Rural health care focus of conference
A Chewelah, Wash.-area group working to combat prescription drug deaths among rural young people will be among speakers Thursday and Friday at the 20th annual Northwest Regional Rural Health Conference in Spokane.
Sherry Tilla, co-founder of the group Prescriptions for Life, will discuss the need for stricter monitoring of prescription medications and other steps to stem growing drug use among teens and young adults.
Rising abuse of prescription medication in Washington will be among several topics presented during the two-day meeting expected to attract 250 health-care professionals from five Western states.
Keynote speakers will include Alan Morgan, chairman of the National Rural Health Association, who will discuss the national rural policy landscape. Others will include Mary Selecky, Washington state secretary of health, and Emily Friedman, independent health policy and ethics analyst.
Sessions during the gathering, titled “Balancing the Tensions: Do No Harm,” also will address managing chronic disease in rural communities; fighting migration of rural doctors; emergency communications in remote and minority populations; and providing safe, quality patient care.
Health-care workers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska are expected to attend the conference, to be held at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park in Spokane.
For more information, go to www.ahec.spokane.wsu.edu.
NIH expands Gonzaga grant to study tuberculosis
A Gonzaga University assistant professor of chemistry has received nearly $190,000 from the National Institutes of Health to continue research aimed at combating tuberculosis infection.
Jeff Cronk’s expanded award will allow continued study of a bacterial version of an enzyme that could lead to new antibiotics to fight the virulent disease, which threatens health worldwide.
The award funds Cronk’s project through Feb. 28, 2010. Five Gonzaga students will benefit from direct, hands-on involvement in the research.
‘Listen to Your Body Talk’ focuses on women’s health
Women’s health concerns ranging from the new cervical cancer vaccine to the complications of breast cancer and osteoporosis will be included in a public health presentation at Coeur d’Alene’s North Idaho College next Tuesday.
Dr. Amy Anderson of Rockwood Clinic in Spokane will focus on disease prevention throughout the decades of a woman’s life. The session will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Meyer Health and Sciences Building, Room 106.
Admission is free. For more information, call (208) 769-3476.