Illnesses and deaths from e-cigarettes are still on the rise, and the causes are still not known; state health officials urge quitting

As health officials try to figure out the exact cause of more than 1,000 cases of illness related to Americans' use of electronic cigarettes, Kentucky's top health official's advice is to quit them.

Click here for a CHFS video on vaping related illness.

"As the investigation into the cause of severe lung injury associated with vaping continues, we recommend you refrain from using e-cigarettes, or any vaping product," Dr. Angela Dearinger, commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Public Health, said in a news release.

("Vaping" is a term used by manufacturers, sellers and users of electronic cigarettes, which do not produce a vapor, which is liquid particles suspended in the air, but an aerosol, which has liquid and/or solid particles suspended in a gaseous medium.)

As of Oct. 4, 25 cases of severe lung disease associated with vaping have been reported in Kentucky, with one confirmed, three considered probable and two ruled out, according to a Cabinet for Health and Family Services website that updates those numbers every Friday.

"The confirmed case involves a man in his early 30s who reported vaping with nicotine, and no THC or synthetic cannabinoid," says the state news release. Tetrahydrocannabinol is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana; most of the patients have reported a history of using products with THC.

“We don’t know exactly which products or ingredients are responsible for the lung injury associated with vaping," Elizabeth said Anderson-Hoagland, supervisor of the Health Promotion Section in the department's Chronic Disease Program. "Until we know more, we strongly urge Kentuckians to avoid vaping any products."

Victims of e-cigarette illnesses have respiratory symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Symptoms usually worsen over days or weeks before victims enter a hospital. Some victims have also reported fever, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, chest pain, and loss of appetite.

If you use e-cigarettes and have any of these symptoms, health officials urge you to seek medical care promptly and to take your e-cigarette products (device, cartridges, etc.) with you to the doctor.

University of Pikeville cross-country runner Dalton Stiltner
suffered a collapsed lung from using electronic cigarettes for
about a year. (Lexington Herald-Leader photo by Alex Slitz)

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported on Dalton Stiltner, a 21-year-old University of Pikeville cross-country runner. He told reporter Alex Acquisto that he had been using the popular Juul device for about a year when he became short of breath and then had searing pain under his rib cage that "felt like a hot knife was sticking out of my chest."

Stiltner ended up in the hospital with a collapsed lung and has been told that he will no longer be able to run cross country, and that future smoking of any kind would almost guarantee another collapse of one or both of his lungs, Acquisto reports.

“I wake up in the morning still reaching for my Juul, but I know I’m never going to do it again because the pain was the worst of my life,” he said. “No buzz is worth going through all this.”

The latest numbers posted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Oct. 1 showed 1,080 lung injuries associated with e-cigarettes. About 80 percent of the cases have occurred in patients under 35, with 16% of them in under 18, and 21% in young adults 18-20.

Claire Kopsky of WLEX-18 reports that NBC has confirmed that the number of vaping related deaths in the U.S. is up to 24, with one of the latest a 17-year-old boy in New York.

Information and support for quitting smoking is available at www.QuitNowKentucky.com or 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669). You can also text “QUITKY” to 797979 for help. Also, many local health departments offer smoking cessation classes.

Rising drug prices put more pressure on Congress to act; advocates are optimistic, but drug makers are a powerful lobby

By Trudy Lieberman

Community Health News Service

Maybe – just maybe – Americans will get some relief from the relentlessly rising prices of pharmaceuticals.

That, of course, depends on Congress pushing back against the drug companies’ formidable lobbying machine, their generous campaign contributions, and the industry’s historical coziness with members of Congress. But this year seems different.

When you consider that the country’s spending on prescription drugs increased by 28 percent from 2011 to 2016, it’s easy to see why it’s harder for politicians to ignore the public anger over prices of life-saving medicines they can’t afford.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, who heads the Senate Finance Committee and has co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to tackle drug prices, has said that passing a bill to control them will be essential to Republicans’ “keeping a majority in the Senate” in the 2020 elections. “Eventually it will come down to this. There are 22 Republicans up for election this year, and if it’s like in my state … there is a great deal of disgust with the rapidly increasing prices of drugs.”

Is a breakthrough really at hand?

I checked in with David Mitchell, a former public relations executive and now a cancer patient, who has been leading a grassroots effort to challenge congressional thinking about drug prices. His organization, Patients for Affordable Drugs, has heard from some 20,000 patients recounting the troubles they’ve had paying for their medicines. Many have told their stories to Congress.

Mitchell was upbeat. “The fact we’ve gotten this far, and there’s still talk of getting something meaningful done is remarkable,” he said. “The anger is really boiling up, and elected officials know and feel this anger can cost them their jobs if they don’t do something.”

He said the question is: Can a compromise be reached that will get to the president’s desk?

Drug legislation is never easy to understand, so I asked Mitchell to break down the main ideas for reform and the points of contention. Here are the main elements that could be in a final package.

Changing patent laws would encourage market competition and make it easier for generics and biosimilar drugs – similar versions of medicines made from living microorganisms found in plant or animal cells – to come to market.

Negotiating drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries would be a huge step toward helping seniors. The 2003 law that authorized Medicare’s drug benefit prohibits Medicare from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. A bill sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would allow Medicare to negotiate prices for the top 250 brand name drugs that are usually the most expensive and would levy steep fines for manufacturers that refuse to negotiate.

Capping out-of-pocket costs for seniors might encounter the least opposition from the industry, and Pelosi’s bill would limit those costs to $2,000 a year. A Senate bill introduced by Grassley and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden caps expenses at $3,100. “Everyone agrees that we need to fix the unlimited out-of-pocket expense under Medicare,” Mitchell says.

Pricing drugs more in line with other industrialized countries, using a system called reference pricing, is far more controversial. U.S. drug prices are two to three times higher than those in most other nations, and a reference pricing system would cut costs for patients and revenue for drug makers, which argue that their profits drive research that gives the U.S. the world's best drugs.

More transparency for pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen between insurers and drug manufacturers, who cut secret rebate deals that determine what patients ultimately pay, would shine a light on how prices get set.

As Congress considers what to do, the drug industry is taking no chances that things might change. Although a recent Gallup poll shows drug companies are the most poorly regarded businesses in a list of 25 industries, their public-relations machine is in overdrive trying to convince Congress to preserve their customary path to profits. An epic legislative battle is in the making.

How do you think drug prices should be controlled? Write to Trudy at trudy.lieberman@gmail.com.

Ky. Rural Health Association 21st annual conference will be Nov. 14-15 in Bowling Green; discounted registration fees until Nov. 1

The 21st  annual Kentucky Rural Health Association conference will be held in Bowling Green Nov. 14-15 at Western Kentucky University's Knicely Center, 2355 Nashville Rd.

Through Friday, Nov. 1, the registration fee is $125 for KRHA members and $175 for non-members. After Nov. 1, the fees are $175 and $225, respectively. Student rates are $45 for KRHA student members and $55 for non-KRHA student members. For detailed registration information, click here. For a copy the agenda and other information, click here.

Study concludes 16 rural hospitals in Ky. at high risk of closing; another found 35 in poor financial health; remedies proposed

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Many rural hospitals across Kentucky are struggling to keep their doors open. And though the numbers vary on just how many are in dire financial straits, the conclusion is the same: in much of rural Kentucky, health care as we know it is in trouble.

Table from Navigant Consulting report

"We can't keep doing health care the way that we've done in the past, and that's the bottom line," Dr. Dan DeBehnke, managing director of healthcare at Navigant Consulting Inc., told Kentucky Health News. "But the other key component to that is that there's not a single magic bullet."

DeBehnke is a former health system CEO and co-author of a Navigant study released in February, which concluded that 16 of Kentucky's rural hospitals, or almost one-fourth of the total, are at high risk of closing unless their finances improve. The study considered 65 of Kentucky's 129 hospitals to be rural.

Another report, released in April, concluded that eight rural Kentucky hospitals are at high risk of financial distress; and 12 are considered to have mid-high risk of such distress. The report was done by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, using a distress-index model it has developed in tracking rural hospitals for a decade.

And a recent Kentucky Hospital Association analysis, using 2017-18 data, concluded that 35 of the 70 Kentucky hospitals it considers rural are in poor financial health. 

KHA told Kentucky Health News in an e-mail that the "good news" is that 21 of the 35 are owned by larger hospital systems, "so it is more likely that they will continue to have support. However, that leaves 14 hospitals very vulnerable [and] 10 of these 14 are critical-access hospitals."

Critical-access hospitals get slightly higher Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements in return for limiting their size and services. Kentucky has 27 of them. 

KHA recently replicated a narrower study that looked at the financial health of 44 rural hospitals in 2015, and found that their situation has worsened. The first study found that 15 of the 44, or 34 percent, were in poor financial health. The updated study added eight more to the list, bringing the number to 29 23, or 66 52 percent of the total.

While the numbers in these studies vary because they define financial risk differently, Navigant's DeBehnke told Kentucky Health News that the message to be taken from them is clear.

"The message is the same," he said. "Rural health care is facing a crisis."

The crisis becomes more real every time a rural hospital closes. Nationwide, 113 have closed since 2010, according to the North Carolina center. Five have closed in Kentucky since 2009, four of them since 2014. A hospital is considered closed if it has stopped providing inpatient care, even if it still offers other services, like emergency or primary care.

Why are rural hospitals struggling? 

A main reason rural hospitals are struggling, said DeBehnke, is that patient care has shifted from an inpatient model to an outpatient one, which has left them overstaffed and underused.

"The average rural hospital has about 50 beds and has an average daily census -- so, patients actually in beds every day -- of seven," he said. "They are utilizing well less than 50% of their capacity and they've got about 300 employees."

He also pointed to the loss of agricultural and manufacturing jobs in rural communities, leaving them with a shrinking population that tends to be older and poorer, meaning they are likely to be uninsured or on Medicaid or Medicare, which don't pay for the total cost of care.

The Navigant report adds that "budget-strapped" rural hospitals are also unable to invest in updated, innovative technology due to a lack of capital.

"It's a mixture of a lot of different things that have kind of come to a head at this point," DeBehnke said.

Federal reimbursement policies 

The Kentucky Hospital Association said several changes in federal reimbursement policies have hurt Kentucky hospitals, and several more being considered would do further damage.

KHA said last-minute changes to a rule that changes how Medicare reimburses the bottom 25% of hospitals for their "wage index" will cause a $2.6 million loss to Kentucky hospitals instead of the $4 million increase they would have gained under the original version. Some Kentucky hospitals in the bottom 25% will benefit from the extra money, but eight that would have been helped from this new rule will be worse off under the new formula, says KHA.

Cuts in the Medicare program that helps hospitals with a "disproportionate share" of Medicaid patients will leave Kentucky hospitals with $77 million less by 2021, KHA says. Medicare no longer allows such hospitals to mitigate what the industry calls the "Medicaid shortfall," the difference between what Medicaid pays and the actual cost of care.

Medicaid has its own disproportionate-share program. Its proposed cuts would reduce Kentucky's payments in 2021 to $60 million, 75% less than the 2018 total of $227 million, KHA says. Those cuts have been put on hold until Nov. 21, and hospitals are still hoping to prevent or mitigate them.

Also of concern is a "site-neutral" rule, finalized in November 2018 that allows Medicare to pay the same for an outpatient hospital clinic visit as it does to a traditional clinic for the same service. A federal judge blocked the rule last month, but the government could appeal. If the rule is reinstated, KHA says, it would cost Kentucky hospitals $563 million over the next 10 years.

The Hardinsburg hospital may have been saved
by a program federal officials are trying to cut.

Kentucky hospitals would also take a hit if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cuts a federal drug-discount program known as 340B. CMS has appealed a federal judge's ruling that its Medicare 340B rate cuts for drugs purchased through the program was unlawful. KHA says such cuts would cost Kentucky hospitals $16 million a year.

The impact of federal reimbursement policies can be told in the story of Breckinridge Memorial Hospital in Hardinsburg, which was on the brink of closing, largely because of ongoing federal reimbursement cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, but was finally able to break even because it started participating in the 340B program.

Hospital officials recognized that its break-even status obtained from the 340B program was a short-term solution, but city officials said it was enough to thwart their request for a tax hike to shore up the hospitals empty savings account.

Why does it matter?

Rural hospital closures cost communities their immediate access to emergency and acute care, causing longer drive times to the nearest hospital and in some cases poorer health outcomes, especially in a traumatic event. A University of Kentucky study found that ambulance-run length for rural patients increased 76%, from 14.2 minutes to 25.1 minutes, when their hospital closes. For seniors that transport time was 98% longer, going from 13.9 minutes to 27.6 minutes.

Hospital closures can also bring economic hardship to a community, since hospitals tend to be large employers and support other businesses, like pharmacies and clinics. When the sole hospital in a community closes, per capita income declines by 4% and the unemployment rate rises 1.6 percentage points, according to a study in the journal Health Services Research.

On top of that, not having a hospital can make it more difficult for a community to attract new employers or new health-care providers; hospital closures often results in the out-migration of existing providers and specialists.

Navigant determined that 10 of the 16 rural hospitals in Kentucky at high financial risk were essential to their communities, based on an analysis of trauma status, service to vulnerable populations, geographic isolation, and economic impact.

About 41% of Kentuckians live in rural areas, according to the Rural Health Information Hub.

What can be done? 

One of the main suggestions to shore up rural hospitals is to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but Kentucky has already done that. The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that from 2013 to 2015, rural hospitals in Medicaid-expansion states improved their operating margins by 4 percentage points more than rural hospitals in non-expansion states, and their total margins by 2.3 percentage points more.

Another suggestion is to stop requiring small rural hospitals to have inpatient beds in order to get Medicare reimbursement. DeBehnke said that would allow them to become "rural emergency hospitals," with a well-functioning emergency department and an attached ambulatory clinic designed to meet local needs. This new designation would allow them to receive special help from Medicare.

One such proposal is the bipartisan Rural Emergency Acute Care Hospital (REACH) Act which has not gained much traction in Congress though it has been sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. Navigant is proposing that states be able to do this on their own, through a waiver from CMS, DeBehnke said

Another suggestion is for rural hospitals to regionalize their care, which means they would divvy up functions among hospitals or agree to let certain hospitals specialize in certain types of care. Many already do this for perinatal care, the care given before and after the birth of a child.

DeBehnke said one model could have four hospitals in a region each be responsible for one area of care. One would do inpatient care, another would be a free-standing emergency room with a robust clinic, another would provide long-term care, and another would provide behavioral-health and addiction-recovery care. He said that may sound really good to some, but is a hard sell because communities and their hospitals are reluctant to give up services.

"There's a balance between keeping some resource in that community that are health-care related or losing the facility altogether because of the financial stresses," DeBehnke said. "So we think that regionalization is a really good opportunity to stabilize rural healthcare."

It's also important for these facilities to be "really, really laser-focused on cost and cost structure," he said.

DeBehnke said there needs to be a shift away from only thinking about how to save rural hospitals to one that looks at the bigger picture, which considers the real health-care needs of rural communities and what kind of facilities and services they require.

"It's a multi-factorial problem that actually is nuanced, related to the local community and the region in which health care is provided, and the solutions will have to be tailored accordingly. There's not going to be a single fix," DeBehnke said. "It's a heavy lift, mostly from a cultural standpoint and from an emotional standpoint related to those communities."

Sen. Stephen Meredith

State Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, has filed three bills for the upcoming legislative session to help rural health providers. They would remove all requirements for Medicaid co-payments; require more equitable payments between urban and rural providers from managed-care organizations, which care for most Kentucky Medicaid members; and reduce administrative burdens on providers by decreasing the number of MCOs to three from the current five.

Meredith said the bills would only help rural hospitals, not save them. "The only thing that is going to save rural hospitals is a fundamental change in the health-care delivery system," he said. "But reduced administrative costs associated with providing health care, every dollar we can put back into the care of patients versus the paperwork, that would be a benefit."

A former hospital administrator, Meredith said some rural hospitals have "a margin of 1/2 to 1 percent, that's nothing," and that could disappear if a doctor gets sick and is unable to practice "for an extended period of time."

The Kentucky Hospital Association says it also is "very concerned about the ongoing financial viability of rural hospitals," and is working to improve policies to help them. KHA said it changed the distribution methodology of the Medicaid disproportionate-share payments so that hospitals with a higher-than-average number of Medicaid patients, including critical-access hospitals, get twice the amount from the payment pool than they would have otherwise.

KHA said it is working with the state to implement a new Medicaid Hospital Rate Improvement Plan that would generate $100 million in additional reimbursement in the current state fiscal year. The money would make up the difference between what Medicaid actually pays and the actual cost of care. KHA says Medicaid pays 82% of the total cost of care. This would be accomplished through a provider tax, the revenue from which would be used to qualify for more federal funding.

91% of Kentucky's school districts are now tobacco-free; foundation expects that the other 9% will soon follow

 Districts in white are not tobacco-free. For a larger map, click on it.

Only 15 of Kentucky's 172 school districts, or 8.7 percent, have not passed a tobacco-free policy to match a state law that will take effect July 1, 2020, according to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which says it expects nearly all of districts to enact the policy before they have to.

The law, for which the foundation campaigned, will ban use of all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, on school-owned property and school-sponsored events in all public schools. The law allows school boards to opt out of the ban, but it appears to be prompting them to opt in.

When the bill became law April 9, only 74 of the 172 school districts, or 42%, were fully tobacco-free. As of Oct. 3, that number was up to 157, or 91%, with more to be added soon.

The law also requires schools to post signs, but provides no funding for signage. The health foundation, the Kentucky Medical Association and the Kentucky Foundation for Medical Care have created signs in consultation with the Kentucky School Boards Association. and are offering them to districts that adopted tobacco-free policies after the law passed.

Districts that adopted tobacco-free policies after the bill became law can get the indoor, outdoor and vehicle signs on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In January 2020, if supplies remain, the signage will be offered to all school districts, including those that had previously passed tobacco-free school policies. An order form and information about the signage can be found on the Tobacco-Free for Students website, www.tobaccofreestudents.org.

Study finds almost all who would be affected by Ky. Medicaid work rules are already meeting them, many more than in earlier study

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

If the courts allow Kentucky to put work and community engagement requirements in its Medicaid program, only 3 percent of the program's beneficiaries would not already be meeting them, according to interviews with them for by The Commonwealth Fund, a New York City-based foundation.

The other 97% of the Medicaid population in the study reported they were meeting the proposed requirements by either working or participating in an approved list of community engagement activities 20 hours a week, or qualifying for an exemption.

The study is based on telephone interviews with 500 low-income Kentuckians in November and December 2018, including 297 who reported having Medicaid coverage. The results differed significantly from an earlier study with different methodology.

The earlier study was based on Medicaid records as of February 2018, and a random-sample survey of 9,936 people who would be subject to the new requirements. It found a much smaller share of Kentuckians meeting Medicaid work rules that would affect them: 64%.

That study was conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, which the state and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hired to evaluate the plan if it takes effect. It was done independently under contract provision that allows the university to conduct its own research.

The latest study, for the Commonwealth Fund, asked about the proposed work or "community engagement" requirements and their current work and community-engagement activities.

For a larger version of this chart, click on the image.

It found that 44% were unable to work because of a disability; 34% were working at least 20 hours a week; 11% were spending at least 20 hours a week in school, caring for a family member or participating in community service; 8% were spending at least 20 hours a week looking for work or training for a job; and 3% would likely not satisfy the proposed requirements.

The Bevin administration argues that work requirements encourage "able-bodied" people to find work, which will ultimately improve their health. And Bevin has said that "hundreds of thousands" of able-bodied adults on Kentucky Medicaid should be working, but choose not to.

If the work and community-engagement requirements go forward, those affected by them will have to report monthly and be locked out of the program for non-compliance. Health advocates have long argued that many Kentuckians would lose their coverage because of this onerous requirement.

The Medicaid plan, called Kentucky HEALTH for Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health, has been blocked twice by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.; his rulings will be considered by three appellate judges on Friday, Oct. 11.

The latest study also found that 80% of low-income Kentuckians surveyed were unsure whether the work requirement was in effect; 12% thought that it was, and only 8% knew it wasn't. It also found that 55% of all low-income Kentuckians, and 46% of those on Medicaid, said they had heard "nothing at all" about the requirements.

The report notes that because not all Kentucky Medicaid beneficiaries will be subject to the new policy, this could have affected the rates of how many had heard about it. "This high level of confusion may have dissuaded some eligible individuals from enrolling in Medicaid," says the report.

The study also found that 39% of Medicaid beneficiaries who self-identified as a racial minority were likely to know about the requirements, while 57% of whites were. Those with less than a high-school education had less awareness than those with some college education: 48% and 62%, respectively.

Awareness also varied by age group, with younger adults less likely to know about the policy than older adults. The study found that 41% of Medicaid beneficiaries aged 19-29 said they knew about the proposal, while 58% of those 30-64 did.

"The survey found similar results in Arkansas, which implemented work requirements in 2018 and experienced higher uninsured rates, no increase in employment, and substantial confusion," says the report. Arkansas' work requirements have also been struck down.

The researchers called on policymakers to consider these issues if such policies are allowed to move forward.

They concluded, "To reduce potential coverage losses, states should increase awareness of work requirements, especially among minority groups and people with lower levels of education, and reduce the administrative burden of reporting. Research to evaluate these ongoing state efforts will be essential."

October is Farm to School Month, prompting observations across the state, with emphasis on local food in many schools

School districts throughout Kentucky will hold special events throughout October to celebrate Farm to School Month.

“Farm to School helps Kentucky students get access to fresh, nutritious local foods that will help them to grow up strong and healthy,” Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said in a news release. “At the same time, Farm to School enables farmers to tap into a local market for their products."

A few of the celebrations include:

• Grant County’s middle and high schools are roasting pumpkins as a side dish and toasting pumpkin seeds for their salad bars. The elementary schools will roast pumpkins as their "Try Day" Friday special Oct. 18. The schools will have coloring contests.
• Barren County’s Future Farmers of America chapter, culinary arts students, staff, and farmers’ market will host a hog roast Oct. 10. County schools will serve all-local lunches on Oct. 24, and Red Cross Elementary will hold a Farm to School event on Oct. 17.
• Wayne County is serving local lunches in all schools. Students worked a garden at the high school that produced 85 percent of the food for the district.
• In Fayette County, Sandersville Elementary School will serve local foods daily the week of Oct. 14, with side salads made from lettuce and apples from Reed Valley Orchard in Paris. Rosa Parks Elementary will serve local foods daily the week of Oct. 28.

The Farm to School program also runs the Junior Chef program, a statewide competition of high-school culinary teams. The regional champions of this competition compete in a state tournament in August at the state fair. This year's winner was Montgomery County (Mount Sterling).

During Farm to School month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will measure activities and trends in the Farm to School movement. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture encourages local school food authorities to complete the census, due by Nov. 4. For more information, contact your USDA Farm to School regional lead person or send an email to farmtoschool@fns.usda.gov.

New beverage recommendations for children to age 5 say to avoid all drinks with added sugar, and plant-based milks

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Health experts from four of the nation's most prominent health organizations have created a new set of beverage recommendations for children under the age of 5 that basically recommends breast milk and infant formula for infants under the age of 1 and water and cows' milk for older children.

The experts strongly caution against drinks with added sugar, including flavored milk, sodas and sugared fruit drinks, diet drinks, caffeinated drinks and plant-based and non-dairy milks -- and says to limit fruit juice.

“As a pediatrician, I know what a child drinks can be almost as important as what they eat, in terms of a healthy diet. This is especially true for very young children,” Dr. Natalie Muth, who represented the American Academy of Pediatrics on the expert panel, said in the news release. “We know that children learn what flavors they prefer at a very early age—as young as 9 months—and these preferences can last through childhood and adulthood. That’s why it’s important to set them on a healthy course, and this guide will help parents and caregivers do that.”

The recommendations were created by the AAP, the American Heart Association, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, under the direction of Healthy Eating Research, a nutrition research organization, and funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

As Kentucky's children and adults continue to struggle with obesity, recommendations to cut back on empty calories match up with research showing that children who are obese or overweight often grow up to become obese and overweight adults.

"Overconsumption of unhealthy beverages along with inadequate consumption of healthy beverages in early childhood can contribute to risk of diet-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, or dental caries," says the Healthy Eating Research report. "This makes beverages a critical target for improving the health and well-being of infants and young children."

Kentucky's children from 2 to 4 years old rank 32nd in the nation for obesity, with 13.3% of them obese. Those between 10-17 have the third highest obesity rate, at 19.3%; and the rate for high-school students is at 20.2%, ranking them third as well.

The release notes that the recommendations are intended for healthy children and do not address medical conditions that require specific nutritional guidance. Here's what the recommendations say:

• 0-6 months: Babies need only breast milk or infant formula.
• 6-12 months: In addition to breast milk or infant formula, offer a small amount of drinking water once solid foods are introduced to help babies get familiar with the taste—just a few sips at meal times is all it takes. Avoid fruit juices.
• 12-24 months: It’s time to add whole milk, which has many essential nutrients, along with some plain drinking water. A small amount of 100% juice is OK, which amounts to a half-a-cup a day. Better yet, the recommendation is to serve whole fruits instead.
• 2-5 years: Milk and water are the go-to beverages. Move away from whole milk to skim or 1% milk. And no more than a half-a-cup to 3/4 cup a day of 100% juice, with a recommendation to add water to make a little go a long way.

The recommendations are clear that plant based milks are generally not recommended unless there is a medical reason, like allergies or lactose intolerance, or a specific dietary preference.

The Healthy Eating Research report says, "Plant-based milks are growing in popularity, but it is important to note that they are not nutritionally equivalent to cow’s milk. They have varying nutritional profiles based on their plant source and many often contain added sugars. With the exception of soy milk, the [Dietary Guidelines for Americans] do not include these beverages as part of the dairy group because their overall nutritional content is not similar to dairy foods."

Click on the chart to view a larger version

“By providing caregivers, health care and early care and education providers, policymakers, and beverage industry representatives a clear set of objective, science-based recommendations for healthy drink consumption, we can use this opportunity to work together and improve the health and well-being of infants and young children throughout the United States," Megan Lott, deputy director of Healthy Eating Research, said in the release.

Mary Story and Tina Kauh report for the RWJF Culture of Health Blog that these recommendations grew out of a 2017 workshop convened by the National Academy of Sciences to identify policy strategies for reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among young children.

During the workshop, they report that they heard evidence that patterns of sugary drink consumption begin early in life—and disproportionately among black, Latinx, and American Indian children and among those from families with lower incomes -- but they add that this is a problem that exist "across the board," and "too many kids consume too many sugary drinks."

"The Feeding Infant and Toddler study found that, on any given day, nearly one in three (29 percent) children ages 12 to 23 months and nearly half (46 percent) of children 36 to 47 months have a sugary drink. Further, sugary drinks are the number one source of added sugar from all foods and beverages for children 12 to 47.9 months of age," they report.

Louisville campaign works to decrease high suicide rate among LGBTQ+ youth; focuses on importance of parental support

A new campaign in Louisville is working to decrease the high suicide rate among high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning by emphasizing the importance of parental support.

In the United States, high school students who identify as LGBTQ are almost five times more likely to attempt suicide than their cisgender, heterosexual peers, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. (Cisgender is the term for a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.)

“Though educating their parents can’t solve everything LGBTQ+ youth face, it’s a great place to start especially when the statistics speak so loudly for themselves,” Ryan Combs said in the news release. “When parents support their kids, youth have better mental health outcomes.”

The project, called "Embrace the Journey," is led by Combs, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville, and Maurice Gattis, associate professor in the university's Kent School of Social Work. It was developed through the guidance of local health providers, public health professionals, LGBTQ+ youth and community members, says the release. (The + at the end of LGBTQ stands for "and others" and ensures an inclusiveness of all identities.)

Combs told Kentucky Health News that the campaign will start in Louisville and includes a 40-mile radius, with hopes of expanding it if successful.

The project stems from the findings of the U of L 2017 LGBTQ+ Adolescent Health Study, which found that 100 percent of the participants had heard homophobic or transphobic language, 61 percent felt unsafe and 27 percent had experienced physical violence at school, according to the release.

“We wanted to understand the health needs of LGBTQ adolescents in Louisville. We learned that the largest concern locally is mental health, especially depression, anxiety and suicidality,” said Combs. “We designed a campaign to target parents because they play such a key role in the mental health of LGBTQ youth."

The reason LGBTQ+ adolescents report higher levels of poor mental health than heterosexual and cisgender youth isn't because of their identity, "but rather that LGBTQ+ youth are often bullied and mistreated for their sexual orientation and / or gender identity / expression, feel misunderstood by other peers and adults in their lives, lack access to affirming health and social services, and are made to feel that who they are is wrong, shameful or politicized," according to the campaign's website.

It continues, "Studies show that when LGBTQ+ adolescents have support from even one adult – especially support from a parent or guardian – they are much more likely to maintain mental healthiness."

The campaign launched at a recent Louisville Pride Foundation event, where organizers spoke to participants and handed out posters that read: “LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and suicide – supportive parents greatly reduce this risk.”

Parents of LGBTQ youth can find more information about this campaign and additional resources at
embracethejourneylou.org, including advice from other parents, personal narratives from youth and a glossary of LGBTQ vocabulary.

The campaign was developed with grants from the Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research at U of L and JustFundKY, an anti-discrimination foundation, and works closely with Louisville Youth Group.

Registration is open for a free substance-abuse and addiction conference Oct. 11 in Grand Rivers, Ky.

The Kentucky Rural Health Association is hosting the Western Kentucky Regional Community Education Day, designed to educate and stimulate community discussion around substance abuse and addiction. This year's event is titled, "The Addiction & Substance Abuse Communities at a Crossroad."

Attendance is free, but registration is required. The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Grand Rivers Community Center, 155 W. Cumberland Ave. Click here to register.

The conference is inspired by Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland, a book that looks at how heroin took hold of rural American, who has long said "the antidote to this crisis is community."

"Our communities need to come together to have frank discussions, reduce the stigma, and explore creative avenues and availability of dealing with pain and addiction," says the registration flyer about the conference.

The conference will feature Lori Scott, author of the recently published Surrender at Rocky Point, a personal memoir about "tragedy, loss, redemption and healing."

Presentation topics include: Harm Reduction/Needle Exchange Programs; Opioids at the Backdoor: How Prescription Drugs are Being Diverted in our Community; Signs and Symptoms of Addiction: Responding to Someone with an Addiction; and Facilitated Discussion: Community Actions/Ideas.

Nov. 15 workshop in Ashland will help rural journalists cover the difficult topic of substance abuse and recovery; space is limited

The epidemic of opioid use and other substance abuse has hit many rural communities hard, but rural news media have a hard time covering this difficult subject, for various reasons. On Nov. 15 in Ashland, a workshop for journalists will try to change that.

Macy

Covering Substance Abuse and Recovery: A Workshop for Journalists will be held at the Marriott Delta Downtown by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Registration is now open; space is limited, and the earlybird registration rate of $50 is good until Nov. 1. Registration will close Nov. 8.

Burton

The workshop is designed to help rural journalists cover a subject that needs covering, in order to help their communities deal not only with substance abuse, but to know how recovery is possible.

The agenda is packed with a variety of experts in the field including award-winning journalists, authors, researchers, officials, and people in recovery. Several award-winning journalists who have been leaders in covering these topics in Appalachia and adjoining areas are among the speakers:

• Beth Macy, award-winning author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America, recently released in paperback. She will appear via Skype.
• Terry DeMio and Cara Owsley, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists from the Cincinnati Enquirer; DeMio has been the newspaper’s opioid beat reporter for five years, and Owsley is photography director; they worked on the Pulitzer-winning series, "Seven Days of Heroin."
• Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, who won a Pulitzer in 2017 for revealing county-by-county patterns of opioid distribution in West Virginia.
• Sharon Burton, editor and publisher of the Adair County Community Voice in Columbia, Ky., a national leader in substance-abuse coverage by small newspapers and winner of the 2016 Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian.
• Kentucky Justice Secretary John Tilley, who is a former legislator, attorney and television journalist.

Attendees will learn about the issues from a variety of experts in the field including award-winning journalists, authors, researchers, officials and people in recovery. The goals are to help journalists:

• Understand the depth and breadth of the problem and how it affects local communities
• Know how to get reliable data and other local information for reporting
• Develop local, state, regional and national sources for stories and story ideas
• Hear reporters explain how they cover the problem and the people affected by it
• Appreciate the role of local news media in reducing the stigma that inhibit local action

Research by Oak Ridge Associated Universities has shown that the stigma attached to drug use and addiction are major obstacles to news coverage of the problem, which makes it harder for communities to find solutions.

The workshop will begin with an informal gathering at the Delta hotel on Thursday evening, Nov. 14, and run from 8:30 a,m. to 5:15 p.m. Nov. 15. Online registration is required, and a room block with a favorable rate of $109 a night is available at the Delta. The registration site has a link to the hotel reservation site. Please contact Institute Director Al Cross with any questions: al.cross@uky.edu.

Kentucky libraries have become key partners in helping rural residents learn about health, nutrition and healthy lifestyles

An information board in the Pulaski County Public Library has
much material about health. (Photo by Sarah Baird for Stateline)

Libraries in rural Kentucky are becoming a key partner in helping small-town residents learn about health and nutrition and maintain a healthier lifestyle, Sarah Baird reports for Stateline, a national publication of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Libraries offer everything from free healthy-cooking and Zumba classes to seminars on how to prevent diabetes or administer Narcan, the overdose-reversal drug. In Somerset, the Pulaski County Public Library offers a nutrition class with a registered dietitian and will soon offer chair yoga. In the nearby London, the Laurel County Public Library works with a local hospital to offer learning lunches, "an event that pairs a free box lunch with an hour-long lesson on a relevant health topic, from migraines to sepsis. The lunches, launched in 2014, see attendance as high as 40 people. Topics planned for 2020 run from urology to shingles," Baird reports.

Having such offerings in rural areas can make a difference, where residents are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions and drug addiction rates are high, but there are fewer medical resources. "In Eastern Kentucky, the number of primary-care physicians is 26 percent lower than the national average and 21% lower than the rest of the state, according to a 2017 report from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky," Baird reports. "Specialty physicians are even harder to find, with 59% fewer specialists in the region than in the nation."

Libraries can also serve as a source of information for seniors or caregivers, an important function in rural areas since thet tend to have a higher proportion of seniors, many with age-related ailments. "According to the Cornell University 2013 Disability Status Report, a third of older Kentuckians (ages 65 to 74) have some form of disability, with rural areas being particularly affected by a lack of access to proper doctors, therapies and treatment options," Baird reports.

Rural residents may feel more comfortable coming to the library, than, say a gym, for a yoga class, especially if that person is self-conscious. "Especially in small towns, public libraries serve as a neutral ground, allowing patrons to seek out information or attend classes that they might feel uncomfortable pursuing in a more traditional setting," Baird reports.

However, libraries sometimes lack the funds to implement public health efforts, and often lack the staff to write grants that could net them more funding, Baird reports.