The West Virginia Department for Health and Human Resources announced a change today (Monday) in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. As of…
The West Virginia Department for Health and Human Resources announced a change today (Monday) in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. As of January 1, 2016, able-bodied adults without dependents in nine West Virginia counties must meet a work or education requirement in order to continue receiving SNAP benefits.
To avoid losing their benefits, SNAP recipients ages 18-49 with no dependent children need to either work or be in an educational program for 20 hours a week, every week.
Or, they must qualify for an exemption, which includes participating in an addiction treatment and rehabilitation program, being responsible for an incapacitated adult, or currently being at least a half-time student, among other things.
The change affects adults in Berkeley, Cabell, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Marion, Monongalia, Morgan, and Putnam counties – the nine counties with the lowest unemployment rates in West Virginia, according to a DHHR news release.
SNAP participants can go to the WorkForce Investment Boards in Charleston, Huntington, White Hall and Martinsburg to find work or be placed in a work-related training program.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.
A state agency is being sued by a former investigator who says she was fired for being a whistleblower.The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that former…
A state agency is being sued by a former investigator who says she was fired for being a whistleblower.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that former state Medical Examiner’s Office investigator Regina D. Reynolds filed the lawsuit last week. The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health fired Reynolds after she refused to burn human remains to conceal they had been mishandled.
DHHR spokesman Toby Wagoner says the office doesn’t comment on pending litigation or personnel issues.
Reynolds’ lawsuit says she found a man’s skeletal remains in a DHHR evidence room last year. Records indicated the remains had been buried.
The lawsuit says Raines contacted the Office of the Inspector General after being ordered to burn the remains. She later was fired.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Public Health issued a Public Health Advisory in response to the blue-green algae blooms in the Ohio River and in some of its tributaries.
In a release, Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health Dr. Rahul Gupta said his office is working with public water systems and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to monitor water supplies. A this point his office is simply warning citizens to avoid contact with the blooms.
From West Virginia’s Bureau for Public Health:
Public water systems are being advised to remain vigilant and tests performed, where appropriate, have been acceptable.
Citizens should avoid water that:
Looks like spilled paint
Has surface scums, mats or films
Is discolored or has colored streaks
Has green globs floating below the surface
The following guidelines are recommended to avoid exposure to harmful algal blooms (HABs):
Direct contact with affected water — including swimming, wading, fishing, paddling, diving and water skiing — may result in symptoms. Avoid swallowing river or lake water.
Prevent pets and livestock from coming into contact or ingesting water containing algal blooms.
People who are prone to respiratory allergies or asthma should avoid areas with algal blooms. Children may be particularly sensitive.
If contact has been made with water containing algal blooms, wash off with clean water. In some cases, skin irritation will appear after prolonged exposure. If symptoms persist, consult your health care provider.
Fish fillets (not organs) may be consumed after the fillets have been rinsed in clean water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkZr2iqAlB0 Cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, are microscopic organisms found naturally in all types of water. But some give off what are called cyanotoxins. Symptoms from contact are wide ranging. They include everything from loss of appetite to stumbling, tremors, convulsions, diarrhea, and skin irritation. Gupta says more serious or life-threatening reactions can occur if someone has an allergic reaction but no such cases have been reported in West Virginia.
The blooms are historically uncommon in the Ohio River. A series of circumstances likely led to the organisms flourishing in the river and tributaries including:
slight drops in water temperature
low water flow
abundance of nutrients which could be from agricultural runoff and sewage
clear skies (blue-green algae love sunshine)
Credit West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
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Bloom upstream of the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam.
Dr. Gupta says water tests are underway to try to determine what kinds of nutrients are feeding the organisms. He says local health departments may issue a No Contact Advisory if toxin levels exceeded the advisory threshold, or if one or more probable cases of human illness or pet deaths is attributable to the toxin.
Multiple agencies are actively monitoring the algae situation along the Ohio River including the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Kentucky Division of Water, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and local health departments.
A public-private partnership to identify and provide help for at-risk Medicaid patients was announced Wednesday.
The state has teamed up with the nonprofit company Partners in Health Network. Cabinet Secretary Karen Bowling, with the Department of Health and Human Resources, explained the program. She said the first step is to identify Medicaid patients who visit emergency rooms often.
“Then actually targeting those beneficiaries to ensure they’re really getting the help they need, they’re getting the care they need, but they’re getting it in the right setting,” she said.
Bowling said that through Partners in Health, the program can focus on preventive care and keep those patients out of the emergency room. She said the partnership will improve care for Medicaid patients and ultimately cut down on costs.
Bowling said programs such as this one are important in coming up with new ways to solve health care issues in West Virginia.
“As we begin to think about how do we change things, and move West Virginia in the right direction to change our health outcomes, we have got to have these types of programs in place so that there is sort of an acknowledgement of the need to do things differently.”
The program took effect at the beginning of the year. The first step will be to collect data that can target the Medicaid patients benefit from it.
Health officials are advising patients of a clinic in in the northern panhandle to be tested for some infectious diseases after an investigation discovered questionable practices.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is urging patients who had an injection procedure at Valley Pain Management in McMechen, West Virginia, between the time the clinic opened in 2010 through November 1, 2013, to talk to their primary care provider about being testing for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV.
The DHHR reports that an investigation into the clinic found practitioners re-used needles and syringes to enter vials and saline bags used for more than one patient.
Officials say they haven’t been able to determine if any procedures resulted in illness, but exposure to infection is possible.
The DHHR says the clinic has not cooperated with them by suppling a patient list. DHHR has issued an administrative subpoena in an effort to obtain the clinic’s patient list and is prepared to take additional legal action if the clinic does not comply with the subpoena.
Testing is available for Valley Pain Management patients at these local health departments until 10/21/14.
To make an appointment for testing, please call:
Hancock County Health Department (304) 564-3343
Brooke County Health Department (304) 737-3665
Wheeling – Ohio Health Department (304) 234-3682
Marshall County Health Department (304) 845-7840
Wetzel – Tyler Health Department (304) 337-2001
Ohio residents should call 1-844-593-5184 for additional information.
Pennsylvania residents should call 877-PA HEALTH (877-724-3258) to make arrangements for testing.
