Injury Prevention News

State-Academic Partnership Helps Kentuckians “Find Help Now” for Addiction

A new website will provide a vital link for Kentucky health care providers, court officials, families and individuals seeking options for substance abuse treatment and recovery. “Find Help Now KY” (www.findhelpnowky.org) will deliver real-time information about available space in substance use disorder treatment program, and guide users to the right type of treatment for their needs.

Health Department Provides 144 Free Narcan Kits in 1st Community Class

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department provided 144 naloxone kits Tuesday at its first class to train the community on the overdose-reversing medication. Due to overwhelming demand, the health department plans to hold additional community classes to be announced soon.

There is More Than One Opioid Crisis - FiveThirtyEight

The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center is one of the organizations trying to put the puzzle pieces together. A partnership between the state Public Health Department and the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, the center is investigating the causes of the state’s drug overdoses to help policymakers make more educated decisions about how to tackle the crisis.

Prosecutors Treat Opioid Overdoses as Homicides, Snagging Friends, Relatives

As U.S. drug deaths hit record levels, prosecutors and police are trying a tactic that echoes tough-on-crime theories of the 1990s.

In the U.S., Flu Season Could Be Unusually Harsh This Year

Health officials are warning that the United States may have an unusually harsh flu season this year.  But they stress that flu seasons are notoriously difficult to predict, and it's far too early to know for sure what may happen.

The State of the Opioid Crisis Ahead of 2018

The nation's opioid crisis reached new proportions in 2017, with provisional data revealing that there were 17 percent more deaths from drug overdoses between May 2016 and May 2017, compared to the previous year.

CDC: Rural Americans More Likely to Die by Suicide

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. And, according to CDC data released Oct. 6 in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, rural counties had higher suicide rates than metropolitan counties from 2001 to 2015.

Tobacco Nation’ Left Behind

About a quarter of all adult smoking deaths occur in this bloc of 12 states annually.

Opioid addiction costs Lexington millions. Now it wants drug companies to pay.

The city of Lexington filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against more than a dozen drug manufacturers and distributors alleging the companies helped cause an opioid addiction epidemic by flooding the city with pain pills.

Trump Declares Opioid Epidemic a National Public Health Emergency

President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency on Thursday, telling an audience in the East Room of the White House that "we can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic."

Screening For Diabetes is Working Better Than Thought

Undiagnosed diabetes may not be as big of a public health problem as thought.

Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Surveillance System report sheds new light on OD circumstances

The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC), a bona fide agent for the Kentucky Department for Public Health located at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, in collaboration with the Kentucky Office of the State Medical Examiner’s Office and county coroner offices, recently published the inaugural Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Surveillance System (DOFSS) report.

June is National Safety Month - NSC

Observed annually in June, National Safety Month focuses on reducing leading causes of injury and death at work, on the road and in our homes and communities.