AgriSafe Network is excited to be part of National Farm Safety and Health (NFSH) Week 2019. Participate in NFSH Week now by registering for FREE webinars relating to each of the daily topics! All you need to do to register is create a profile on the AgriSafe Learning Lab (which takes less than 2 minutes)! Google Chrome is the recommended web browser for the Learning Lab.
CLICK HERE to register and view a list of presenters!
The Pennsylvania Data Advisory Committee (DAC) is pleased to announce the availability of the 2019 Burden of Cancer in Pennsylvania Report. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the burden of cancer in Pennsylvania and lists disparities and the harms of cancer for policy makers, program administrators, business and industry leaders, and the citizens of the commonwealth.
Eight cancers were selected for study: cervix uteri, colon and rectum, female breast, leukemia, lung and bronchus, melanoma of the skin, ovary, and prostate. These selections were based on a survey from cancer control partners in Pennsylvania, each cancer’s impact on the overall burden of cancer, and the fact that screenings and preventive measures exist for most of them. This report shows different aspects each cancer including incidence, mortality, comparison by sex, race and ethnicity, US and PA trends, age of diagnosis, stage and 5-year net survival.
The DAC is a committee of the Pennsylvania Cancer Control, Prevention and Research Advisory Board with members representing the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry, the Bureau of Epidemiology, Bureau of Health Statistics and Research and the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control within the Department of Health and selected external organizations.
The report can be accessed on the Pennsylvania Department of Health website at https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/Cancer/Pages/Cancer.aspx
From The Daily Yonder
Here’s a roundup of the candidates’ positions on rural policy and a sampling of their statements about rural.
Eight of 19 Democratic presidential candidates have released comprehensive rural policy plans, and another six have included rural initiatives in other major policy documents, a Daily Yonder review of press reports and candidate websites reveals.
Only one candidate (New York Mayor Bill Deblasio) has been entirely mum on rural, according to our research. The other candidates have at least mentioned rural America on the hustings or in candidate debates. And most have created full rural plans or included rural implications in policy documents on topics such as economic development, healthcare, and conservation.
Candidates with comprehensive rural-policy platforms are former Vice President Joe Biden; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Ohio U.S. Representative John Delaney; New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper; Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar; Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders; and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Click here for a table of rural statements and documents from the 19 candidates who qualified for the second round of Democratic primary debates. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order. We’ll update this document as the campaign progresses. If you see errors or omissions, please let us know (tim@dailyyonder.com).
Linda Findley’s husband, Robert, died after falling on the ice during a winter storm this February in Fort Scott, Kan. Mercy Hospital had recently closed, and Robert had to be flown to a neurology center 90 miles north in Kansas City, Mo., but at least three air ambulance pilots turned down the call from local EMS workers before one accepted.(Christopher Smith for KHN)
FORT SCOTT, Kan. — For more than 30 minutes, Robert Findley lay unconscious in the back of an ambulance next to Mercy Hospital Fort Scott on a frigid February morning with paramedics hand-pumping oxygen into his lungs. A helipad sat just across the icy parking lot from the hospital’s emergency department, which had recently shuttered its doors, like hundreds of rural hospitals nationwide.
Suspecting an intracerebral hemorrhage and knowing the ER was no longer functioning, the paramedics who had arrived at Findley’s home called for air transport before leaving. For definitive treatment, Findley would need to go to a neurology center located 90 miles north in Kansas City, Mo. The ambulance crew stabilized him as they waited.
But the dispatcher for Air Methods, a private air ambulance company, checked with at least four bases before finding a pilot to accept the flight, according to a 911 tape obtained by Kaiser Health News through a Kansas Open Records Act request.
“My Nevada crew is not available and my Parsons crew has declined,” the operator tells Fort Scott’s emergency line about a minute after taking the call. Then she says she will be “reaching out to” another crew. Nearly seven minutes passed before one was en route.
When Linda Findley sat at her kitchen counter in late May and listened to the 911 tape, she blinked hard: “I didn’t know that they could just refuse. … I don’t know what to say about that.” Both Mercy and Air Methods declined to comment on Findley’s case.
When Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed at the end of 2018, hospital president Reta Baker had been “absolutely terrified” about the possibility of not having emergency care for a community where she had raised her children and grandchildren and served as chair of the local Chamber of Commerce. Now, just a week after the ER’s closure, her fears were being tested. Read the full article here.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf recently shared data that displays opioid overdoses have decreased in Pennsylvania by 18% from 2017 to 2018. Contributing to the decrease is the hard work and diligence of those working with patients who have a substance use disorder (SUD) to offer a combination of primary care services, medicated assisted treatment (MAT), recovery support specialists and individual and group therapy. The distribution of naloxone has also contributed to the decrease as has equipping first responders and other professionals with the opioid antagonist. The Wolf administration announced that two statewide naloxone distribution days will occur on Sept. 18 and Sept. 25 with details to be released in the next few weeks.
The National Rural Health Resource Center and Stroudwater Associates, supported by FORHP, developed a guide on the community and patient benefits for implementing pulmonary rehabilitation services. Rural hospitals and clinics can use this guide to identify areas for improvement within their diagnosis, treatment and long-term care of COPD patients in their communities. A University of Minnesota report highlights that while the COPD prevalence rate is the prevalence of COPD is higher for individuals living in rural areas, Critical Access Hospitals are less likely to employ any respiratory therapists. This guide is developed as part of the COPD National Action Plan, with the goal of developing resources for improving the lives of individuals living with COPD symptoms in rural communities. Click here to access the guide.
This new resource helps rural emergency medical service leaders transform their agencies away from dependency on fees assessed for the volume of services provided and toward a people-centered, value-based operation that rewards positive patient outcomes. This resource was supported by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and coordinated by the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), a program of the National Rural Health Resource Center. Click here to access the full document.
This new resource was created by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and the Health Centers program at the Health Resources and Services Administration. It discusses how rural providers can work together to identify health needs in their communities, create partnerships to address those needs, and develop a “community-minded” approach to health care. The guide illustrates through case studies how providers in two communities created networks and partnerships to improve the efficiency of care, optimize resources, and improve the lives of their residents. Click here to access the full guide.
A new report from the Rural and Minority Health Research Center provides the results of a web-based survey disseminated to a geographically diverse sample of nurses throughout the U.S. to assess perceived barriers and facilitators to nursing practice; job satisfaction; and self-identified challenges in nursing work environments and patient care. Of particular interest were nurses in ambulatory care practices. The full report can be accessed here.
The wide-open spaces of Arco, Idaho, appeal to some doctors with a love of the outdoors.
In the central Idaho community of Arco, where Lost Rivers Medical Center is located, the elk and bear outnumber the human population of a thousand. The view from the hospital is flat grassland surrounded by mountain ranges that make for formidable driving in wintertime.
“We’re actually considered a frontier area, which I didn’t even know was a census designation until I moved there,” says Brad Huerta, CEO of the hospital. “I didn’t think there’s anything more rural than rural.”
There are no stoplights in the area. Nor is there a Costco, a Starbucks or — more critically — a surgeon. With 63 full-time employees, the hospital is the county’s largest employer, serving an area larger than Rhode Island.
Six years ago, the hospital declared bankruptcy and was on the cusp of closing. Like many other rural hospitals, it was beset by challenges, including chronic difficulties recruiting medical staff willing to live and work in remote, sparsely populated communities. A hot job market made that even harder.
But against the odds, Huerta has turned Lost Rivers around. He trimmed budgets, but also invested in new technologies and services. And he focused on recruitment. He targeted older physicians — semiretired empty nesters willing to work part time. He also lured recruits using the area’s best asset: the great outdoors.
Read the full story here.
