Well, 2020 certainly was a year. I think that’s the only way to state it without being negative, and this is a new year, so I want to leave the negativity where it belongs in 2020.
But as challenging as last year was, at the KHC, we had much to celebrate, including a record year of website traffic, driven not in small part by solid content on our website’s blog. In what has become an annual tradition, we are saying goodbye to 2020 with a “Best of” for our blog, looking at posts that have had the heaviest readership and those that our staff deemed its favorites.
Most Read Posts
- Grieving the Loss of My Mother and My Caregiver Title. 40 million American caregivers support loved ones, including KHC President/CEO Randa Deaton, whose caregiving journey ended with the death of her mother in November. Despite her grief, Randa wrote a beautiful piece for National Family Caregivers Month.
- Bridging Our Past, Present, and Future in the Face of COVID-19. In March, when much was still unknown about the virus or its impact, KHC staff member Natalie Middaugh wrote a comprehensive piece with resources to guide our readers through the early days of the pandemic.
- KHC Annual Conference Goes VIRTUAL this Wednesday. So. Much. Chaos. COVID-19 reached Louisville just three days before KHC’s biggest event of the year, causing the conference to go virtual at the last second. What was expected to be the KHC’s biggest conference yet in terms of number of attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors turned out to be its best for an entirely different reason. The rallying of the community in support of the work of the KHC and its mission could be felt by the entire staff through texts, emails, tweets, and kind words.
- Dr. Teresa Couts Leaves Kentuckiana Health Collaborative After a Decade of Exemplary Leadership. One of the biggest changes for the KHC in 2020 was operating for the first time without the infrastructure and leadership of the UAW/Ford Community Healthcare Initiative. As a result, we lost the leadership of co-director Teresa Couts. But we are happy to report that she’s doing well at her new position at Ford!
- KHC Member Spotlight: Russelyn Cruse. Each month, the KHC highlights an individual from a member organization. Always a popular post, they’re a favorite of the KHC staff as well.
KHC Staff Favorites
Mental Health Month Highlights “Tools 2 Thrive” During COVID-19 Pandemic”
Selected by Emily Divino
My favorite blog post from 2020 focused on mental health during the pandemic. It shared some great resources and recommendations on improving one’s mental health and facing this whirlwind of a year. The blog post also features bits from the KHC staff on how we were managing our mental health. I enjoyed reading the different ways we were all taking care of ourselves, like staying productive, maintaining routines, and going on long walks.
Selected by Natalie Middaugh
Michael Kuduk, M.D, Pediatric Hospitalist, wrote my favorite blog post of 2020, “Don’t Hesitate to Vaccinate.” As I am sure is the case for many of us, vaccination has been top of mind as we closed out 2020. The development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines has been a remarkable and intricate process that has been shrouded in issues of bioethics and vaccine hesitancy. Dr. Kuduk’s blog post gave strong context to how vaccines have historically transformed disease prevalence and health outcomes, while also acknowledging the real concerns around vaccine receipt. Although this post was published in August 2020 before a COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use, its content and lessons remain relevant as widespread distribution of the FDA approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines ramp up in early 2021.
Data Transparency Needed to Address Racial Disparities in Coronavirus Outcomes
Selected by Randa Deaton
One of the most enlightening blog posts of the year came from Stephanie Clouser as she reported on the lack of access to public data on the disparate impact of COVID-19 by race and ethnicity in Kentuckiana. This was the first of many attempts by Stephanie Clouser to get access to healthcare data by race and ethnicity and promote transparency and accountability for equitable care in the community. This blog post highlights a very real problem with our healthcare data systems, and the lack of data continues to be a significant barrier to identifying and understanding disparities and designing interventions to drive improvements.
Grieving the Loss of My Mother and My Caregiver Title.
Selected by Stephanie Clouser
Anyone who knows KHC President and CEO Randa Deaton knows that caregiving has been a major part of her life for the last 11 years, as she cared for her mother diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer. We had always planned for Randa to write a post about caregiving in November for National Family Caregivers Month, but when her mom suddenly passed just before Thanksgiving, we expected that that wouldn’t happen. However, while she was on bereavement leave, I was surprised to get this piece in my inbox. Short, powerful, and beautifully written, we are grateful that she was able to finish it despite her grief, and it’s no surprise that it became our top-read article of the year.
