St. Luke director declares resignation

Committee developing clinic’s new funding model

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Betsy Bond, the director of St. Luke Free Clinic since 2009, is resigning effective Sept. 27.

Bond said she needs to spend more time with her family. If she works, it will be to resume the office organization business she did before taking this job, she said.

Bond is leaving at a pivotal time in the life of the organization. Leaders of the Christian County Health Department decided in June they cannot afford to continue paying the salaries of the free clinic’s staff after June of next year, so a committee is now researching alternative funding models.

But Bond said she’s not just jumping ship out of concern that St. Luke won’t last.

“I see St. Luke there in the future in some form,” she said. “The staff is wonderful. The board has been dedicated.”

Jennie Stuart finance chief resigning

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Sam Brown, who has overseen all of Jennie Stuart Medical Center’s financial affairs for the last 15 years, will be leaving the hospital Nov. 2 to work for a medical system in Texas.

Eric Lee, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer, praised Brown’s qualities as a manager and his skill at communicating with the board of trustees. Beyond Brown’s advanced knowledge of health finance, Lee believes these leadership qualities will make him hard to replace.

“It’s not just about bookkeeping,” Lee said Tuesday. “I’ve teased Sam about wanting a clone for his replacement.”

Shift means death of PACS program

State wants health departments to teach people on food stamps how to eat healthy
By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

The biggest program of Pennyrile Allied Community Services, a nutrition education service that runs on $5.6 million of federal funding each year, will go to the oversight of the state on Oct. 1.

County health departments all over Kentucky will administer it. The state says this will help it reach more people and use the money more effectively.

However, it will also put 75 PACS employees across the state out of jobs, including 25 in the Pennyrile region.

Each health department will decide whether to hire more employees to handle the new responsibilities.

The program aims to help people who receive food stamps live healthier lifestyles by eating more nutritious food and exercising. Fran Hawkins, manager of the nutrition branch of Kentucky’s Department for Public Health, said it will be a natural extension of services county health departments already provide.

Our Opinion: Public will measure work to fix hospital ER

New Era Staff Editorial

Jennie Stuart Medical Center CEO Eric Lee said in a meeting with our editorial board earlier this summer that the hospital’s emergency department had to improve to meet patient expectations. Addressing complaints from patients who went to the emergency room was a priority when he became the hospital’s top executive in January 2011, Lee said.

Anyone who has lived in Hopkinsville at least a few years has probably heard a story or two about someone who went to the ER and didn’t get the level of care they needed. Often, people describe leaving the ER in Hopkinsville and driving to Clarksville or Nashville for treatment.

Revised ER management at JSMC has changed the culture

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Jennie Stuart Medical Center has experienced hit-and-miss success with the doctor groups that have staffed its emergency room in years past.

At low points — including most of last year, Beth McCraw’s first year as vice president of nursing services — the phone rang continuously with complaint calls. Patients could wait all day for treatment for low-level emergencies, and about 9 percent walked off without getting treatment.

McCraw says Align MD, a Clarksville-based doctor group that took over around early March, has reversed the trend.

“It’s a totally different place down there,” she said Friday.

Hospitals aim to reduce early births

Because of health risks for mother and baby, docs say it's best to wait

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Women often choose in advance when to have their babies delivered.

Sometimes it’s because they feel serious physical discomfort in their final weeks. Other times they want to coordinate with the schedule of a visiting relative or hit a certain birthday.

But medical experts say this endangers babies’ development and even their lives, and it often harms mothers.

Now the Kentucky Hospital Association is working with 15 of its member hospitals, including Jennie Stuart Medical Center, to cease the practice except when it’s necessary. Another 15 or so may soon start participating.

Group pushing for kidney disease awareness

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Wanting more autonomy, some local medical workers split off last year from the National Kidney Foundation and formed an independent group based in Hopkinsville.

It let them continue providing services for renal failure patients — medications for poor patients, rides to dialysis appointments — but with fewer bureaucratic complications, said Sarah Rowland, the group’s treasurer.

The group is using its newfound freedom to create an annual picnic for dialysis patients and staff. This year’s picnic, scheduled for Sept. 16 at the A.W. Watts Senior Center, will be the second.

Todd has state’s third-highest uninsured rate

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

In 2010, Todd County had Kentucky’s third-highest rate of people without health insurance, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of roughly 10,458 people below age 65, the county had about 2,455 who didn’t have health insurance. That’s 23.5 percent.

The only counties topping it were Casey and Monroe.

Judge-Executive Daryl Greenfield noted that Todd has a fairly high number of people who are self-employed. Many don’t get health insurance from their companies and can’t afford to buy it independently, he said.

Todd has state’s third-highest uninsured rate

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

In 2010, Todd County had Kentucky’s third-highest rate of people without health insurance, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of roughly 10,458 people below age 65, the county had about 2,455 who didn’t have health insurance. That’s 23.5 percent.

The only counties topping it were Casey and Monroe.

Judge-Executive Daryl Greenfield noted that Todd has a fairly high number of people who are self-employed. Many don’t get health insurance from their companies and can’t afford to buy it independently, he said.

County hardly adds to state’s pollution

Local air quality still hard to determine

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Kentucky ranks 10th in the nation for releasing toxic chemicals into the environment.

However, this ranking shouldn’t worry Christian County residents about the quality of the local air, as the state’s worst offenders, by and large, are power plants.

The nearest power plants to here are the Lake Barkley Power Plant and the Paradise Fossil Plant in Muhlenberg County.

Earlier this month, the National Resources Defense Center named this state’s power plants the worst in the country for exposing residents to toxic air pollution.

For the toxic chemicals Kentucky releases in highest quantities — sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid — power plants dominate the list of worst culprits.

Three Kentucky counties that have power plants — Carroll, Jefferson and Muhlenberg — rank among the top 50 counties in the U.S. for the pollution they produce.

Christian County, on the other hand, is nowhere near the top of the list.

Uninsured Rates

As my story in today's New Era explains, Todd County has the third-highest uninsured rate in Kentucky, according to 2010 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. To report this story, I put census data into spreadsheets and sorted it by different variables. You can view simplified charts here.

Click here for a chart of Kentucky's counties ranked by uninsured rates.

Click here for a similar chart that only has information on the poor: those whose incomes are below 138 percent of the federal poverty line.

To view the data at its source, head over to the Census Bureau’s website.

School nurse sharing raises concerns

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

In the last two weeks, since classes started at Crofton Elementary School, Donna Crick has often asked the school nurse in the mornings whether she would be at the school all day.

“She just tells me she’s there until she hears different,” Crick recalled on Friday.

Crick’s 7-year-old daughter Kaylie was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year. When she thinks of Kaylie’s blood sugar dropping so low she falls over or goes into a coma, Crick seizes up with fear. She knows it would take an ambulance a long time to reach Crofton from Hopkinsville.

Lately she’s had trouble sleeping.

When facing a budget shortfall in June, the Christian County Board of Health asked the school system to contribute more funding for nurses. It presented two options for staffing levels based on how much the schools would give.

Our Opinion: Leadership right plan for board of health

New Era Staff Editorial

What happens inside the walls of the Christian County Health Department on Canton Street, and what happens outside those walls in the second-largest county in Kentucky, are both concerns for the local health board. Mark Pyle, the county health director, acknowledged this fact during a board meeting Monday. He told the board members their focus should shift from managing the department’s finances to addressing the county’s health needs.

Christian County has serious health problems, and it is consistent with the public health department’s focus to lead the community’s response to those problems. That’s why Pyle’s plan to shift the focus of the health board is an important positive step for the community.

Funds amassing for Little River test

Scientists could identify amount, sources of pollution

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Eleven years after the last test, the federal government still has Little River classified as “impaired.”

And if nothing changes within six years, a government agency will impose more restrictions on local farmers and businesses, in an effort to reduce river pollution, said Brian Lacefield, who works for Hopkinsville Elevator Company and Agri-Chem, LLC. For instance, it could ban fertilizers that local farmers depend on, Lacefield said.

Farmers and local officials want a new test conducted. Some believe the 2001 test lacked thoroughness, and they say their farming practices have become more eco-friendly since the test.

To that end, the Christian County Health Department will contribute $20,000 for a three-year test that will start in October. The board of health voted unanimously to do this.