Public Health

Thirteen year-old Natalie Giorgi probably didn’t know the name of the company that makes EpiPen. The 2013 death of the Sacramento girl from a peanut-induced allergy attack inspired passage of the California law that made the Mylan product a staple at every school. It was Giorgi’s story, not industry lobbying, that then-California State Senate Minority […]

It’s clear that what patients with chronic illnesses do outside the doctor’s office — how much they exercise, what they eat and whether they take their medication — can affect their health conditions. But managing one’s own disease has been considered primarily a “nice extra,” said Kate Lorig, director of the Stanford Patient Education Research […]

Eight years ago, Jeff Ammon, now 55, began noticing a feeling of pressure in his ears every day after work. Over the next months, when his symptoms progressed into a slight loss of hearing and sensitivity to noise, he became worried. Ammon, a construction worker for 32 years, eventually started wearing ear protection hoping this […]

War abroad and carnage at home since 9/11 have taught Americans much about saving lives after violent tragedies. Whether they were hurt in mass shootings or gruesome car accidents, it’s not uncommon for victims to bleed to death on the scene because trained assistance didn’t arrive in time to help them. But one of the […]

Jacquelyn Clark, co-owner of Bristlecone Shooting, Training and Retail Center in Lakewood, Colo., holds a list of gun safety rules. One recommendation: Consider “off-site storage if a family member may be suicidal.” (John Daley/Colorado Public Radio) It’s ladies night at the Centennial Gun Club in a suburb of Denver. More than 80 women are here […]

Teenagers as young as 13 all too often play an active role in feeding their families, many taking jobs when they can or selling their possessions to help raise money for food, researchers found in a detailed look at hunger among adolescents. In extreme cases, teens resorted to crime and sexual favors in exchange for […]

Health care providers and insurers agree that it’s in everyone’s best interest to refer women for genetic testing if their family history of breast or ovarian cancer puts them at higher risk. What they don’t agree on is what should happen before testing, specifically whether women need to be advised by a certified genetic counselor or someone with similar […]

https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/hereandnow_0906_students-mental-health-1.mp3   SPARTANBURG, S.C. — On a hot summer day last month, Sydney, 15, and Laney, 8, were enjoying their last two weeks of freedom before school started. The sisters tried to do flips over a high bar at a local playground. “You’ve got to pull your hips into the bar, like you’ve got to kick […]

Many children live in houses with guns, but pediatricians often don’t feel comfortable discussing gun safety with parents — even though most parents say they would welcome that conversation. That’s a key finding from a study published Wednesday in the Journal of Pediatrics. It comes as some state legislatures and doctors tussle over proposals restricting […]

ATLANTA — It was a call that public health officials were dreading, but for which they had prepared. An elderly man in Salt Lake City died after contracting the Zika virus, the first fatality from the disease in the continental United States. His son, who had been a caregiver, also had become sick, but health officials did […]