Author: fvigeant

More than 71 hundred Pennsylvanians went to out-of-state drug and alcohol treatment facilities according to a 2016-2017 survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.  Most went to Florida.  Those seeking treatment may or may not have been treated successfully.  But the Insurance Department and the state’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs are raising a warning about out-of-state group homes that are taking advantage of the opiod crisis and people who may be vulnerable.

Often there are sales people that tell those misusing drugs or alcohol that their insurance companies will pick up the cost of travel or medical bills.

Monday’s Smart Talk looks into this scam with Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman and Secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Jennifer Smith.

Also, a report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council found that hospital admissions for heroin overdoses increased by 12.7% in 2016-17.  That’s the lowest increase in recent years.

Overdoses for pain medication actually decreased by 2.2%.

Almost 10% of those hospitalized for heroin overdoses died in the hospital.

We’ll get details of the report on Monday’s Smart Talk from Joe Martin, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

 

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The year 1968 was considered a monumental year in American history.  The Civil Rights Movement was at its height, protests over the war in Vietnam grew, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was disrupted by violent protests and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert Kennedy were assasinated.  Before he was killed, Dr. King started “The Poor People’s Campaign” to fight racism, poverty and militarism.

Fifty years later, The Poor People’s Campaign has been resurrected. Renamed The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival — the protest movement is described as a “non-violent six-week season demanding new programs to fight poverty and racism, immediate attention to ecological devastation and measures to curb militarism and the war economy.”  Protests have been going on in nearly three dozen states, including Pennsylvania.

The campaign kicked off in Harrisburg last week.  After a rally, 13 people were arrested for blocking traffic.

So what does The Poor People’s Campaign want to achieve?

That’s a question we’ll ask on Tuesday’s Smart Talk.  Our guests are Leslie Avila from the group Movement of Immigrant Leaders and Rabbi Michael Pollack of March On Harrisburg.

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May is Asian American and Pacific Heritage Month. May was chosen in the late 1970s to coincide with the anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. Thousands of Asians help build that railroad but Asians and Pacific Islanders have contributed much more to America.

Pennsylvania is home to 433 thousand people who trace their roots to Asia and the Pacific Islands. Many are entrepreneurs who have created businesses in the state.

We discuss that unique history and heritage on Monday’s Smart Talk with Tiffany Chang Lawson, Executive Director, Governor Tom Wolf’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs and Special Projects and Thomas S. Lee, Vice Chair of the Commission.

Also, the Reconstruction period after the Civil War is generally thought to be from 1865 to 1877. It’s a time that doesn’t get much attention in the history books, but yet it’s when decisions were made that still are being felt today. Many of those decisions didn’t have a positive impact.

On Monday’s program, we’re joined by Dr. Allen Guelzo, author of the new book Reconstruction A Concise History. Dr. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director, Civil War Era Studies Program at Gettysburg College.

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Nearly one in every five Americans meets the criteria for a mental health or substance use disorder. A government agency review found nearly that 20 percent of young people experience an emotional, mental, or behavioral disorder. For the nation’s poor and those living in foster care, the risk for mental health problems is even greater. It is estimated that fifty percent of children and youth in the child welfare system have mental health disorders.

https://youth.gov/youth-topics/youth-mental-health/prevalance-mental-health-disorders-among-youth

Understanding the risk and protective factors are one way to identify mental health problems before they take over a life.  A risk factor is something that may help create a problem, while protective factors may help prevent them.

Common risk factors include family history, traumatic events, substance abuse and neglect.  Protective factors include a person’s access to services, a healthy lifestyle, and supportive family relationships.

Mental wellness advocates believe that education and early intervention are the best way to affect the risk factors for young people and prevent suicide.

It’s the topic of Friday’s Smart Talk.

Appearing on the program are Sharon Engdahl, Executive Director of The American Mental Wellness Association and The Mental Wellness Awareness Association. The AMWA is the umbrella organization which unites individuals and organizations together as one voice for mental wellness in the United States.  Also Michael Houser, Vice President of School Youth Programs with RC21X and MyBrain 365.

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Is the personal information on your social media accounts safe?  Are you protected against those who would collect data from your accounts and maybe sell it to a third party, that could know what you like and don’t like and send advertising or news to try to influence you?

The answer is probably no. Psychosocial profiling aggregates massive amounts of data collected by large social media companies and uses that data to infer various predictive attributes, such as your politics or the products you prefer.

There are accusations this week that the company Cambridge Analytica got the personal data of 50 million Facebook users improperly and used that information to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Many are asking how that can happen or do I have any privacy on Facebook?  Some have gone as far as quitting Facebook altogether.

We answer those questions and others on Thursday’s Smart Talk with Andrew Hacker, Cyber Security Expert in Residence at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and owner of two companies.

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