Appalachian Health and Well-being

Appalachian Health and Well-being PDF Author: Robert L. Ludke
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813135869
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Appalachians have been characterized as a population with numerous disparities in health and limited access to medical services and infrastructures, leading to inaccurate generalizations that inhibit their healthcare progress. Appalachians face significant challenges in obtaining effective care, and the public lacks information about both their healthcare needs and about the resources communities have developed to meet those needs. In Appalachian Health and Well-Being, editors Robert L. Ludke and Phillip J. Obermiller bring together leading researchers and practitioners to provide a much-needed compilation of data- and research-driven perspectives, broadening our understanding of strategies to decrease the health inequalities affecting both rural and urban Appalachians. The contributors propose specific recommendations for necessary research, suggest practical solutions for health policy, and present best practices models for effective health intervention. This in-depth analysis offers new insights for students, health practitioners, and policy makers, promoting a greater understanding of the factors affecting Appalachian health and effective responses to those needs.

Appalachian Health and Well-being

Appalachian Health and Well-being PDF Author: Robert L. Ludke
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813135869
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Get Book Here

Book Description
Appalachians have been characterized as a population with numerous disparities in health and limited access to medical services and infrastructures, leading to inaccurate generalizations that inhibit their healthcare progress. Appalachians face significant challenges in obtaining effective care, and the public lacks information about both their healthcare needs and about the resources communities have developed to meet those needs. In Appalachian Health and Well-Being, editors Robert L. Ludke and Phillip J. Obermiller bring together leading researchers and practitioners to provide a much-needed compilation of data- and research-driven perspectives, broadening our understanding of strategies to decrease the health inequalities affecting both rural and urban Appalachians. The contributors propose specific recommendations for necessary research, suggest practical solutions for health policy, and present best practices models for effective health intervention. This in-depth analysis offers new insights for students, health practitioners, and policy makers, promoting a greater understanding of the factors affecting Appalachian health and effective responses to those needs.

Appalachian Health

Appalachian Health PDF Author: Douglas Scutchfield
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813155932
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Appalachian Health explores major challenges and opportunities for promoting the health and well-being of the people of Appalachia, a historically underserved population. It considers health's intersection with social, political, and economic factors to shed light on the trends affecting mortality and morbidity among the region's residents. Editors F. Douglas Scutchfield and Randy Wykoff have assembled high-profile experts working in academia, public health, and government to offer perspectives on a wide range of topics including health behaviors, environmental justice, and pandemic preparedness. This volume also provides updated data on issues such as opioid abuse, "deaths of despair," and the social determinants of health. Together, the contributors illuminate the complex health status of the region and offer an evidenced-based programs for addressing the health problems that have been identified.

From the Front Lines of the Appalachian Addiction Crisis

From the Front Lines of the Appalachian Addiction Crisis PDF Author: Wendy Welch
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476682267
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Stories from doctors, nurses, and therapists dealing on a daily basis with the opioid crisis in Appalachia should be heartbreaking. Yet those told here also inspire with practical advice on how to assist those in addiction, from a grass-roots to a policy level. Readers looking for ways to combat the crisis will find suggestions alongside laughter, tears, and sometimes rage. Each author brings the passion of their profession and the personal losses they have experienced from addiction, and posits solutions and harm reduction with positivity, grace, and even humor. Authors representing seven states from northern, Coalfields, and southern Appalachia relate personal encounters with patients or providers who changed them forever. This is a history document, showing how we got here; an evidenced indictment of current policies failing those who need them most; an affirmation that Appalachia solves its own problems; and a collection of suggestions for best practice moving forward.

Appalachian Cultural Competency

Appalachian Cultural Competency PDF Author: Susan Emley Keefe
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 9781572333338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Health and human service practitioners who work in Appalachia know that the typical “textbook” methods for dealing with clients often have little relevance in the context of Appalachian culture. Despite confronting behavior and values different from those of mainstream America, these professionals may be instructed to follow organizational mandates that are ineffective in mountain communities, subsequently drawing criticism from their clients for practices that are deemed insensitive or controversial. In Appalachian Cultural Competency, Susan E. Keefe has assembled fifteen essays by a multidisciplinary set of scholars and professionals, many nationally renowned for their work in the field of Appalachian studies. Together, these authors argue for the development of a cultural model of practice based on respect for local knowledge, the value of community diversity, and collaboration between professionals and local communities, groups, and individuals. The essays address issues of both practical and theoretical interest, from understanding rural mountain speech to tailoring mental health therapies for Appalachian clients. Other topics include employee assistance programs for Appalachian working-class women, ways of promoting wellness among the Eastern Cherokees, and understanding Appalachian death practices.Keefe advocates an approach to delivering health and social services that both acknowledges and responds to regional differences without casting judgments or creating damaging stereotypes and hierarchies. Often, she observes, the “reflexive” approach she advocates runs counter to formal professional training that is more suited to urban and non-Appalachian contexts. Health care professionals, mental health therapists, social workers, ministers, and others in social services will benefit from the specific cultural knowledge offered by contributors, illustrated by case studies in a myriad of fields and situations. Grounded in real, tested strategies—and illustrated clearly through the authors’ experiences—Appalachian Cultural Competency is an invaluable sourcebook, stressing the importance of cultural understanding between professionals and the Appalachian people they serve.

Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia

Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia PDF Author: Anthony Cavender
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469617390
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
In the first comprehensive exploration of the history and practice of folk medicine in the Appalachian region, Anthony Cavender melds folklore, medical anthropology, and Appalachian history and draws extensively on oral histories and archival sources from the nineteenth century to the present. He provides a complete tour of ailments and folk treatments organized by body systems, as well as information on medicinal plants, patent medicines, and magico-religious beliefs and practices. He investigates folk healers and their methods, profiling three living practitioners: an herbalist, a faith healer, and a Native American healer. The book also includes an appendix of botanicals and a glossary of folk medical terms. Demonstrating the ongoing interplay between mainstream scientific medicine and folk medicine, Cavender challenges the conventional view of southern Appalachia as an exceptional region isolated from outside contact. His thorough and accessible study reveals how Appalachian folk medicine encompasses such diverse and important influences as European and Native American culture and America's changing medical and health-care environment. In doing so, he offers a compelling representation of the cultural history of the region as seen through its health practices.

Authorized to Heal

Authorized to Heal PDF Author: Sandra Lee Barney
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807860549
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
In this book, Sandra Barney examines the transformation of medical care in Central Appalachia during the Progressive Era and analyzes the influence of women volunteers in promoting the acceptance of professional medicine in the region. By highlighting the critical role played by nurses, clubwomen, ladies' auxiliaries, and other female constituencies in bringing modern medicine to the mountains, she fills a significant gap in gender and regional history. Barney explores both the differences that divided women in the reform effort and the common ground that connected them to one another and to the male physicians who profited from their voluntary activity. Held together at first by a shared goal of improving the public welfare, the coalition between women volunteers and medical professionals began to fracture when the reform agendas of women's groups challenged physicians' sovereignty over the form of health care delivery. By examining the professionalization of male medical practitioners, the gendered nature of the campaign to promote their authority, and their displacement of community healers, especially female midwives, Barney uncovers some of the tensions that evolved within Appalachian society as the region was fundamentally reshaped during the era of industrial development.

Contemporary Public Health

Contemporary Public Health PDF Author: James W. HolsingerJr.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813141257
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Public health refers to the management and prevention of disease within a population by promoting healthy behaviors and environments in an effort to create a higher standard of living. In this comprehensive volume, editor James W. Holsinger Jr. and an esteemed group of scholars and practitioners offer a concise overview of this burgeoning field, emphasizing that the need for effective services has never been greater. Designed as a supplemental text for introductory courses in public health practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Contemporary Public Health provides historical background that contextualizes the current state of the field and explores the major issues practitioners face today. It addresses essential topics such as the social and ecological determinants of health and their impact on practice, marginalized populations, the role of community-oriented primary care, the importance of services and systems research, accreditation, and the organizational landscape of the American public health system. Finally, it examines international public health and explores the potential of systems based on multilevel partnerships of government, academic, and nonprofit organizations. With fresh historical and methodological analyses conducted by an impressive group of distinguished authors, this text is an essential resource for practitioners, health advocates, and students.

Ailing in Place

Ailing in Place PDF Author: Michele Morrone
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0821440772
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
In Ailing in Place, Michele Morrone explores the relationship between environmental conditions in Appalachia and health outcomes that are too often ascribed to individual choices only. She applies quantitative data to observations from environmental health professionals to frame the ways in which the environment, as a social determinant of health, leads to health disparities in Appalachian communities. These examples—these stories of place—trace the impacts of water quality, waste disposal, and natural resource extraction on the health and quality of life of Appalachian people. Public health is inextricably linked to place. Environmental conditions such as contaminated water, unsafe food, and polluted air are as important as culture, community, and landscape in characterizing a place and determining the health outcomes of the people who live there. In some places, the state of the environment is a consequence of historical activities related to natural resources and cultural practices. In others, political decisions to achieve short-term economic objectives are made with little consideration of long-term public health consequences.

A Land Imperiled

A Land Imperiled PDF Author: John Nolt
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 9781572333260
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Cherokees called the magnificent mountain range in eastern Tennessee "land ofthe blue mist," which European settlers later changed to "Smoky Mountains."Today, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of SouthernAppalachia's leading tourist attractions. But that fabled blue mist isn't so blue-- orhealthy-- any longer. Particularly in the summer months, the "smoke" of the Smokies isa haze of sulfate particles and other pollutants released by coal-burning power plants, amixture more likely to create dangerous ozone levels for visiting tourists than the invigorating "mountain air" so many come to seek.It is a story common throughout Southern Appalachia, one of America's most beautiful, biologically diverse, and fragile bioregions. A Land Imperiled is a symptom-by-symptomlook at the myriad of ecological issues threatening the health of the southernhigh country. Sections on air, water, plants and animals, food, energy, waste, transportation, and population and urbanization make this the most comprehensive environmentalstudy of Southern Appalachia to date-- a much-needed wake-up call for anyone concernedabout the region's natural legacy.But it is not just the future we have to worry about, the author asserts; pollution, development, and other forms of degradation are already affecting our quality of life. Theexcessively high ozone levels plaguing the Smokies have been connected to a host of respiratory problems, including chronic bronchitis and asthma. Once-crystal streams aregreen and sluggish with runoff from agricultural wastes. Over half of the South's naturalforests are gone, and a mere 2 percent of the remaining forests have protected status.The environment of Southern Appalachia is a collection of complex, interrelatedsystems that needs care and protection to function in full health. A Land Imperiled notonly illustrates the many ways in which the health of this bioregion is being affected, but also provides examples of how the damage can be reversed to sustain ourselves andthis natural treas

The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia

The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia PDF Author: Nathan L. Vanderford
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 1950690059
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Kentucky has more cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths than any other state in the nation, and most of these cases are concentrated in the fifty-four counties that constitute the Appalachian region of the commonwealth. These high rankings can be attributed to factors such as elevated smoking rates, unhealthy eating habits, lower levels of education, and limited access to health care. What is lost in the statistics is just how life-changing cancer can be—something that editors Nathan L. Vanderford, Lauren Hudson, and Chris Prichard have endeavored to address. The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia features essays written by a group of twenty high school and five undergraduate students, all of whom are residents of Kentucky's Appalachian region and are participants in the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute's Youth Enjoy Science Program. These authentic and candid student essays detail the effects of cancer diagnoses and deaths on individuals, families, friends, and communities, and proclaim these cases as more than nameless statistics. The authors shed light on personal cancer stories in hopes of inspiring readers to avoid cancer-risk behaviors, get involved with cancer-prevention initiatives, give generously, and uplift cancer patients and their loved ones.