After the Georgia General Assembly adjourned in late March, Gov. Nathan Deal had a May 3 deadline to sign or veto each bill the legislators had passed. Much of the attention centered on ‘’campus carry’’ legislation, which would have allowed students to carry concealed firearms on campuses of Georgia’s public colleges. It was controversial from…
In a new GHN Commentary, Melanie Dallas, a licensed professional counselor, writes that parents should not hesitate to have their children treated for a mental illness when that care is needed. But misperceptions and fear of being stigmatized often lead people to delay seeking care, Dallas says. Sometimes, she says, it takes years for parents…
When your child has a sore throat or fever, you probably don’t hesitate to take him or her to the doctor. You know that with the right medication and care, your child will probably make a full recovery — and the sooner the child is treated, the sooner he or she will be healthy again….
This is the fourth in a series of articles about health care in Southwest Georgia, an area of the state that has great health needs and challenges, but also some innovative approaches to such problems. The series is the product of a collaboration between Georgia Health News and the health and medical journalism graduate program at UGA…
Although the crisis in Flint, Mich., has caused Americans everywhere to worry about lead in their drinking water, a different kind of lead hazard looms in 24 million homes in the nation. Anyone who lives in a residence built before 1978 may be cohabiting with lead paint and lead-tainted house dust. Of these 24 million homes…
A new report Wednesday finds that metro Atlanta has its cleanest air in more than a decade. The American Lung Association’s 2016 “State of the Air’’ report said ozone and particle pollution levels in the Atlanta area have improved since its first report in 2000. That’s when Atlanta ranked as the ninth most polluted city…
Student-run organizations at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University are raising awareness about human trafficking and working with local organizations to combat it. Human trafficking involves illegally trading people for exploitation or commercial gain. Traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial…
The EPA’s administrator told a gathering at Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine on Thursday that she wants her organization viewed “as a public health agency.” Gina McCarthy emphasized the importance of environmental effects on health at a roundtable discussion at Morehouse, which including medical students, local college professors and community activists. The activists brought up…
A cancer cluster recently reported in New Hampshire has striking similarities with a group of cancers in South Georgia. Both situations involve rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer, and both have struck children. Three childhood cases of rhabdomyosarcoma and one case of Ewing sarcoma, another rare cancer, surfaced last year in and near Ware County, in the…
After two contentious hearings, a Georgia House health committee recently approved a bill that would allow dental hygienists to practice in safety-net settings without a dentist present. The head of the Georgia Dental Association said at the time that he was in agreement with the bill. So the proposal appeared certain to get a vote…