State Highlights: NYC To Pay Nurses Settlement After Excluding Them From ‘Physically Taxing’ Job Category; Boston Becomes Hot Spot For Tech Geared Toward Aging
Media outlets report on news from New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Georgia, California and Florida.
The New York Times:
Yes, Nurses Have ‘Physically Taxing’ Jobs. And A $20.8 Million Settlement.
For decades, some New York City workers in “physically taxing” jobs were eligible to retire at age 50, after 25 years of service, and start collecting full pensions. More than 380 job titles — from window cleaner to plumber to exterminator — qualified for the “physically taxing” designation before the city ended the program for new employees in 2012. The New York State Nurses Association felt that nurses deserved to be on the list of mostly male-dominated professions, created for city employees in strenuous jobs who might not be able to work until the usual retirement age, which ranges from 55 to 62. So starting in 2004, the group asked the city to include nurses at city hospitals. The city refused three times. (Pager, 7/18)
Boston Globe:
As Older Population Grows, Massachusetts Angles To Become The Silicon Valley For ‘Age-Tech’
These “age-tech” pioneers are part of a Massachusetts cluster of entrepreneurs who are applying the state’s potent mix of brainpower and technology prowess to an ancient problem: easing the burdens of growing old. Government and business leaders believe the emerging industry could have huge potential for the state’s economy, and for aging populations around the world. (Weisman, 7/18)
Texas Tribune:
After Shootings, Senators Ponder Funding For School Mental Health Services
Members of a special Texas Senate committee devoted to preventing school violence acknowledged in a hearing Wednesday the importance of school counseling and mental health care, but questioned whether it's financially feasible to expand those services statewide. In the third of its four scheduled meetings, the Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security looked at possible contributors to violence ranging from social media to video games to shortages of school counselors in the state. (Choi, 7/18)
St. Louis Post Dispatch:
Troubled St. Louis Housing Complex Was At Center Of Drug-Trafficking Ring, Federal Indictment Alleges
Federal charges were filed Wednesday against 15 people allegedly involved in a drug-trafficking ring linked to three deaths and centered at the troubled Clinton-Peabody public housing complex just south of downtown. “I believe that the drug distribution organization operating at Clinton-Peabody has been dismantled this morning,” U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen said in an emailed statement about the case. “The fentanyl dealt by this organization is literally poison.” (Patrick, 7/18)
The Star Tribune:
Minnesota Pediatricians Promote Reading For Young Patients And Their Parents
A growing number of pediatric and primary care clinics in Minnesota are using children’s books to improve health care and enhance child development. The physicians believe they can have a positive and lasting impact on brain development during the critical first three years of a child’s life. That’s before many children go to day care or preschool — and a period when pediatricians have particular access. (Howatt, 7/18)
Denver Post:
Jefferson County Youth Detention Facility Operator Has License Suspended After Staff Loses Control Of Residents
The state suspended the license of a private company operating a youth detention facility Monday after staff lost control of teen girls, according to state records reviewed by the Contact7 investigators. Rite of Passage, Inc. operated the Betty K. Marler Youth Service Center at West Hampden Avenue and South Wadsworth Boulevard until the state determined the youth detained there were no longer safe. (Larson, 7/18)
North Carolina Health News:
Residents Near Chemical Plant Will Get Blood Tested
About 30 people living near the chemical plant south of Fayetteville will have their blood and urine tested for persistent industrial chemicals, state officials said Tuesday. The plant has been found to have released contaminants into the air and water. But the people to be tested are not downstream residents whose drinking water is drawn from the Cape Fear River, where DuPont spinoff Chemours has been releasing GenX and other suspect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances for decades. (Hoban, 7/19)
Louisville Courier Journal:
It's Not Over, But Louisville's Hepatitis A Epidemic Recedes
Going through a slideshow of different graphs and charts, he told top health officials last month that the number of reported cases is going down. The city was seeing up to four new hep A infections per day in April whereas the latest statistics show a decrease of almost 50 percent in June. (Bailey, 7/18)
Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Coalition Of Religious Groups Asks Virginia To Study Solitary Confinement In Jails
A coalition of religious and human rights groups called on the Virginia Board of Corrections to investigate the use of solitary confinement in jails, arguing the state needs facts rather than anecdotal evidence. ...There’s anecdotal evidence of people being held in solitary confinement in prisons and jails for long periods of time, [Charles Feinberg] he said, so facts are needed about how solitary confinement is used in jails, how many people with mental illness are put in solitary confinement and for how long, and how many people are released into the community from solitary confinement. (Wilson, 7/18)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Mayor Tom Barrett Urged To Delay Naming New Head For Troubled Agency
Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton is urging Mayor Tom Barrett to delay naming a new leader for the troubled Milwaukee Health Department. Hamilton wrote to Barrett last week asking him to "temporarily withdraw" his nomination of Jeanette Kowalik, saying the interim commissioner needs more time to try to fix problems at the beleaguered agency. (Spicuzza, 7/18)
Atlanta Journa-Constitution:
Youth Suicides: GBI Releases New Public Service Announcement
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is rolling out a new public service announcement aimed at combating a rise in youth suicides. The video features parents and other family members of young people who either took their own lives or attempted to. (Burns, 7/18)
Boston Globe:
Massachusetts State Budget Won’t Include Controversial Provisions On Immigration
Rejecting the loud pleas of immigration advocates and liberal lawmakers, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted a $42 billion state budget on Wednesday after dropping provisions designed to protect undocumented immigrants from the ongoing federal crackdown. The Democratic-controlled House and Senate sent the compromise bill to Governor Charlie Baker hours after legislative leaders made the 331-page spending and policy proposal public. (Miller, 7/18)
St. Louis Public Radio:
Despite Doctors’ Assumptions, Lyme Only A Small Sliver Of Area’s Tick-Borne Diseases
A small survey of St. Louis-area physicians found doctors greatly overestimate the prevalence of Lyme disease and underestimate the prevalence of other tick-borne illnesses in Missouri. ...According to the results, published earlier this month in the journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, 82 percent of respondents believed Lyme disease was among the most common tick-borne infections in the state. (Fentem, 7/19)
San Diego Union-Times:
County Warns Of Meningococcal Disease Exposure At Downtown San Diego Hostel
The county health department is warning anyone who stayed at USA Hostel in downtown San Diego between July 4 and July 14 that they may have been exposed to the bacteria that causes meningococcal disease, often called bacterial meningitis. A 24-year-old person — the county Health and Human Services Agency declined to release a gender — stayed at the Fifth Avenue hostel during the indicated dates and was hospitalized Saturday. The previously-healthy person was said to be recovering Tuesday, and health department personnel have already identified more than two dozen people who had close contact with the individual, offering each antibiotic treatments that can prevent infection. (Sisson, 7/17)
Health News Florida:
Despite Privatization, Prison Health Costs Continue To Rise
As a candidate, Gov. Rick Scott pitched the idea of having private companies provide health care to the state's prisoners in a plan to save taxpayers $1 billion over seven years. But in the first five years of privatization, the cost has climbed from $278 million to $375 million. (Ochoa, 7/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Infant Dies Of Whooping Cough In San Bernardino County
As public health officials prepare for a possible outbreak of whooping cough, the death of a baby in San Bernardino County from the disease has prompted warnings that pregnant women should be vaccinated. The death announced Tuesday marked the first time the disease had killed an infant in California in two years. State and county officials would not say when the child died or provide any further details. (Karlamangla, 7/17)