Program 10
The CommonHealth of Kentucky
A 13-part KET production aimed at improving the health of all Kentuckians by sharing health and wellness projects from across the state that are succeeding in making their communities healthier.
Be Well Kentucky
a project of KET’s Be Well Kentucky initiative
The CommonHealth of Kentucky is a 2005 KET production. Produced in partnership with the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Featured Projects:
- Healthy Kids Centers, Fayette County Public Schools
- Living Well Workshops: Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, Louisville
- Staying Alive: How To Be an Effective Caregiver, Louisville
Kentucky ranks among the bottom 25 percent of states in diabetes per capita, among the bottom five states in cardiovascular disease, and among the bottom three states in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—three diseases that are closely linked to obesity. This program spotlights community projects designed to educate citizens about healthy lifestyles and encourage them to take responsibility for their own health:
The Living Well Workshops: Chronic Disease Self-Management Program in Louisville offers six weeks of free instruction in techniques for dealing with chronic conditions. Participants learn how diet, exercise, and even meditation can help keep an illness under control and improve the patient’s quality of life.
Staying Alive: How To Be an Effective Caregiver focuses on the people close to the patient, offering services for those caring for people with chronic incapacitating conditions. The goals are to reduce the mental and physical strain of caregiving and to help the elderly safely remain in their accustomed living environments.
In Lexington, the Healthy Kids Centers focus on the other end of life. These clinics provide students in four high-poverty Fayette County schools free access to medical, mental health, disease prevention, and oral health services.
While lifestyle is obviously a major factor in many illnesses, genetic factors are also important. So this program also looks at how knowing more about your genealogy can help you improve your family’s health.