Author: Elizabeth B

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. After a call for police assistance with a mentally ill man at a Tucson gas station turned deadly, resulting in the deaths of the responding sheriff’s deputy, the man, and a cab driver who stopped to assist, local leaders began work in 2005 on a better way to respond to people in crisis. It was a multiyear endeavor. Local voters passed a $15 million bond to fund the construction of Tucson’s new 24/7 crisis center where individuals could…

By Twumasi Duah-Mensah Every so often, Megan Conner, a nurse anesthetist in Greenville said she sees a patient who’s driven for hours to come for a screening colonoscopy but who instead has to be sent to the emergency department. “I’m looking at their blood pressure on the monitor, and it’s super high, like, 200 over something,” Conner said. She asks her usual questions: Have they had high blood pressure before? No. High cholesterol? No. Ever had a heart attack? No. Do they see the doctor regularly? No. It frustrates Conner that so many patients, who have to travel sometimes hours…

Photo by Derek Redd Debbie Stanton, program director for the Ohio Valley Community Foundation, greets representatives from 21 Ohio Valley-area organizations that received more than $150,000 in grant funding from the River Valley Health Foundation. WHEELING — Ohio Valley Regional Foundation program director Debbie Stanton and River Valley Health Foundation director Shelley Karenbauer admitted they wiped away tears at times as they looked through proposals for this year’s RVHF grants. They were overcome with emotion as they read about the needs of many people in the Ohio Valley and the programs that seek to help them.…

Girls with mental illnesses and neurodevelopmental disorders are less likely than their peers to receive the HPV vaccine to prevent future cervical cancer, according to a new registry study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet published in the Lancet Public Health journal. The study involved more than 115,000 girls enrolled in Sweden’s school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme, which offers the vaccine to all Swedish children and is administered by the school health service to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases. Big Differences When the researchers looked at the association between vaccination coverage and mental illness diagnosis or psychotropic medication use, they…

Perceiving parents to be distracted by mobile phones and other technology during social and family interactions could impact the mental health of their children aged 9 to 11, according to a new Canadian study.In fact, the researchers found that this parental “techno-difference” was associated with increased levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in children’s development.”We hear a lot about screen time for children and adolescents in the media, but we often forget that parents also spend a lot of time on screens. In fact, previous research has shown that parents spend one in every three minutes with their children…

Photo by Derek Redd Debbie Stanton, program director for the Ohio Valley Community Foundation, greets representatives from 21 Ohio Valley-area organizations that received more than $150,000 in grant funding from the River Valley Health Foundation. Debbie Stanton, program director for the Ohio Valley Regional Community Foundation, and Shelley Karenbauer, director of the River Valley Health Foundation, admitted they wiped away tears at times as they looked through proposals for this year’s RVHF grants. They were overcome with emotion as they read about the needs of so many people in the Ohio Valley and the programs that…

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – Many families caring for loved ones in hospice care say it’s a dark and exhausting time. Volunteers from local hospice organizations offer support and are often a go-to presence when families don’t know where to turn. Pruitt Health currently serves 60 families, but with only two volunteers, it’s nearly impossible to provide the support families want.Pruitt Health Hospice, a Savannah hospice company, is looking for volunteers after a four-year volunteer shortage.”When COVID hit, a lot of facilities were closed and people couldn’t do anything without the proper permits and people didn’t want people to have patients…

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – $7.29 million has been set aside for the North Dakota Department of Health to utilize for workforce retention programs.Not only did the state auditor’s office find that much of the funding was spent improperly, but it’s not even clear that the program achieved its original objectives.If the workforce retention program had worked as intended, it would have paid about $2,100 each to health care workers who provided home- and community-based services to Medicaid recipients.Instead, auditors found that the funds were often distributed to health care workers not covered by the program or kept by…

The Berrien County Health Department has issued a warning, fearing the bite reports may be related to rabies, which officials say is almost always fatal if signs of rabies are present.Berrien County Health Department officials say bats are most active in the summer as they search for places to hibernate for the winter.With cooler temperatures on the way, officials are warning that bats may be seeking warmer indoor spaces, increasing the risk of rabies transmission.They urge people to take steps to protect themselves and their families.”It spreads through the nervous system. You’ll experience generalized symptoms like fever, weakness, pain. You…

LAREDO, Texas (KGNS) – Mental health issues are becoming one of the top workplace hazards for emergency medical personnel, according to the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance, and state and local agencies are working to meet the growing need for mental health support for emergency personnel.Laredo firefighters are fully equipped to respond to car accidents, fires and medical emergencies. They face the most dire incidents every day. The Laredo Fire Department has more than 400 emergency responders, and the stress and images from these calls can stay with them long after the incident.”Every unit, every ambulance, every fire engine, they get…