The state-funded Healthy Smiles Initiative will tackle Tennessee’s shortage of dentists and work to make dental care more readily available.

Tennessee has been disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis, and Wednesday’s FDA decision clears the way for the life-saving drug Narcan to be sold directly to consumers at drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations, as well as online. 

The Shelby County Health Department commissioned the cancer cluster study last fall to learn about historical cancer rates in a South Memphis neighborhood. 

A majority of the commission could greenlight a restructuring of the proposed capital budget County Mayor Lee Harris takes to the commission in April.

The agency will continue to post weekly COVID-19 updates on its website. 

During Michael Wiggins’ tenure, Le Bonheur opened its first pediatric inpatient unit in Jackson, Tennessee, began construction on a $95 million expansion in the Memphis Medical District, navigated the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and celebrated Le Bonheur’s 70th birthday.

Shelby County Relative Caregiver Program has helped more than 9,000 children stay with family members — keeping them out of Tennessee’s foster care system, which has the highest rate of foster care instability in the country.

According to the 2021 Tennessee Diabetes Action Report, 13.8% of adults in the state have been diagnosed with diabetes, and Type 2 Diabetes accounts for 90%-95% of Tennessee’s diagnosed cases. 

Previous Communicator of the Year Award recipients include Liberty Bowl founder Bud Dudley, Cecil Humphreys, Linn Sitler, D’Army Bailey, Dr. Scott Morris, Fred Jones, Beverly Robertson, Otis Sanford, Penny Hardaway and Joe Birch.

The expansion comes as the CDC extends the timeframe for when sexual assault victims can receive a forensic exam.

“The opioid crisis affects every single person in Tennessee, even those who don’t have personal or family issues related to opioid misuse disorder.”

After actress Gilda Radner’s death, her husband, actor Gene Wilder, established Gilda’s Club in New York City to help people with cancer find support with their friends and family. On Wednesday, Methodist Cancer Institute opened the Memphis chapter.

St. Jude became the first fully integrated children’s hospital in the South, where Black and white patients were treated in the same room, dined together and shared bathroom facilities.

About a quarter of Tennessee’s children suffer from mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral disorders, according to the report. 

According to the Shelby County Health Department, nearly 7,000 residents were living with HIV as of 2021, and the county ranks third nationally in incidence rates of new HIV cases. 

Over the past 13 years, PBC has grown from a small startup in Ireland to a company with offices in France and now Memphis, and partners in Germany, Sweden and Japan. 

Germantown’s Industrial Development Board formally terminated a tax incentive for a project that is not moving forward.

BlueCross and Methodist leaders are continuing negotiations toward an agreement that could restore access for members covered through employer and individually-purchased health plans. 

All 4,000 square feet of the property is a woman-only space. For the safety of the woman served and that of the volunteers, men are not allowed on the property. 

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s $13 billion campus expansion, the largest in its history, is progressing.

Several years after launching DPX, Brad Kilgore started Tissue Innovations, a tissue bank, with his brother Don Kilgore. Both Tissue Innovations and DPX operate out of a 15,000-square-foot space in Bartlett and employ about 15 people.

Over the next five years, the health department will use nearly $14 million in CDC funding to bolster its workforce and infrastructure. 

“The state has determined right now that it’s in the best interest of Tennesseans for the state to assume direct financial and managerial responsibility for these services,” Health Commissioner Ralph Alvarado told Tennessee lawmakers.

The evaluation is part of the Shelby County Health Department’s effort to gain national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board. 

“Dr. Park brings a wealth of knowledge, deep experience and considerable talent to St. Jude.”