Health Beat: Arkansas 8th In Funding Tobacco Prevention Programs For Kids

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) December 17, 2014 7:20 am 130 views 

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ARKANSAS 8TH IN FUNDING TOBACCO PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR KIDS
Arkansas ranks 8th in the country in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a new national report from the Tobacco Free Kids coalition. The report shows that Florida has the most successful smoking prevention program in the nation among youth with a record low 7.5% high school smoking rate.If Arkansas reduced its high school smoking rate from the current 19.1% to 7.5%, “it would prevent 93,520 kids from becoming adult smokers, saving 32,790 lives and $1.6 billion in future health care costs,” the report said.Other key findings for Arkansas include:
  • Arkansas will spend $17.5 million this year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 47.6% of the $36.7 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  • Arkansas will collect $278.2 million this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 6.3% of the money on tobacco prevention programs.
  • Tobacco companies spend $107.4 million per year to market their products in Arkansas – six times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.
STAY GRANTED IN CRITTENDEN REGIONAL HOSPITAL CASES, INTEREST IN PROPERTY CITED
The attorneys working on a pair of lawsuits involving Crittenden Regional Hospital will have a little more time to address several issues in their cases before moving forward, a federal judge ruled late Friday. U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall gave a 60-day stay after a three-and-a-half hour hearing at the federal courthouse in Jonesboro. The cases stem over allegations that the hospital, which closed in August, was negligent in paying insurance premiums for hospital employees.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & ACCOLADES
Doug Babb, CEO of Fort Smith-based Cooper Clinic, one of the largest physician-owned medical groups in Arkansas, is stepping down at the end of 2014. His more than seven-year run as the clinic’s chief came during a time of significant change in the regional medical community.

Curtis Ralston, now the chief operating officer of Cooper Clinic, will become the next CEO in January.

Dr. Eren Erdem, a neurointerventional radiologist, has joined Baptist Health and Neurosurgery Arkansas in Little Rock. He was previously with UAMS. Erdem, who received his doctor of medicine from Istanbul University in Turkey, continued on to earn specialty degrees in the area of diagnostic radiology, neuroradiology and neurointerventional radiology at Long Island College Hospital in New York, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Lahey Clinic in Boston.

Dr. Steven Lewis, laborist at St. Bernards Medical Center, has been named recipient of the 2014 “Living the Mission” Physician Award. The award recognizes a member of the St. Bernards medical staff “who exemplifies the formal mission of St. Bernards – providing Christ-like healing through education, treatment and health services.” The honoree is nominated by St. Bernards employees, then a committee narrows nominations to three, and the medical staff selects the recipient via secret ballot. Lewis is a Jonesboro High School graduate who earned his degree from UAMS.