News briefs – Aug. 30

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CHILDREN IN OHIO’S APPALACHIAN COUNTIES FACE SIMILAR HEALTH CARE CHALLENGES TO METROPOLITAN AREAS, STUDY FINDS – Despite the fact that previous research shows the Appalachian region of the United States as limited in access to health care services, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have found that children with special health care needs in Appalachian areas face similar levels of health status as their metropolitan counterparts.

Researchers used data from the 2012 Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey, which is designed to examine the health status and health insurance needs of Ohio adults and children. This study, published today in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved , is one of the first of its kind to use a population-based survey to assess the health status of children with special health care needs (identified by The Federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau as CSHCN) in Appalachian Ohio. Results showed that children with special needs living in Appalachian Ohio counties are poorer and more likely to be insured by Medicaid than their metropolitan counterparts, but otherwise face the same health care challenges as those in urban areas.

“One marked difference is that children with special needs in Appalachia are more likely to frequent emergency departments, and less likely to have access to primary care,” said Deena Chisolm, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and co-author of the study. “This trend raises concerns about access to appropriate levels of service that should be explored in future research.”

The OMAS surveyed approximately 23,000 Ohio residents between May 2012 and August 2012 with an overall response rate of 29.4 percent. Households with children were purposefully oversampled. A child met the definition of CSHCN if the survey respondent reported that the child used prescription medication, used more health or educational services than other children, was limited in their ability to do things most similarly-aged children could do, received special therapy or received emotional or behavioral counseling and that the condition or services use was expected to last for greater than 12 months.

OHIO CAREER EXPLORATION INTERNSHIP PROGRAM PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE WORKFORCE – The Ohio Career Exploration Internship Program helps high school juniors and seniors identify a career path and gain work experience. Ohio businesses participating in the program are reimbursed for 50 percent of the intern’s salary up to $5,000.

“Small businesses in the program are providing students with work experience and are helping build Ohio’s future workforce,” said David Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency.

The Ohio Career Exploration Internship Program is a partnership-driven program between a business and student. Working together the student and business identify the goals of the internship and complete an online application. Interns are employed for at least 20 weeks and complete at least 200 hours of work and instruction.

SAYERS “JOURNEY” TAKES READERS ON MEANINGFUL RIDE – One night during his junior year, University of Findlay senior Colton Sayers had reached the lowest point of his life. He was alone in his room, depressed and uncertain if any future happiness was in store for him.

It’s a feeling than many have experienced, but that few have felt comfortable expressing, let alone publishing for all of the world to read. Sayers chose to do the latter, thoroughly and unabashedly, in a self-published book titled, “Journey: A Testimony in the Search for Meaning in the Life God has Created for Us.” Totaling 130 pages, the book details his many tribulations that led to that one lonely night, how he moved on from it and what he’s learned from it all.

Sayers is Catholic and his book, as its title illustrates, is overtly religious. Sayers grew up in the southwestern Ohio town of Okeana, and graduated from LaSalle High School, a private, all-male Catholic school in Cincinnati. His chapters begin with inspiring Bible versus that pertain to the situations he describes about his life. His messages to himself and to his audience reinforce his belief in an ever-present God, even as he describes circumstances that cause him to occasionally stray from his faith.

But Sayers said his overall purpose for writing the book is as much about helping others as it is about helping himself. While the writing was therapeutic, the words are meant to inspire others who have fallen on hard times, he said.

“My main message is, you can get through it. It may take longer than you expect, but you can,” Sayers said. “Don’t give up hope.”

At age 22, Sayers has already had plenty to overcome. When he was in middle school, his father died from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, it is a rapidly progressive neurological malady that weakens the muscles.

As his father neared the end of his life, Colton wrote about his conversations with and anger at God. “Every night I would pray to God, ‘if You will not help my dad get better, then please just let him go.’ I felt selfish praying this, but at this point in my life I had had enough,” he wrote.

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Staff report

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