Appalachian Health

Appalachian Health
Author: Douglas Scutchfield
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2022-04-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0813155932

Appalachian Health explores major challenges and opportunities for promoting the health and well-being of the people of Appalachia, a historically underserved population. It considers health's intersection with social, political, and economic factors to shed light on the trends affecting mortality and morbidity among the region's residents. Editors F. Douglas Scutchfield and Randy Wykoff have assembled high-profile experts working in academia, public health, and government to offer perspectives on a wide range of topics including health behaviors, environmental justice, and pandemic preparedness. This volume also provides updated data on issues such as opioid abuse, "deaths of despair," and the social determinants of health. Together, the contributors illuminate the complex health status of the region and offer an evidenced-based programs for addressing the health problems that have been identified.

Appalachian Health and Well-being

Appalachian Health and Well-being
Author: Robert L. Ludke
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2012-03-07
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0813135869

Appalachians have been characterized as a population with numerous disparities in health and limited access to medical services and infrastructures, leading to inaccurate generalizations that inhibit their healthcare progress. Appalachians face significant challenges in obtaining effective care, and the public lacks information about both their healthcare needs and about the resources communities have developed to meet those needs. In Appalachian Health and Well-Being, editors Robert L. Ludke and Phillip J. Obermiller bring together leading researchers and practitioners to provide a much-needed compilation of data- and research-driven perspectives, broadening our understanding of strategies to decrease the health inequalities affecting both rural and urban Appalachians. The contributors propose specific recommendations for necessary research, suggest practical solutions for health policy, and present best practices models for effective health intervention. This in-depth analysis offers new insights for students, health practitioners, and policy makers, promoting a greater understanding of the factors affecting Appalachian health and effective responses to those needs.

Public Health in Appalachia

Public Health in Appalachia
Author: Wendy Welch
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2014-06-26
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1476616035

The Appalachian region of the United States sees hunger, poverty, disability, preventable illness and premature death in disproportionally high numbers. Yet, Appalachia also knows the quiet strength of people working together to lift one another up as a community. In this collection of essays, health professionals explore how clinics and communities address the barriers to healthcare that continue to plague this underserved region and discuss theoretical perspectives about Appalachian healthcare. Topics include regional dental care, cancer and diabetes treatment, the integration of primary care and behavioral health, telehealth, the importance of "patient responsibility," and the effects of faith, fatalism and family dynamics on the health of Appalachian youth. Avoiding simplification and stereotype while presenting data, analysis and anecdotes, this volume gives a detailed picture of Appalachia's complex and multi-faceted public health challenges. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Ailing in Place

Ailing in Place
Author: Michele Morrone
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821440772

In Ailing in Place, Michele Morrone explores the relationship between environmental conditions in Appalachia and health outcomes that are too often ascribed to individual choices only. She applies quantitative data to observations from environmental health professionals to frame the ways in which the environment, as a social determinant of health, leads to health disparities in Appalachian communities. These examples—these stories of place—trace the impacts of water quality, waste disposal, and natural resource extraction on the health and quality of life of Appalachian people. Public health is inextricably linked to place. Environmental conditions such as contaminated water, unsafe food, and polluted air are as important as culture, community, and landscape in characterizing a place and determining the health outcomes of the people who live there. In some places, the state of the environment is a consequence of historical activities related to natural resources and cultural practices. In others, political decisions to achieve short-term economic objectives are made with little consideration of long-term public health consequences.

Environmental Health Literacy

Environmental Health Literacy
Author: Symma Finn
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2018-09-12
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3319941089

This book explores various and distinct aspects of environmental health literacy (EHL) from the perspective of investigators working in this emerging field and their community partners in research. Chapters aim to distinguish EHL from health literacy and environmental health education in order to classify it as a unique field with its own purposes and outcomes. Contributions in this book represent the key aspects of communication, dissemination and implementation, and social scientific research related to environmental health sciences and the range of expertise and interest in EHL. Readers will learn about the conceptual framework and underlying philosophical tenets of EHL, and its relation to health literacy and communications research. Special attention is given to topics like dissemination and implementation of culturally relevant environmental risk messaging, and promotion of EHL through visual technologies. Authoritative entries by experts also focus on important approaches to advancing EHL through community-engaged research and by engaging teachers and students at an early age through developing innovative STEM curriculum. The significance of theater is highlighted by describing the use of an interactive theater experience as an approach that enables community residents to express themselves in non-verbal ways.

Contemporary Public Health

Contemporary Public Health
Author: James W. HolsingerJr.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2012-12-07
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0813141257

Public health refers to the management and prevention of disease within a population by promoting healthy behaviors and environments in an effort to create a higher standard of living. In this comprehensive volume, editor James W. Holsinger Jr. and an esteemed group of scholars and practitioners offer a concise overview of this burgeoning field, emphasizing that the need for effective services has never been greater. Designed as a supplemental text for introductory courses in public health practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Contemporary Public Health provides historical background that contextualizes the current state of the field and explores the major issues practitioners face today. It addresses essential topics such as the social and ecological determinants of health and their impact on practice, marginalized populations, the role of community-oriented primary care, the importance of services and systems research, accreditation, and the organizational landscape of the American public health system. Finally, it examines international public health and explores the potential of systems based on multilevel partnerships of government, academic, and nonprofit organizations. With fresh historical and methodological analyses conducted by an impressive group of distinguished authors, this text is an essential resource for practitioners, health advocates, and students.

From the Front Lines of the Appalachian Addiction Crisis

From the Front Lines of the Appalachian Addiction Crisis
Author: Wendy Welch
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-08-26
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1476682267

Stories from doctors, nurses, and therapists dealing on a daily basis with the opioid crisis in Appalachia should be heartbreaking. Yet those told here also inspire with practical advice on how to assist those in addiction, from a grass-roots to a policy level. Readers looking for ways to combat the crisis will find suggestions alongside laughter, tears, and sometimes rage. Each author brings the passion of their profession and the personal losses they have experienced from addiction, and posits solutions and harm reduction with positivity, grace, and even humor. Authors representing seven states from northern, Coalfields, and southern Appalachia relate personal encounters with patients or providers who changed them forever. This is a history document, showing how we got here; an evidenced indictment of current policies failing those who need them most; an affirmation that Appalachia solves its own problems; and a collection of suggestions for best practice moving forward.

The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia

The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia
Author: Nathan L. Vanderford
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1950690059

Kentucky has more cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths than any other state in the nation, and most of these cases are concentrated in the fifty-four counties that constitute the Appalachian region of the commonwealth. These high rankings can be attributed to factors such as elevated smoking rates, unhealthy eating habits, lower levels of education, and limited access to health care. What is lost in the statistics is just how life-changing cancer can be—something that editors Nathan L. Vanderford, Lauren Hudson, and Chris Prichard have endeavored to address. The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia features essays written by a group of twenty high school and five undergraduate students, all of whom are residents of Kentucky's Appalachian region and are participants in the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute's Youth Enjoy Science Program. These authentic and candid student essays detail the effects of cancer diagnoses and deaths on individuals, families, friends, and communities, and proclaim these cases as more than nameless statistics. The authors shed light on personal cancer stories in hopes of inspiring readers to avoid cancer-risk behaviors, get involved with cancer-prevention initiatives, give generously, and uplift cancer patients and their loved ones.

Mary Breckinridge

Mary Breckinridge
Author: Melanie Beals Goan
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 146960664X

In 1925 Mary Breckinridge (1881-1965) founded the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), a public health organization in eastern Kentucky providing nurses on horseback to reach families who otherwise would not receive health care. Through this public health organization, she introduced nurse-midwifery to the United States and created a highly successful, cost-effective model for rural health care delivery that has been replicated throughout the world. In this first comprehensive biography of the FNS founder, Melanie Beals Goan provides a revealing look at the challenges Breckinridge faced as she sought reform and the contradictions she embodied. Goan explores Breckinridge's perspective on gender roles, her charisma, her sense of obligation to live a life of service, her eccentricity, her religiosity, and her application of professionalized, science-based health care ideas. Highly intelligent and creative, Breckinridge also suffered from depression, was by modern standards racist, and fought progress as she aged--sometimes to the detriment of those she served. Breckinridge optimistically believed that she could change the world by providing health care to women and children. She ultimately changed just one corner of the world, but her experience continues to provide powerful lessons about the possibilities and the limitations of reform.

Authorized to Heal

Authorized to Heal
Author: Sandra Lee Barney
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2003-07-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0807860549

In this book, Sandra Barney examines the transformation of medical care in Central Appalachia during the Progressive Era and analyzes the influence of women volunteers in promoting the acceptance of professional medicine in the region. By highlighting the critical role played by nurses, clubwomen, ladies' auxiliaries, and other female constituencies in bringing modern medicine to the mountains, she fills a significant gap in gender and regional history. Barney explores both the differences that divided women in the reform effort and the common ground that connected them to one another and to the male physicians who profited from their voluntary activity. Held together at first by a shared goal of improving the public welfare, the coalition between women volunteers and medical professionals began to fracture when the reform agendas of women's groups challenged physicians' sovereignty over the form of health care delivery. By examining the professionalization of male medical practitioners, the gendered nature of the campaign to promote their authority, and their displacement of community healers, especially female midwives, Barney uncovers some of the tensions that evolved within Appalachian society as the region was fundamentally reshaped during the era of industrial development.