By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent FRANKFORT, Ky. — The fresh produce found on farms across the state may be one of the keys to healthier living here, and will be on the initiatives of a new panel appointed by state Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer.
The bipartisan, all-star panel will examine health care issues in rural Kentucky and develop recommendations for the 2008 Kentucky General Assembly.
Farmer announced that Louisville attorney and business leader Vickie Yates Brown will chair the panel during a Farm Credit Services of Mid-America customer appreciation dinner in Mount Sterling.
Brown concentrates her practice in health care, health insurance law, government affairs and mediation.
She has delivered numerous presentations at both state and national levels on various health care topics and has also co-authored three publications on health care law and government regulation.
In addition, Brown serves as special assistant to Dr. James Ramsey, president of the University of Louisville, advising in the areas of health, life sciences and research.
“This group’s job is to comb through the numerous ideas that have been floated from both Republicans and Democrats, from industry and consumer groups, from doctors and patients, to find steps that we can take – not 20 years from now, not five years from now, but immediately – to address some of the problems facing us,” Farmer said.
The 2003 Kentucky Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 30 percent of the state’s youth are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, and only 13 percent of Kentucky high school students eat the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
In a 2005 report from the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Trust for America’s Health, Kentucky ranked 6th in the United States in highest rate of adult obesity, at 25.3 percent. The report also said that more than 25 percent of adults in 10 states are obese, including in Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and South Carolina.
Seven of those 10 states are in the Southeast.
The panel will look at the availability and affordability of health care and find ways to use fresh fruits and vegetables grown on state farms to combat obesity in rural Kentucky.
“It is time we stop using the Band-Aid approach to health care,” Farmer said. “While we have been treating the symptoms, the patient has died.”
It is estimated that adult obesity costs the state $1.2 billion annually, according to a 2004 study.
Farmer also said that Kentucky’s rural areas suffer from a shortage of doctors and hospitals and soon will face a shortage of dentists.
Rising costs have left many families and small businesses unable to afford health insurance. He said farmers throughout the Commonwealth tell him health care is one of their greatest concerns.
This farm news was published in the Aug. 8, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
