health

New project wants to reduce diabetes on Wind River with gardens

Willow Belden — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:13:33 +0000

A new project on the Wind River Indian Reservation seeks to reduce diabetes rates by helping tribal families grow their own vegetables. More than 11% of the people on the reservation have diabetes.

The project is a collaboration between community health groups on the reservation, and the University of Wyoming.

Virginia Sutter with Blue Mountain Associates is one of the leaders of the project. She says diabetes rates are high because tribal members have very different diets than they have historically.

Biochemist and nutritionist - Kevin Meehan

Emy DiGrappa — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:01:15 +0000

Ozone spikes lead to doctor visits, study finds

Willow Belden — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:49:57 +0000

A study by the Wyoming Department of Health found that ozone in Sublette County causes and exacerbates health problems.

Ground-level ozone is a type of pollution, and in Sublette County, it’s caused by emissions from the oil and gas industry. The report found that as ozone levels increased, more people went to local health clinics with respiratory complaints.

Kerry Pride with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says other studies have shown the same thing, but this is the first time they’ve done a research specific to Sublette County.

Teton County is healthiest in Wyoming

Rebecca Martinez — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:58:07 +0000

Teton county residents are the healthiest in Wyoming. That’s according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings. The least-healthy county was Fremont.

Senate begins debate on the interstate sales of health insurance

Bob Beck — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:14:20 +0000

The State Senate has given initial approval to a bill that will allow out-of-state health insurance companies to offer policies in Wyoming. The goal of the legislation is to encourage competition and possibly lower health insurance costs.

Wyoming consumers have limited health insurance choices and supporters hope the bill will fix this. However, Senator Bill Landen of Casper says he is worried that the legislation could harm Wyoming insurers, by bringing in unwanted competition.

Accidental legal drug deaths are on the rise in Albany County

Sara Hossaini — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 01:52:26 +0000

Albany County saw more prescription drug overdoses in the first three months of 2012 than in all of 2011. In fact, a third of non-natural and accidental deaths in Albany County last year can be linked to prescription drug overdoses, according to County Coroner Kathleen Vernon-Kubichek, nearly triple the amount seen in 2011.

Gastroenteritis breaks out in Natrona County, Health Dept. investigates local restaurant

Rebecca Martinez — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:32:39 +0000

The Natrona County health department is investigating and outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness, often known as the “stomach flu.”

State epidemiologist Tracy Murphy says several people who have reported the problem had eaten at the same Casper restaurant, but he declined to name the restaurant until the county has wrapped up its investigation. Murphy says it it’s premature to blame the outbreak on food poisoning.

Update on Environmental Health Initiative on Wind River Looks at Cancer

Irina Zhorov — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:23:10 +0000

A public meeting today will present preliminary results of an Environmental Health Initiative study being conducted on Wind River Indian Reservation. The Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center initiative aims to assess environmental risks on the reservation, and develop remediation strategies. Communities on the Wind River Reservation complained of high cancer rates. Folo Akintan directs the Epidemiology Center and says they distributed surveys on the reservation and in communities immediately surrounding it, and reviewed national and local data going back up to fifty years.

Wyoming's unintentional death in children remains high

Tristan Ahtone — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:52:19 +0000

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, unintentional deaths of children under the age of 19 declined by 29-percent nationally between 2000 and 2009.

However, Kelly Weidenbach, an epidemiologist with the Wyoming Department of Health, says there has not been a similar drop in Wyoming.

Wyoming offers incentives to stop chewing tobacco

Sara Hossaini — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:02:37 +0000

This week is Wyoming’s annual “Through with Chew Week,” a campaign to get people to stop chewing tobacco.