Psychologists honor KHN publisher Cross for health work

The Kentucky Psychological Association recently recognized Kentucky Health News Publisher Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, for "his outstanding career in journalism, his work in bringing coverage to every corner of the Commonwealth and his passion for improving the health of Kentucky," KPA and the university said in press releases.

Cross's work to advance the health of Kentucky is reflected in Kentucky Health News, which is published with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, and the institute's national publication, The Rural Blog. Cross is a member of the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation, a statewide group working on ways to improve the health in Kentucky.

Irvine hospital's Susan Starling wins American Hospital Association's award for leadership in small or rural hospitals

Susan L. Starling, president and CEO of Marcum & Wallace Memorial Hospital in Irvine, is the 2013 winner of the American Hospital Association’s Shirley Ann Munroe Leadership Award.

The award recognizes the accomplishments of small or rural hospital leaders who have improved health care delivery in their communities through innovative and progressive efforts. Starling was recognized "as a widely respected leader who fosters strong collaborative relationships that improve the health care of the rural community," says a press release from the American Hospital Association.

Serving a community of approximately 15,000 that covers several counties for the last 30 years, Starling has forged statewide partnerships, updated the Catholic Health Partners facility, provided leadership in initiatives such as Project HOME (Helpful Opportunities for Medical Care Enhancement), helped to connect uninsured and under-insured patients with preventive services, developed partnerships resulting in the first rural community lung-cancer screening and breast-cancer awareness and screening, and in 2010 provided "groundbreaking direction" for her hospital to be certified as the first Level IV trauma center in Kentucky, the release says.

Starling also received the Kentucky Rural Health Association’s Dan Martin Award for her dedication to rural health care in Kentucky in 2012, according to the release, and was recognized by the AHA's political action committee as its Most Valuable Player for her significant outreach and advocacy efforts.

Leaders in Medicaid, public health and advocacy entering UK College of Public Health Hall of Fame

The father of Kentucky's Medicaid program, the co-author of a popular smoking-cessation program and a leading advocate for mental health and the disabled will join the University of Kentucky College of Public Health's Hall of Fame Oct 11. The inductees are Roy Butler, Richard Clayton and Sheila Schuster.

Butler started working for the state in January 1951 and concluded as commissioner of Medicaid in 1992, serving 11 governors. When Medicaid began in 1965, Butler concentrated on developing the program to increase coverage, funding and the range of services. In 1985, his office introduced a managed patient access and care system that became the model for the nation and potentially saved taxpayers millions of dollars, according to a UK press release.

 Clayton came to UK in 1970, and was a professor of sociology until January 2001, when he became Good Samaritan Foundation endowed chair in the College of Public Health. He was founding chair of the college's Department of Health Behavior and its first associate dean for research. He also helped establish the college. The Cooper/Clayton Method to Stop Smoking was created by Clayton and Thomas Cooper (a 2006 hall of fame inductee). They have trained more than 1,500 community-level volunteers to deliver the program. More than 12,000 Kentuckians are non-smokers, says the release.

Schuster, after 27 years as a child psychologist, now works full time on public-policy advocacy on mental-health, health-care and disabilities issues. She helped establish and now leads the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition and was executive director of the Kentucky Psychological Association, serving from 1989-2000, and continues to represent that organization as a federal and state lobbyist. She heads the Advocacy Action Network, an umbrella organization of lobbies. She was an incorporator of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and served two terms as its chair.

The three will be inducted during a lunch Oct. 11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Lexington. The college says it will accept reservations until Friday, Oct. 4.

Nominees sought for award honoring lifetime in rural health

The Kentucky Rural Health Association seeks nominations for an award honoring a lifetime contribution to rural health in Kentucky, named for Dr. Dan Martin of the Trover Foundation in Madisonville. A nominee's contributions might be in areas of direct patient care, health professions education, health administration, health promotion or public advocacy. To nominate someone, please complete the form, available here and e-mail it to Linda Asher at lmashe2@uky.edu; or to the Office of Rural and Community Health, K320 Kentucky Clinic, Lexington, KY 40536-0284; or fax it to (859)323-1043.

Markey Cancer Center at UK gets National Cancer Institute designation, opening up new treatment options for patients

The University of Kentucky annouced Friday that its Markey Cancer Center has earned a prestigious National Cancer Institute designation. With this designation, the center becomes one of 68 in the U.S., and the only one in Kentucky, with special access to clinical trials, new treatments and new drugs for patients.

Kentucky ranks first in the nation in cancer deaths per 100,000 residents, and cancer is especially problematic in Appalachia, where the overall cancer rate is 12 percent higher than in the United States.

The designation signifies national excellence in clinical care and cancer research, a UK news release said. It allows Markey patients to join specialized drug or treatment trials that are open only to NCI centers, and it also opens up funding for researchers at UK, said Michael Karpf, UK's executive vice president for health affairs.

"It's the ultimate recognition for academic cancer centers," Markey Executive Director Mark Evers said. It will help UK battle cancers that plague the state, particularly lung and colorectal cancers, Evers said in a story by Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Leader. To earn the designation, the center had to pass a rigorous review that began four years ago and will be renewed every five years, says the UK release.

UK officials said the designation will boost the state and local economy through research funding, and advanced cancer research could also generate more high-tech, health care jobs in the state.  "It strengthens Markey’s reputation as a frontrunner in cancer treatment and research," the UK release said.

Ky. Rural Health Association seeks nominations by Aug. 20 for annual award honoring health service to rural Kentuckians

The Kentucky Rural Health Association is seeking nominations for this year's recipient of the Dan Martin Award, an annual honor for an individual who has provided many years of service to rural Kentuckians through direct patient care, health professions education, health administration, health promotion or public advocacy.

This award is named for its first recipient, in 2003, Dr. Dan Martin of the Trover Foundation in Madisonville. Susan Starling, CEO of Marcum and Wallace Memorial Hospital in Irvine, received the award last year, honoring her dedication and compassionate work for rural health in Kentucky.

Nominations will be received until Aug. 20. The award will be presented at the KRHA Annual Conference Sept. 26-27 in Bowling Green. To nominate someone, please complete this form and e-mail to lmashe2@uky.edu.

Ky. Rural Health Association seeks entries in reporting contest

The Kentucky Rural Health Association invites nominations for its annual rural health reporting awards, which aim to encourage more and better coverage of Kentucky’s rural health-related issues by the state’s newspapers.

The contest has daily and non-daily divisions, each with two categories: series and single story. Each of the four winners gets a plaque and a $100 prize at KRHA's summer conference. Articles must originally have been published during the preceding fiscal year. Entries will be accepted from staff writers, editors, freelance writers and others affiliated with a Kentucky-based newspaper, and from KRHA members and community members at large on the writers’ or newspapers’ behalf. Each entry should include three copies of the article as it originally appeared in the newspaper. The awards will be based on relevance to rural health, quality of reporting, impact on health care policy and new insights generated by the reporting.

For entry information, contact Ernie L. Scott of the Kentucky Office of Rural Health at 750 Morton Blvd., Hazard KY 41701, or 606.439.3557 ext. 83689, or ernie.scott@uky.edu.

Floyd County woman is Kentucky's smoke-free advocate of year

For her work spreading the word about second-hand smoke and founding the coalition that ultimately helped Prestonsburg pass a smoke-free ordinance in 2009, Floyd County's Jean V. Rosenberg was named 2012 advocate of the year at the annual Smoke-Free Policy Conference hosted by the University of Kentucky's Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy. She stands with center Director Dr. Ellen Hahn, left, and Dr. Melissa Walton-Shirley, right, the Glasgow cardiologist who won in 2011.

Rosenberg started her work in 2005 when she began working for the Floyd County Health Department as a program specialist to increase awareness about the dangers of second-hand smoke, reports Ann Blackford reports in a university press release. During that time, she founded the Breathe Easy Floyd County Coalition, which educated people about second-hand smoke and supported local smoke-free initiatives.

On Nov. 1, 2009, the City of Prestonsburg implemented a 100 percent smoke-free ordinance in all workplaces and enclosed public places, with Rosenberg at the helm to propel the effort forward. (Read more)

Ky. Citizen Doctor of the Year nominations being accepted

The Kentucky Academy of Family Physicians is accepting nominations for Kentucky's Citizen Doctor of the Year award. Patients are encouraged to send in their recommendations by Feb. 1.

The award honors an outstanding, community-minded family physician who provides compassionate, comprehensive care. Candidates should be role models of their profession and of their communities. They must also be members of the academy.

Kentuckians wishing to nominate should send a letter (two-page maximum) that includes the nominee's name, office address and phone number and reasons why the nominee has earned the award to: Kentucky Citizen Doctor of the Year, c/o KAFP, PO Box 1444, Ashland KY 41105-1444. They should also include their own contact information, including email. For more information about the academy, click here.

Kentucky Rural Health Assn. gives first newspaper writing awards; Kentucky Health News writer wins for previous work

Tara Kaprowy, the chief writer for Kentucky Health News, won one of the first awards given by the Kentucky Rural Health Association for newspaper writing.

Kaprowy won the prise for best series in a non-daily newspaper for her five-part series in The Sentinel-Echo of London titled “How Healthy Are We?” The August 2010 series examined how Laurel County compared to state and national averages for tobacco use, obesity, access to health care, and so on.

Ivy Brashear, formerly of The Hazard Herald, won prize for best story in a non-daily paper for her April 6, 2011, article, “Health study has Perry near the bottom,” about a Population Health Institute study that ranked Perry’s health status as 115^th among the state's 120 counties. There were no daily entries; each winner received a plaque and $100 prize.

These types of reports can be done by any news outlet in Kentucky, because plenty of data are available on sites such as http://www.kyhealthfacts.org/. For a look at Kaprowy's series, go here.

UK prof receives Kentucky Academy of Family Physicians award

Dr. Samuel Matheny has received the 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the Kentucky Academy of Family Physicians. "It is his peers recognizing him for some of his unselfish activities, particularly things focused on the overall good for patients in the commonwealth, improving quality of life for patients and for the family physicians that take care of patients," said Gerry Stover, executive vice president of KAFP.

Matheny practices in Lexington, and for the past 17 years, has been a professor and chair of Family and Community Medicine in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, of which he is graduate. He is double board certified in family and preventive medicine.

In service to the KAFP, he has invited renowned speakers to speak to the membership. He has also created new awards that honor physician volunteers and opened up nominations to community members for the citizen doctor award. He has also addressed the needs of the physician workforce Kentucky.

Madisonville hospital earns national award for program that helps pregnant women maintain, improve oral health

For its work in improving oral health in prenatal patients, the Center for Women's Health at Trover Health System in Madisonville has received a national award.

The William J. Gies Award for Outstanding Innovation is given to individuals and organizations dedicated to improving dental education, research and leadership. Trover Health System's program "Centering Pregnancy Smiles" focuses on educating women about the importance of maintaining their oral health while pregnant.

"Women may mistakenly think they can skip dental care when pregnant. However, now more than ever, regular oral health check-ups are very important," said LeAnn Todd-Langston, director of the Center for Women's Health. "Pregnancy causes hormonal changes that put women at increased risk of dental disease. Some studies even suggest that infections in the mouth, including gingivitis and cavities, may increase the risk of delivering early. Additionally, some studies have shown that the bacteria responsible for tooth decay are passed from the mother to the baby. By incorporating oral health education into the care our prenatal patients receive, we have been able to reduce the number of preterm and low birth-weight births at Trover." (Read more)