers who help in times of need

Kentucky Health News map from iStock base map

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

With a $2.25 million grant, Kentucky will expand and restructure its Medical Reserve Corps to cover every county in the state.  

The corps comprises medical and non-medical personnel who volunteer their time and expertise to supplement public-health resources during emergencies and other times of community need.

Kentucky's corps supported emergency-shelter operations following storms in December 2021 in Western Kentucky; the flooding, mudslides and landslides in Eastern Kentucky last July; and during extreme weather events, such as the temperature plunge last December. Volunteers helped with testing and vaccine distribution during the pandemic, and typically provide medical support and first aid at large public gatherings such as the Kentucky Derby. 

“These volunteers have been crucial in aiding with disaster responses, and their invaluable impact has especially been felt during recent years,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news release. “We have faced unimaginable challenges such as natural disasters, a once-in-a-century global pandemic and so much more. With this funding, the administration will be able to provide direct financial support, technical assistance, resources and training to help our regional units and strengthen communities.”

The Medical Reserve Corps has 29 locally housed units with volunteers in 78 counties. The 42 counties not covered by the Medical Reserve Corps are Adair, Allen, Barren, Bath, Bracken, Breathitt, Butler, Calloway, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Estill, Green, Hardin, Hart, Jackson, LaRue, Laurel, Lewis, Logan, McCreary, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Meade, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Morgan, Nelson, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Simpson, Taylor, Warren, Washington and Wayne. 

The state plans to use the grant money to restructure and consolidate the units into eight regionalized units that will cover all 120 counties. The corps will be housed under "Kentucky’s Healthcare Coalitions" in the preparedness branch of the state Department for Public Health.

“The regionalization of the Medical Reserve Corps program will provide a more robust and equitable coverage of volunteers across our commonwealth and will enhance the quantity and quality of partnerships with key stakeholders we already partner with, such as hospitals, universities and local health departments,” Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said in the release. 

Of the 33 states and jurisdictions recently granted awards through the American Rescue Plan Act to strengthen the Medical Reserve Corps network across the country, Kentucky received the fourth largest. 

Deputy Health Commissioner Connie White told the legislature's Interim Joint Health Services Committee June 21 that the money will provide the funding needed to strengthen the program. 

"We're really going to work hard with our local providers to be sure that they know in case of emergency, that's not when you have a training. In case of emergency, that's when you call and say, 'Remember those desktop trainings that we did? Well, it's time to kick that into gear, because we need you.'"

Nursing home's volunteer program disbands due to dwindling numbers; only 19% of Kentucky seniors volunteer, worst in U.S.

Sunrise Manor volunteers used money from fees to buy items that residents could use. Here, Tickle Ragland, second row at left, and Rebekah Okeson, second row at right, are pictured with some residents sporting sweatshirts the organization purchased as a Christmas gift for every resident.

After 38 years, a volunteer program at the Signature Healthcare nursing home in Hodgenville has disbanded, Ron Benningfield reports for the LaRue County Herald-News.

The Sunrise Manor Volunteers were known as the "Redcoats" for the jackets they wore, Benningfield reports, noting three of the program's earliest volunteers.

He writes that the volunteers helped the nursing-home residents with a wide range of things, from making sure they got to planned activities to polishing their nails -- but most importantly, they spent time with them.

“One of the most important roles, though, was just to be there to give them a hug, a pat on the back, and let them know you cared about them,” said Ruth Ann Brown, one of the early volunteers.

Volunteers also paid membership fees to purchase items for residents, including Christmas presents. “Some of the residents didn’t have any living family and some had no one to visit them, so we wanted to make sure that every one of them knew we hadn’t forgotten them,” longtime volunteeer LaDean Self told Benningfield.

The volunteers, dressed in their red jackets, also sat as a group at many residents' funerals or lined up outside the church or funeral home as a post-service honor guard for the deceased.

Ragland told Benningfield that the program was once voted the best nursing-home volunteer group in Kentucky, but its numbers have dwindled from more than 100 to less than 50, with only 16 attending the last membership meeting.

The seasoned volunteers told Benningfield that lack of time and a dwindling desire to help old, sick people were reasons for their dwindling numbers.

Sonya Turner, quality of life director at Sunrise Manor, told Benningfield that Signature has its own volunteer program, and volunteers are still needed. And "just to set the record straight," she said, the Redcoat group did not disband because of Signature.

Turner said, “Being a volunteer doesn’t mean every day--just an hour or two once a week would be a blessing. We all know that love is spelled T-I-M-E.”

Seniors make great volunteers

AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, recently released a report saying that volunteers should be recruited among seniors, largely because they have the time to do so.

AARP graphic

The online survey of 1,522 adults looked at the behaviors and interest surrounding adult volunteering activities. It found that adults 65 and older were more likely than younger adults to volunteer frequently, with 32 percent volunteering weekly and 20% doing it monthly.

Seniors also volunteered more hours on a regular basis than younger adults, at an average of 10 hours per month, compared to nine hours for those 18-34 and eight hours for those 35-64. The main reason given by seniors for not being able to volunteer was health problems.

Only 18.9% of Kentucky's seniors volunteer, worst in the nation, according to America's Health Rankings. Kentucky's seniors rank 49th in health.

The AARP survey found that 69% of adults in the U.S. volunteer in some capacity. Of those, 29% said they helped a person in need and 23% said they helped an elderly person, but only 6% said they volunteered in a clinic, hospital or health-care facility.

Younger adults cited time constraints as their main reason for not volunteering, with work (25%) and family (22%) listed as the top two reasons. Among all adults, 21% volunteer weekly and 24% monthly.

The survey noted that volunteers tend to be more optimistic and engaged in their communities than non-volunteers: 45% and 27%, respectively. Volunteers were much more likely than non-volunteers to read newspapers: 62% and 34%, respectively.

It also found that a personal connection or a personal request was the best way to find more volunteers, with 23% in the survey reporting they volunteered with an organization because they knew someone who volunteers with that organization.

That said, a challenge for nursing homes seeking volunteers is that about half of adults say they're looking for ways to volunteer that don't involve personal engagement. The survey found that 52 % were very or somewhat interested in volunteering from home and the same percentage were interested in only volunteering small increments of time.

Studies show that volunteer work helps your health; Kentucky's level of volunteerism depends on how you measure it

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky chart; for a larger version, click on it

Most Kentucky adults are involved in some community activity, broadly defined, but the state ranks below average, 36th, in the latest state-by-state ranking of volunteerism.

"Volunteering can improve a community’s health and build connections between neighbors," says the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. "To learn more about volunteering and civic participation in the commonwealth, the 2018 Kentucky Health Issues Poll asked Kentucky adults whether they engaged in a variety of civic activities in the prior year. Seven of these activities were related to political engagement and three were related to community participation."

The poll found that 78 percent of Kentucky adults are involved in civic activities of some kind from volunteer work to talking about politics, and 68 percent are engaged in politics in some way, including an in-person discussion about politics and government. It found that 54 percent were active in their communities through volunteering at their church or other nonprofit group, working on a community project or donating blood.

"Getting involved can actually be a prescription for improving individual health as well as the health of our communities," said Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the foundation. "It's that 'helper's high' that occurs when we're contributing with no expectation of getting paid. Studies show this sense of purpose leads to lower mortality rates, reduced depression and better functionality."

In the latest ratings by the Corporation for National and Volunteer Service, which use narrower definitions than the Kentucky poll, only 23.5 percent of Kentuckians were considered volunteers. The state's volunteer rate has been declining since 2005, when it was above the national average.

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In the Kentucky poll, engagement varied by education level. Adults with more education were more likely than adults with less education to participate in each of the activities. In the past year, 89 percent of college graduates participated in a political activity, but that was true of only 37 percent of adults who had not graduated high school. Three-fourths of college graduates participated in community activities, but only 31 percent of high-school dropouts did.

 

KHIP is an annual telephone poll of Kentucky adults about health and health-policy issues; it is funded jointly by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Interact for Health, a Cincinnati-area foundation.

Events scheduled in Ky. for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign is having events in Kentucky this month, including Sunday, Oct. 15 at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington; Sunday, Oct. 22 at Smothers Park in Owensboro; and Saturday, Oct. 28 at Waterfront Park in Louisville

The National Breast Cancer Foundation has a website where you can get a booklet with general information about cancer and specific information about breast cancer, including how to prevent it with healthy habits, and how to detect it early to prevent its spread and increase the chances of survival. Most women survive it with early detection and treatment.

"Breast cancer is the second most common kind of cancer in women. About one in eight women born today in the United States will get breast cancer at some point," says the breast-cancer website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It suggests some steps to raise awareness of breast cancer:

• Ask doctors and nurses to speak to women about the importance of getting screened for breast cancer.
• Encourage women between 40 and 50 to talk with their doctors about when to start getting mammograms.
• Organize an event to talk with women ages 50 to 74 about getting mammograms every two years.
• Host a breast cancer walk like those in Lexington, Owensboro and Louisville.

Nonprofit groups question Bevin's plan to require 'volunteer' work from able-bodied adults who aren't primary caregivers

Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to require volunteer work from unemployed, able-bodied Medicaid members isn't sitting well with the Kentucky Nonprofit Network, which represents nearly 600 of the state’s nonprofit groups, because it would mean tens of thousands of people would "need training, supervision and—in some instances—criminal-background checks," John Cheves reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

As part of the state's request for a federal waiver to tighten eligibility standards for the 440,000 Kentuckians covered by the 2014 expansion of Medicaid, Bevin wants to require "community engagement" for able-bodied adults who aren't primary caregivers, requiring them to work, search for a job, be enrolled in classes or volunteer in their communities, eventually for 20 hours a week. "The state estimates these requirements could affect roughly 215,000 people," many of whom live in rural areas, some with few volunteer opportunities, Cheves reports.

That's one thing Danielle Clore, executive director of the Kentucky Nonprofit Network,  told Bevin's office when it asked the group to support his proposal. In her letter, she included comments from her members:

"The bottom line is this will cost nonprofits money – money and resources we don’t have to spare."
"It takes professionals to effectively manage volunteers. For the experience to be valuable for both the agency and the individual, volunteer efforts have to be managed. Is it worth the limited and precious resources of a nonprofit to manage a volunteer that is there because 'they have to be,' not because they want to be? Nonprofit employees are spread so thin as it is and I feel like a volunteer requirement for anyone not truly committed to the mission of the agency isn't an effective use of anyone's time."
"I do not typically take people who are 'required' to volunteer, because they don't make good volunteers. Also, 20 hours is A LOT OF TIME. We don't allow people to volunteer that many hours because at that point they could be considered a part time employee, and you have potential legal issues to consider."

In an interview, Clore said "members of her organization have limited budgets," Cheves reports. "Many cannot afford to manage a much larger staff. Some do not have enough space or work for so many additional people, Clore said. In sparsely populated rural counties, only a handful of nonprofit groups operate, she said. And some groups that work with children or the elderly require volunteers to pass a criminal-background check, which costs money and raises questions for Medicaid recipients with legal problems in their past, Clore said."

The issue arose at the Aug. 17 meeting of the legislature's Medicaid Oversight Committee, Rep. Joni Jenkins, D-Louisville, asked administration officials if they had a plan for people in communities with few jobs or volunteer opportunities.

Meier said the waiver had been drafted to allow the administration to make a special request to exempt those counties, and that it would build partnerships with non-profits, churches and local governments to find ways for people to fulfill the requirement. He said people could pick up trash or work in places that did not require background checks, like soup kitchens or Habitat for Humanity.

"We are going to keep it pretty open," Meier said. "We don't want to really mandate where they go we just want them to be engaged in the community."

Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, told Kentucky Health News in an interview, "The majority of the people who are not working in the Medicaid expansion population are caregivers and students. . . . I think we better need to understand that population and what their needs are."

Beauregard added, "We need to provide them with the support services that they need, but forcing people to volunteer in order to get health care doesn't make anybody healthier. We know this. There are data to suggest that. In fact, sometimes these stringent requirements put people in a position where they are unable to get care and then they get sick, and they are unable to work."

Meier told Cheves that some Kentucky school districts require students to do volunteer work to graduate from high school, and in some counties this year work or volunteer requirements for people who get food stamps.

Information for this story was also gathered by Melissa Patrick of Kentucky Health News.

Lexington dentist will continue volunteering at free clinic, but retires from administrative responsibilities

Dr. Robert Henry (Herald-Leader photo by Matt Goins)

Robert Henry, a Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center dentist, is retiring from his administrative duties at the Lexington Mission Dental Clinic on South Martin Luther King Boulevard, but plans to continue there as a volunteer, Cheryl Truman reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Henry, originally from Jefferson County, is a founding board member of the clinic, which opened in 2006. Most of the clinic's services are free to those without dental insurance, but it does charge for partial fixtures and dentures. The clinic stays busy, with volunteers finishing around 9 p.m. most nights, but closer to midnight when they are busy, Ruta Valinskaite, the clinic's manager, told Truman.

“We realized there was a need for such dental care in Lexington and nobody to provide it,” he told Truman.

The clinic was formed by members of Calvary Baptist and Faith Lutheran churches, of which he and his family are members. Good Shepherd Episcopal, Maxwell Street Presbyterian and First Presbyterian churches and other volunteer organizations have since joined the clinic, Truman reports.

Henry, 60, came to the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate hoping to become a basketball walk-on in the era of Adolph Rupp, but was trimmed in the final cut, Truman reports. Instead, his other love, science, led him to dental school. He also has a master's degree in public health.

He served as a colonel in the Army Reserve and came to work at the VA Medical Center in Lexington in 1985. He has also been an associate professor at UK's dental school, where he and another faculty member Judy Skelton, helped to created a Community Based Public Health Dentistry elective for dental students. "The course became the most popular elective and is so in demand that a lottery is held for the right to volunteer," Truman writes.

Henry told Truman that his professional interest led him to UK and the VA, but it was his religious faith that led him to the mission dental clinic. Before volunteering at the current mission clinic, he volunteered at Nathaniel United Methodist Mission.

Lexington TV reporter was moved to donate a kidney to a still-unknown stranger and hopes her story will encourage others

Lexington television reporter Leigh Searcy donated one of her kidneys to an unknown stranger and explained it to her 5-year-old  daughter and 6-year-old son this way: "It's like having two cookies and sharing one with someone who doesn't have one," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Searcy, a fixture on WLEX-TV, told Spears that she had not considered donating a kidney until she reported a story about the family of a man who needed a kidney. What inspired her about this family was that it reminded her of her own: young, with two children. The man followed a regimented kidney dialysis schedule and strict diet that dictated his daily routine, but what he really needed was a kidney.

"It's hard to explain," Searcy told Spears. "But I left that home thinking, 'I'm going to get tested to see if I'm a match for him.'" She was not a match for that man, but he eventually got one as a result of her story, and she continued with further testing to see if she would match with someone else who needed a kidney.

Eventually, she was found to be a match for a would-be recipient. Searcy still does not know who the recipient was, but told Spears it was a woman "whom I'm told is doing very well and I'm happy for her." Searcy's surgery took place Aug. 29 and the recipient, who was in the same hospital, received the kidney almost immediately, reports Spears.

Searcy, told University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital officials that she would like to meet the recipient if the woman is willing but understands if it never takes place, Spears reports. "If I don't, I just hope my kidney is doing its job for her ... I just really hope it continues to work for her,'' Searcy said.

Stephen Strup, the James F. Glenn Professor and chief of urology in UK's College of Medicine, told Spears that it's unusual for someone to donate a kidney without having some knowledge of the recipient.
He said Searcy went into the donation with "eyes wide open and really thought about it and felt like it was something she was called to do," he said.

"I was healthy, had healthy children and most importantly, had no family history of kidney problems. Why not help someone if I can? It was a very matter-of-fact decision for me," she told Spears. "I considered the risks. My father pointed out more than once the fact I have two young kids; what if something happened?" Strup, the physician, told Spears, "Life with one kidney is really no different than life with two."

Searcy's husband, Versailles policeman Heath Dotson, told Spears that he decided that it was his wife's decision. "From the beginning, I didn't try to talk her out of it," he said. "I was very proud of her."

Lynne Polly, a donor coordinator at the hospital, told Spears that about 365 people are waiting to get a kidney there. "This year there were about 20 living donors  and 70 deceased donors," Spears writes. "Of the living donors in 2013, only Searcy and one other donor did not know the recipient."
Searcy told Spears the surgery had not affected her lifestyle, and that she is not aware of the missing kidney. A month of the surgery, she was running again, back to her normal routine and had no diet restrictions.

She told Spears that she agreed to share her story with the Herald-Leader because she wants others to consider becoming living donors. "The more people realize how far transplants have come," Searcy said, "the more people will be open to getting tested." (Read moreore)

Want to help? Contact Lynne Polly at (859) 323-5737 or lynne.polly@uky.edu. For more information about being a living donor, visit UKhealthcare.uky.edu/trans.

Louisville vascular surgeon provides 'hands on' support for troops

Dr. Andrea Yancey, a vascular surgeon from Louisville, has completed two weeks of volunteer service treating wounded American soldiers transported from Afghanistan and Iraq to the U.S. Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

“I now have a better understanding and enhanced respect and appreciation for our military,” Yancey said in a press release from the Society for Vascular Surgery, which has provided continuous two-week rotations of vascular surgeons at LRMC for the past four years, the release said.

“The soldiers were young, polite, and grateful,” Yancey said. “Their mental and physical toughness and capacity for resilience were hard to comprehend. In spite of their injuries, they never complained or asked for pain medicine. They did not want to inconvenience anyone.”

Yancey is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Louisville and a surgeon at the Robley Rex Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Louisville.