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Over a decade ago, Rhett Murdaugh moved to St. Paul to live in sober housing. He had already relocated from Nashville to Pennsylvania for addiction treatment. There, he says his program’s leadership recommended he try Minnesota. “I could barely find Minnesota on the map. When they told me to come here I was like, ‘What?’” he said. “But it was because it's known as a hotbed of recovery.” (Gerezgiher, 10/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: ‘Demon Copperhead’ Author Lays Foundation For Women In Appalachia To Beat Addiction

On a Saturday evening in June, people of this rural region gathered at the historic Lee Theatre to celebrate the founding of Higher Ground Women’s Recovery Residence. Author Barbara Kingsolver opened the facility in January with royalties from her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Demon Copperhead,” whose plot revolves around Appalachia’s opioid crisis. The home offers a supportive place for people to stay while learning to live without drugs. Kingsolver had asked the women now living there to join her on stage. (Sisk, 10/2)

A new report ranks US states on rates of mental well-being and mental health care, and New York, Hawaii and New Jersey have outperformed the rest — in that order. (Rogers, 10/1)

Work requirements enacted as part of a Medicaid expansion program in Georgia did not increase insurance coverage or employment relative to neighboring states that did not expand Medicaid, a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences study suggested. (Firth, 10/1)

As Idaho increases its oversight of youth treatment homes, a new ombudsman said the state still isn’t penalizing facilities where kids could be at risk. And lawmakers say they aren’t satisfied with the way the state Department of Health and Welfare is investigating child abuse in those facilities. (Bryen, 9/30)

When a pulmonologist told Gail Orcutt she had lung cancer in May 2010, the non-smoker was shocked. She began researching and quickly learned about radon and its prevalence in Iowa, where she lived her entire life. She tested both her childhood and current homes, both of which had dangerous levels. Yet, Orcutt’s five remaining siblings do not have lung cancer. Nor does her husband. Seeking answers, Orcutt turned her attention to the Iowa schools where she spent much of her life, as a student, then as a teacher of 33 years. Orcutt died of lung cancer in May of 2020. (Loomis, 10/1)

Shoppers at a suburban Chicago Aldi store are being warned of the possibility of exposure to measles after a new case was detected in Cook County. The Cook County Department of Public Health said it confirmed its third suburban measles case this year last week. The positive case was found in an adult with an unknown vaccination status, who is believed to have contracted the virus from another positive case last month. (10/1)

In its latest weekly update today, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 30 more measles cases, putting the national total at 1,544, a record high since the United States eliminated the disease in 2000. Two more outbreaks were reported, bringing the total to 42. The CDC said 86% of cases are linked to outbreaks, and 92% of patients are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. The number of affected jurisdictions remained the same, at 42. (Schnirring, 10/1)