Appalachia Health News

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart announced Thursday a takedown of drug traffickers in Parkersburg that resulted in the seizure of more than 150 pounds of methamphetamine and 4 pounds of heroin. Officials say this is the largest seizure of methamphetamine in West Virginia’s history.

Stuart said the takedown resulted in the dismantling of a multi-state drug trafficking organization that was distributing meth and heroin in Parkersburg.

West Virginia University has been awarded 11.2 million dollars to establish a center that focuses on what might make a tumor more likely to grow.

The National Institutes of Medicine awarded WVU a five-year grant to study microenvironments surrounding tumors. The idea is that just as a plant is likely to grow in a sunny garden, a benign tumor may be more likely to grow or become cancerous if its surroundings are primed for growth.

The infectious liver disease hepatitis A has hit Appalachia hard during the past several months. But your risk of contracting the disease depends on several factors.  

“So it’s very important to understand that there are certain groups of people that are at increased risk, as opposed to the general population,” West Virginia commissioner of public health Rahul Gupta said.  

Antar Jutla is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at WVU. Jutla has been instrumental in developing a computer program that has helped predict and prevent the spread of cholera in war-torn Yemen. Kara Lofton spoke with Jutla about how super computers and data can impact the spread of waterborne diseases after both natural and manmade disasters.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court began Tuesday, Sept. 4. Kavanaugh is considerably more conservative than the justice he would replace — a fact celebrated by the anti-abortion advocacy group the Susan B. Anthony List.

The organization has been touring several states during the past few weeks, urging democratic senators like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin to vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

For friends, Becka, Holly and Katie, findings spaces where they feel safe to speak, act and think the way they want can be hard to find.

Getting outdoors, often with one another or other female companions, is one place the can do that.

During a recent two-day backpacking trip in the Dolly Sods Wilderness in Tucker County, they recounted some of the freedoms they feel afforded in the wilderness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping in to help the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health track data and investigate a 2018 Hepatitis A outbreak.

The DHHR reports that as of mid-August, West Virginia has had 975 cases of Hepatitis A in 2018. The majority of these cases have been in Kanawha followed by Putnam counties. Therefore, the CDC will focus its efforts in these areas as well.

A new study found checking work email during nonwork hours may be detrimental to your health.

The report out of Virginia Tech found that when employers expect personnel to monitor work email after hours, the result was increased employee anxiety, which affected not only the worker themselves, but their families as well.

The study found that employees don’t actually need to spend time on work in their off hours to experience harmful effects – just the expectation of availability was enough to increase strain for employees and their significant other.

Some medications used to treat opioid use disorders can be abused if taken in large amounts or injected. Others, such as suboxone, prevent the effect of the opioids. Two WVU researchers are studying whether this drug could be used to treat pregnant women with opioid use disorders. Kara  Lofton spoke with researcher Laura Lander about the findings and the challenges of treating pregnant women.

LOFTON: Your research focuses on treating opioid use disorders in pregnant women. What are the challenges with working with this particular patient population?

Studies have found that American millennials lead the country in pet ownership, fueling the $69 billion pet industry — an industry that has grown three times since the mid 90s.

A few weeks ago, community members  and physicians gathered for a town hall in Beckley, West Virginia. On the agenda? Whether a new psychiatric clinic downtown should be allowed to do medication-assisted treatment from their building.

“What matters is – it’s our neighborhood,” said community member Patty Teubert. “I don’t understand why you don’t hear that.”

Teubert was acting as the spokeswoman for others opposed to the facility, which seemed to be in the overwhelming majority in the meeting.

Central Appalachia has some of the worst health measures in the country. But some communities are bucking those trends with better health outcomes. A new report looks at how some Appalachian counties are improving their health statistics and becoming bright spots. 

Across West Virginia, people are fighting back against the opioid epidemic and pushing the message of recovery. Some of these people run harm reduction clinics – which sometimes include needle exchanges. We meet a nurse in the Eastern Panhandle who runs one of these programs.

On this West Virginia Morning, state lawmakers have resumed hearings on the possible impeachment of one or more state Supreme Court justices. Members of the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony Thursday from four current employees of the court -- focused mainly on suspended Justice Allen Loughry. Senior reporter Dave Mistich talks about the third day of testimony in these impeachment investigations.

One recent evening at Blackwater State Park, naturalist Paulita Cousins was leading about two dozen visitors on a night hike by the lake.

“When it’s dark we’re naturally supposed to be ...?” she asked.

“Sleeping,” the group responded in unison.  

“And light,” she warned, “is actually messing up a chemical in our body to make us be healthy individuals.”

The West Virginia University School of Medicine has launched a new accelerated program for medical students.

In a press release, WVU said the Mountaineer Accelerated Track to Enter Residency program will shave a semester off of the four-year medical degree program. This move, they said, is to give students an option to graduate with less debt and try and get medical professionals into patient care sooner to meet the state’s health needs.

To the background of interstate traffic, members of the group Pro-life Court Coalition stood in front of Senator Joe Manchin’s Charleston office, asking Senator Manchin to confirm Kavanaugh, a pro-life supporter, as the new Supreme Court Justice.

“Once again, President Trump is keeping his word by nominating Judge Kavanaugh, an extremely well-qualified judge who will respect and uphold the constitution, not legislate from the bench,” said Jill Stanek, chair of the conservative anti-abortion advocacy group Susan B. Anthony List, and one the speakers.

West Virginia native doctor Patrice Harris has been elected as the first black woman president of the American Medical Association. Harris spoke with reporter Kara Lofton recently about her new appointment and what she hopes to accomplish in the position.

LOFTON: West Virginia, and Appalachia as a whole, have a history of health issues. Being familiar with this region, what policies might help improve the health of this region from the perspective of the American Medical Association?

Medication adherence – or lack of it is a really big deal in healthcare. A 2017 review in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that Americans not taking medicine as prescribed caused 125,000 deaths, 10 percent of hospitalizations and cost the healthcare system between $100–$289 billion a year. But a new study has found an easy fix for the problem.

Basically? Charge people less. The study published this month in Health Affairs found that the more patients have to pay for their prescriptions, the less likely they are to take them as directed.

In the 1980s, some people in Japan developed a concept called Shinrin-yoku, also known as forest bathing or forest therapy. The idea is simple — natural areas offer calming, rejuvenating and restorative benefits to visitors. And yet even in a state as rural and forested as West Virginia, accessing natural areas can be difficult.

In bustling Morgantown, White Park is an oasis, with trails through wooded areas and a reservoir.