Health Care

A new report out today says one in every eleven children will spend a portion of their lives without their parents, living instead with a relative.  That number is growing both in the U-S and in Idaho.  These kids often don’t get all the services that are available to them.  The study hopes to change that.

The Idaho Department of Correction has reached an agreement with the inmates at one of its prisons. This comes from a lawsuit spanning more than three decades.

Jason Prince is a lawyer who represents 1,600 inmates at the Idaho State Correctional Institution. He’s spent the last few months negotiating an agreement on changes to medical care at the prison near Boise. Prince says the biggest change will be increased staff.

 The Idaho Department of Correction has reached an agreement over a lawsuit filed by prisoners more than 30 years ago. The agreement requires upgrades to medical facilities at the Idaho State Correctional Institution near Boise. The agreement reached in U.S. District Court Tuesday gives a six month deadline for initial improvements…followed by a 2 year monitoring period. Department of Corrections director Brent Reinke says the initial cost of the changes will be more than $1.5 million.

Saturday marks the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to fight breast cancer.  In Idaho, 117 out of every 100-thousand women will get the disease.  It’s a frightening diagnosis.  One group works to help the newly diagnosed through the maze of doctors, treatments, and emotions. 

Here in the Northwest, you hear lots of complaints about the abundant rain. But this year's cool March weather and above normal rainfall in April may have eased the suffering of people with pollen allergies.

Idaho, Washington and Oregon are among the 44 states splitting a $100 million settlement with pharmaceutical giant Abbott Labs. The agreement announced Monday resolves a dispute over the company's marketing of a drug called Depakote.

The medication is federally-approved to treat certain mental illnesses. But a multi-state investigation found that Abbott used a flawed study to promote the drug as a way to treat other illnesses, such as schizophrenia and dementia.

Idaho has had its first death from pertussis in three years. An eastern Idaho infant died last week from the disease also known as whooping cough. But  Idaho is not experiencing the epidemic some of its neighbors are.

A month ago Washington State’s Secretary of Health Mary Selecky declared a statewide epidemic of pertussis. She told KUOW more than 600 cases had been confirmed and 20 people had been hospitalized.

“If this pace continues we’re on track to have the highest number of whooping cough cases in our state in decades,” Selecky said.

The chance of a woman getting ovarian disease may be tied to the toxic chemicals her great-grandmother was exposed to. That’s according to a new study by researchers at Washington State University.  The study could help explain the role of environmental factors in inherited diseases.

Here’s how it works. Picture your great-grandmother. Now let’s say, while pregnant with your future grandparent, she was exposed to some toxic chemical. Pesticides, phthalates -- that stuff in plastic -- or maybe jet fuel. Those are some of the things the researchers looked at.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has sent two epidemiologists to Washington State. The investigators will try to find out what’s causing the state’s rapid rise of whooping cough cases.

The investigators are in Washington to help the state figure out how the number of whooping cough cases has reached epidemic levels. They’re here at the request of Washington Secretary of Health Mary Selecky, and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.

New figures from the Alzheimer’s Association show 75-thousand people in Idaho - usually family members - are helping care for a patient with the disease.  An organization known as the Idaho Alzheimer’s Planning Group is working on a state plan to help patients and those caregivers.

The number of whooping cough cases in Washington State is rising rapidly that the Governor has gotten involved.  Thursday Governor Chris Gregoire announced she’s releasing $90,000 in emergency funds to step up the state’s public awareness campaign.

Under the watchful eye of her mother, TV cameras, and the Governor, four year-old Kimberly Magdeleno reacts as the nurse gives her a series of shots. One of them is the vaccine for pertussis, or whooping cough.  Her crying quickly fades when the nurse rewards her with a set of stickers.