Science and Tech

After a southern-Indiana teen died of heat stroke last week, questions arose about the accusation that he was denied treatment at an immediate care center.  According to accounts, the boy’s stepfather took him to the Norton Immediate Care Center in Lyndon before calling EMS at the center’s advisement. A Norton Spokesperson said this week that the boy was not denied care and was not actually brought into the clinic. Rather, his stepfather described his symptoms to the doctors, who referred the man to an emergency room.

A recent quarterly report issued by the state found 291 deficiencies in Kentucky's nursing homes and advocates say they see see little change each quarter. The information, obtained through an Open Records request by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, shows only one nursing home, Tanbark Health Care Center in Lexington, boasting no deficiencies. Meanwhile, nine facilities had 10 or more. 

A growing shortage of dentists who specialize in the treatment of children worries health experts at the University of Kentucky. Children once waited until they were three years old before they made their first trip to the dentist.  The dean of the University of Kentucky’s College of Dentistry says that first trip should now come at age one.  But, Dr. Sharon Turner is increasingly worried finding a dentist qualified to treat toddlers will grow difficult.  Turner says both U-K and the University of Louisville graduate about eight pediatric specialists each year.

Joining state lawmakers and hundreds of residents, three members of the Louisville Metro Council are criticizing the pending merger between U of L Hospital, Jewish Hospital and a division of Catholic Health Initiatives. Council members Tina Ward-Pugh, D-9, Vicki Aubrey Welch, D-13, and Marianne Butler, D-15, signed a petition that will appear as a half-page advertisement in the Courier-Journal this weekend, which protests the hospital merger and says it will “stop vital medical procedures” for residents in the area.

The University of Kentucky has found bedbugs in part of the UK Student Center. Student center director John Herbst said a UK public health graduate student said Monday that he had found "a couple of bedbugs" in a second-floor lounge that contains upholstered chairs and loveseats. The area was closed, as was a nearby lounge. No bedbugs had been spotted in the nearby lounge, and UK officials said it was closed only as a precaution.

Leaders of the University of Louisville medical school gave a number of assurances but few answers about the future of reproductive health services at the school’s hospital. U of L hospital is merging with Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s Healthcare and a division of Catholic Health Initiatives. The merger has raised concerns that vasectomies, stem cell research and other procedures the Catholic Church does not approve of would no longer be available at U of L. School officials have long said those procedures are not part of the hospital and will not be governed by the new merged entity.

 With central Kentucky under an excessive heat advisory through Saturday, the city of Lexington has announced a few options for citizens seeking relief from the high temperatures. The Dunbar Community Center on North Upper Street and the Lexington Senior Citizens Center at the corner of Alumni and Nicholasville will have the air conditioning running. Senior citizens can get a free ride to those centers through LexTran.

A contracted exterminator for the University of Kentucky says his crew will be at the UK Student Center Friday to treat a sitting area where some bed bugs were found earlier this week. Donnie Blake, with OPC Pest Control of Louisville, says bedbug infestations are rapidly on the rise in this part of the country.

Children of horse industry employees in Lexington will be receiving free dental exams as part of a new partnership. Keeneland, the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, and Blue Grass Farms Charities are teaming up to provide free dental screenings for kids July 30th. Residents and professors from the College of Dentistry will staff a mobile dental unit at Keeneland. College Dean Sharon Turner says the collaboration will benefit all involved. 

The Indiana man who received a hand transplant at Louisville’s Jewish Hospital earlier this month is speaking publicly for the first time about the procedure.  Thirty-six year old Donnie Rickelman lost his left hand in a factory accident thirteen years ago.  His new left hand, transplanted July 10, came from an undisclosed male donor from Rickelman’s home state of Indiana.

Five years ago, Bill Cole weighed 420 pounds, had little strength and less endurance, and generally avoided physical exercise. Five years later, Cole has cut his weight roughly in half. He now weighs a little more than 200 pounds. He eats small portions of healthy foods only and is a hard-core bicyclist who pedals 150 miles a week, leads rides around Central Kentucky several times a week and tirelessly spreads the word that physical activity is a key to good health.

For months, the University of Louisville has been in merger talks with Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s Healthcare and Catholic Health Initiatives. Mergers involving Catholic institutions often raise concerns about reproductive health issues, since the religion is opposed to many procedures that could affect birth control. U of L will maintain medical facilities that are not affected by the merger, and previously, school officials said those offices would provide services that are frowned upon or banned by the Catholic Church.

Two hits into an herbal incense packaged as 7H, and Amy, a University of Kentucky sophomore home for the summer in Bowling Green, loses complete awareness that she has a body. Amy is having what some drug users call a “bad trip,” the kind of trip that in Amy’s case ended with an ambulance ride to the emergency room at The Medical Center. Amy, whose name was changed for this story, agreed to speak anonymously to the Daily News to warn other young people about the dangers of smoking incense.

For decades, Kentuckians have known they’re vulnerable to radon, but many are not protecting themselves.  The radioactive gas collects in crawl spaces and basements, and has been linked to health problems.  Much of central Kentucky is troubled by radon gas.  Thanks to the region’s limestone and caves, radon levels here are much higher than the national average.

Kentuckians are getting fatter. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact, according to the latest study of obesity rates in the United States by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Kentucky ranked sixth in the nation in the 2010 study with 31.5 percent of all adults being obese, up from 29 percent from a similar study conducted in 2009. The obesity rate for Kentucky high school students also rose, going up 2 percent, to 17.6 percent from 15.6 in 2009.

A federal court has issued a permanent injunction against a Pike County coal mine in response to allegations from the Mine Safety and Health Administration that the mine was giving advance notice of inspections. When miners have advance notice, they can quickly rectify unsafe conditions to pass inspection. That’s what MSHA says was happening at CAM Mining’s Mine Number 28, where the agency went to investigate complaints that miners were smoking underground.

The women, infant, and children assistance program, which has been in place for decades, will soon provide benefits through a plastic, debit card. The list of supplemental foods offered through WIC for low income mothers and their infants and toddlers includes dairy products, produce and cereals.  Now, a plastic debit type card will allow low-income moms buy healthy food when it's needed and without stigma.

FRANKFORT – The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services is urging the public to take steps to avoid injury and illness during this period of extreme heat, particularly dangers associated with leaving children in vehicles. According to Safe Kids, 49 children in the U.S. died last year from heat stroke while unattended in vehicles. From 1998-2010, at least 494 deaths are known to have occurred nationally. In Kentucky, there have been 13 deaths attributed to vehicular hyperthermia during the same time period and one death every year since 2004.

 Lexington's 3,064 insured city employees are on track to consume roughly 32 million dollars in health care this year. That's over four million dollars more than the same coverage would have cost just three years ago. Consultants also say Urban County Government has consistently underestimated the "true cost" of health care, offering more generous benefits than 99% of all public and private health insurance programs while incurring a 33-million dollar shortfall over the past three years.

Doctors say the latest recipient of a hand transplant at Louisville’s Jewish Hospital is recovering and being prepared for physical therapy. Donnie Rickelman of Linton, Indiana, about a two hour drive northwest of Louisville, received a new left hand Sunday. Rickelman’s left hand was partially amputated in a factory accident 13 years ago. The mishap with a steel splitter also crushed his right hand. The transplanted left hand, from an anonymous donor, also came from Indiana.

More than 20 cities and counties in Kentucky have passed bans on smoking in public places and one more may soon be added to that list.  Mayor Marty Voiers and city council are considering a municipal order prohibiting the use of any form of tobacco products "throughout the entire workplace on all city properties with no exceptions, including city owned vehicles." A notice on the city's website reads, "this policy applies to all employees, consultants, contractors, customers and visitors," and lets citizens know that there will be signs posted at entrances of buildings as well as within the premises.