Pikeville Medical Center affiliates with Cleveland Clinic
“PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Officials at an eastern Kentucky hospital are hoping a new affiliation with the Cleveland Clinic will help them improve their heart program.
Pikeville Medical Center announced an affiliation Wednesday with the Cleveland Clinic, which has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s best hospitals.”
Posted in Appalachia, health news, rural
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Volunteers Needed!
Dustin Froelich, KSRHA’s acting Service Chair, is organizing a service opportunity for our members to help out down at UK’s Salvation Army Clinic. The Salvation Army Clinic is a free clinic run by University of Kentucky medical students. They are looking for help painting their facility, as well as cleaning and reorganizing exam rooms and the pharmacy. Additionally, if anyone is interested in volunteering at the clinic, they will be setting up people for the next triage training.
This project will be on Sunday, November 21st at 12 PM at the clinic downtown. Anyone interested in helping out can reach Dustin at dustin.froelich@uky.edu.
Oh, and there are promises of free pizza!
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Rural teens more likely to use prescription drugs
A new study released by Dr. Jennifer R. Havens at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine shows that rural teens were 26% more likely to abuse prescription drugs for non-medical use than their peers in urban areas. The study will be published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in March 2011.
Keith Hautala at University of Kentucky News has a great synopsis here: UKnow.
The full study can be accessed here: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Posted in health news, prescription drug abuse, rural
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2010 Rural Health Forum: Solutions for Kentucky
Kentucky Student Rural Health Association
Solutions for Kentucky
2010 Rural Health Forum
The Kentucky Student Rural Health Association, a student group that aims to improve the health status of Kentuckians through advocacy, education, and volunteering, will be hosting the 2010 Rural Health Forum on Friday, November 19th at 7 PM in Room 230 of the University of Kentucky Student Center. The title and focus for this year’s forum is “Solutions for Kentucky,” and will feature speakers from organizations that are using unique strategies to combat problems encountered in rural health, specifically obesity, drug abuse, physician shortages, and poverty. Our expert speakers come from diverse backgrounds and will be presenting the problems as they see them and how the approaches they are taking aim to improve the health status of Appalachian residents and reduce rural health disparities.
Presenters will be representing the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation, Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Appalachia Community Cancer Network, and Operation UNITE. Each of these groups recognizes the complexity involved in health care delivery in rural Kentucky and have a wealth of knowledge to share with our community.
Dr. Gil Friedell is the Director Emeritus of the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center and President of the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation. The Friedell Committee is a grassroots, citizen-based organization whose mission is to improve the health of Kentuckians by promoting an effective, values-based health system, advocating for community action, and measuring the systems performance. Dr. Friedell is also a Co-Founder of Kentucky Homeplace, a lay health worker program funded by the General Assembly to facilitate access to healthcare services for the underserved in rural counties across the state. This program has experienced great successes by employing novel strategies to assist patients in Appalachia and rural Kentucky.
Dr. William Betz is the Senior Associate Dean for Osteopathic Education at Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine. One of the missions of PCSOM is to produce graduates who are committed to serving the healthcare needs of communities in Eastern Kentucky and other Appalachian regions. PCSOM was recently named one of the nation’s top 20 medical schools in rural medicine.
Dr. Mark Dignan is the Principal Investigator for the Appalachia Community Cancer Network, a multidisciplinary team of collaborators from academic institutions and communities in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Virginia. The ACCN was recently awarded a $6.5 million grant to enhance their efforts by focusing on fighting obesity through churches. The ACCN will address cancer health disparities in the Appalachian areas within these seven states, which are home to some of the most medically underserved and economically disadvantaged people in the United States.
Dr. Sarah Flynn is the Director for Research and Community Outreach for Operation UNITE. Operation UNITE works to rid communities of illegal drug use through undercover narcotics investigations, coordinating treatment for substance abusers, providing support to families and friends of substance abusers, and educating the public about the dangers of using drugs. UNITE’s goal is to educate and activate individuals by developing and empowering community coalitions to no longer accept or tolerate the drug culture. “UNITE” is an acronym meaning Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education. It reflects the three-pronged, comprehensive approach deemed necessary to combating substance abuse in Kentucky.
Appalachian Community Cancer Network recieves NCI grant
Great work is being done by the University of Kentucky’s Dr. Mark Dignan and his colleagues at the Appalachian Community Cancer Network. This article in the Lexington Herald-Leader highlights the groups collaboration with faith-based groups to increase their effectiveness with reaching rural communities. They were recently awarded a $6.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to bolster their efforts in the region. Dr. Dignan’s comments in the Herald-Leader echoes the sentiments of the KSRHA: “If the problem is in community, the solution is in the community.”
October Meeting
October Meeting
Wednesday, October 27th, 6:30 PM
Classroom Building, Room 234
The Kentucky Student Rural Health Association will be having a meeting on Wednesday, October 27th at 6:30 PM. Come learn about all the wonderful opportunities our organization has to offer over the coming year. Our diverse membership is made of concerned students who are interested in learning more about rural health disparities and looking for an avenue to make a meaningful difference. Everyone is welcome! Our members represent a wide range of programs, including undergraduates of all majors and graduate students from the Colleges of Public Health, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences.
Our mission is to bring about positive changes for the health of Kentucky through advocacy, education, and volunteering. We host workshops, seminars, and forums to spread awareness and deepen our understanding of pertinent issues. We will be having several exciting volunteer opportunities for our members who are interested. We will also have leadership openings over the year and provide a great forum to network among like-minded and passionate students from varying disciplines.
Come to the meeting and learn more!
If you can’t make the meeting, email Kevin Donohue (kevin.donohue@uky.edu) for more information!
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KRHA 2010 Fall Conference
The Kentucky Rural Health Association will be broadcasting the 2010 Fall Conference over the KY Telehealth Network on Thursday, October 28th. Attendance is free, but the KRHA is asking that all those interested in attending please register using the form below (as space is limited). For students in Lexington, the broadcast can be seen in Room K116 on the first floor of the Kentucky Clinic. The Conference will begin at 9 AM and conclude at 12:30 PM.
For those interested in attending, please mail in the registration form, or contact Kevin Donohue (kevin.donohue@uky.edu) for more information.
Hope to see some of you there!
Wisconsin’s free health care clinics might emulate Kentucky program
I stumbled upon a great article by David Wahlberg of the Wisconsin State Journal that highlights the efforts of Kentucky Homeplace in Appalachia as part of a series on challenges in providing health care to rural communities. Definitely worth a read! The link to the full article, as well as the homepage for KY Homeplace, can be found below.
“HAZARD, Ky. — In Lena and Ralph Burnette’s modest but tidy home, Pollyanna Gilbert opened a catalog for a store called Dr. Comfort.
It was time for the Burnettes, who have diabetes, to order diabetic shoes.
Gilbert is a lay health worker with Kentucky Homeplace, a state-funded program that helps people in a region with the worst life expectancy in the country navigate the complicated health care system.
Organizers of Wisconsin’s rural free clinics are paying attention to the program, saying they could develop a similar navigator role if the new health care reform law reduces demand for free care.”
Wisconsin’s free health care clinics might emulate Kentucky program
Kentucky Student Rural Health Association 
