Caregiving disputes expected to rise with aging baby boomers population

For more than one and half years, Alana “Lana” Slaughter was the caregiver with her family’s consent to Kathy Mashburn, a woman she called a friend and mother figure.

News, Public Health, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJune 9, 2022disabled, people with disabilities, Disability, elderly, elder boomers, baby boomers, aging, elder care disputes, caregiving, Alana Slaughter, Kathy Mashburn, eldercare

Pandemic exacted a steep toll on people with disabilities

Legally blind and alone, Katrina Byrd of Jackson, Mississippi, was reeling from her partner’s death from ALS when the pandemic sent her into isolation, cutting her off from the services and help she needed.

Shattering ordinary people’s mental health

Dillion Swindle of Oxford had just gotten his dream promotion and relocated to Louisiana when COVID-19 smacked the nation in 2020.

Hospital staffing, bed space leave mentally ill defendants languishing in jail

Brad Sellers celebrated his 40th birthday in February in the Clarke County Jail in Quitman, having been there since June 2021 on a charge of aggravated assault on a Quitman police officer.

News, Mississippi News, Public HealthKatherine MitchellMay 2, 2022Brad Sellers, Quitman Mississippi, mental health facilities, Schizophrenia, assault, incompetent to stand trial, Clarke County Jail, Julie Whitehead

Did pandemic upend Louisiana’s progress in battling HIV?

For decades, Louisiana was one of the worst states for HIV transmission, and in 2015, healthcare leaders created a plan to try to end the epidemic.

News, Coronavirus Pandemic, Public HealthKatherine MitchellApril 29, 2022LSU Manship School News Service, Louisiana, HIV, Covid, AIDS, testing, PrEP, Crescent Care, New Orleans

Medical marijuana offered promise of relief. But not for him.

William Pittman eagerly lent his signature to legalize medical marijuana, something his psychiatrist thought could help treat his borderline personality disorder, binge eating disorder and ADHD.

Medicaid covers his healthcare. St. Dominic charged him anyway. And a collection agency sued to collect.

Matthew Daniel Hall had been treated for years at St. Dominic Memorial Hospital, but when his mother tried to get her disabled son into a home of his own, that proved impossible because his credit score had plummeted.

Mississippi News, News, Price for Healthcare, Public HealthKatherine MitchellDecember 31, 2021St Dominic, The Painful Price for Healthcare, Debt collection, medical debt, Jackson Mississippi, debt collection, Matthew Hall, Medicaid, Smith Rouchon & Associates, billing Medicaid patients, Judy Hall, balanced billing, medicaid

The ‘Most Diabetic Place in America’ begins the battle to change that label

NEWPORT, Arkansas — The “Most Diabetic Place in America” is fighting to erase that label.

News, Diabetes, Public HealthKatherine MitchellDecember 22, 2021Diabetes, obesity, Newport, Arkansas, Dr. Bala Simon, Jackson County, Dr. Dudley, prediabetes, Most diabetic place in America, Jackson County Wellness and Screening

Mississippi insurers agree to commissioner’s plea to continue telemedicine coverage when state of emergency ends

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney has secured crucial support from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, the largest health insurer in the state, to continue covering telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits.

How processed and preserved foods have changed our tastes and waists over time

For years, retired pharmacist Judy Wolverton Palmer was addicted to peanut butter, digging into any jar she could find.

She battled both weight and health issues, including chronic pain, skin issues, prediabetes, asthma and gastrointestinal problems.

News, Mississippi News, Mississippi Spotlight, Public HealthKatherine MitchellNovember 15, 2021Mississippi, food pantry, Mississippi delta, Lexington food pantry, Processed foods, weight gain, diabetes, food addiction, food industry, added sugar, sodium, obesity, brain, poverty

Federal law says insurers must cover outpatient mental health care. But Mississippi decides not for its state employees

Postpartum depression left Julie Seawright of Tupelo crying hysterically in her bathtub after the birth of her first child.

She turned to her state-employee insurance plan to cover out-patient treatment to see her through the crisis.

She was out of luck.

Life-saving hormone ‘belongs to the world,’ scientists said. Insulin pricing challenges that concept.

In 1921, scientists in Canada discovered insulin. After winning the Nobel Prize, they sold the patent for $1 each, saying the hormone for battling diabetes “belongs to the world.”