Marsha Bach of the Northern Kentucky Health Department and Mayor Rick Skinner of Williamstown discuss Complete Streets while touring Norton Commons. Growing up I played outside with neighborhood children from sunrise to sunset. We’d ride our bicycles around the block and take walks to the neighborhood pool and park. I remember the sense of safety and connection I felt because I was able to easily navigate my community by bike or foot. I, [...]
Data transparency is one of the current hot topics in Kentucky health, and while this sounds like an abstract or even confusing term, data transparency actually means laying out the facts so that everyone can understand them. It refers to the openness of health departments, service providers, managed care organizations, and others to provide adequate and reliable data publicly for external research, analysis, monitoring, and accountability. Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness is one of [...]
This post originally appeared as an Op-Ed in The Courier Journal. You can view it online here. As the November election nears, effective, bipartisan action in Congress can sometimes feel like a lofty and unattainable ideal. Political ads remind us several times a day of the divide amongst political parties. Yet, we have a strong example of a bipartisan policy that has been effective at delivering quality health insurance to children in the way states [...]
Mark your calendars! Open enrollment for health insurance plans—via kynect—begins November 15, 2014 and closes on February 15, 2015. If you don’t have access to health insurance, or have inadequate health coverage, be sure to visit the kynect website to compare options that best suit you and your family. Kynect offers a variety of health insurance plans including: Medicaid or discounted private insurance for you and your children if you do not receive health insurance [...]
Why do people love fall so much? The changing leaves. Pumpkin flavored everything. Chilly air. And for me, time to pull out those scarves and boots. I’ve often wondered what the appeal of fall is and my best conclusion is that it brings a sense of change and hope. For us at Kentucky Youth Advocates, fall is a season where we start to prepare for the Kentucky legislative session that begins in January. We release [...]
According to the Governor’s Ky Health Now Initiative, Kentucky ranks 45th in the percentage of children with untreated dental decay (34.6%). The Pew Center on States gave Kentucky a “C” grade in providing oral health care to children in their latest report. Yet, it’s difficult to truly know where Kentucky stands on children’s oral health since the state has not systematically collected data on children’s oral health in over a decade. In 2008, Kentucky passed [...]
A couple weeks ago, I shared with my 2nd grade son that I was going to a strategic planning meeting to talk about how to make things better for the community. My son enthusiastically asked if he could go too. The idea of being a part of figuring out how to make things better for something he cared about excited him. I had to break the news to him that the meeting was during the [...]
Kentucky will hold elections for seats in both the Kentucky State Legislature and U.S. Congress in the upcoming mid-term elections on November 4, 2014. To help inform voters about the positions of the candidates, KET will be hosting debates for select U.S. Congressional races. The debates will air on KET at 8/7 PM on the following days: Oct. 6: U.S. House of Representatives, 3rd Congressional District Rep. John Yarmuth, Democratic Party Michael Macfarlane, Republican Party [...]
Today, new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey confirms that child poverty remains high in Kentucky. Because of larger sample sizes and different methodology, this data is stronger than the Current Population Survey supplemental data released on Tuesday. The American Community Survey data released today revealed that in 2013, 25.3 percent of Kentucky children lived in poverty, compared to 22.2 percent nationwide. This put Kentucky at 40th in the nation for child poverty out of all 50 states and the [...]
Child advocates were disappointed, but not surprised, to see the statistic above. We are also 5th in the nation for adult obesity, according to a new report, The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America. Advocates have been working tirelessly to reverse the childhood obesity trend in Kentucky – which is why the recent report was disheartening to hear. But several recent childhood obesity efforts that have emerged in Kentucky are encouraging, including: [...]
