Veterans hospitals
set flu shot clinics
Walk-in and drive-thru free flu shot clinics are available this week for veterans at John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock and at the Eugene J. Towbin VA Medical Center in North Little Rock.
Both walk-in and drive-thru clinics at the Little Rock hospital will be open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The North Little Rock walk-in clinic is from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and drive-thru flu shots are offered in Lane 1 of the covid-19 screening area in the parking lot from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Shots also are offered at primary-care, geriatric-care and outpatient clinics run by Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, a news release said.
Public-health experts have stressed the importance of as many people as possible getting flu shots this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Flu circulates year-round but is most prevalent from the fall into late spring.
Woman a first for
UAMS residency
A woman has graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' neurosurgery residency, the first to do so, the academic medical center announced recently.
A graduate of Baylor University and UAMS' College of Medicine, native Arkansan Heather Pinckard-Dover completed her residency -- the final part of a doctor's training -- in July.
She will move on to a fellowship at the University of Florida, Gainesville to study "deep brain stimulation."
The therapy plants electrodes in the brain and has been used to treat movement disorders, epilepsy and some behavioral-health disorders, according to the Mayo Clinic.
State's opioid Rxs
register 29% drop
The number of people with opioid prescriptions in Arkansas dropped by almost a third in three years, an analysis from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement found.
The health policy group's review of Medicaid and private-insurance data found that the number of people with opioid prescriptions dropped from 379,687 in fiscal 2017 to 268,241 in fiscal 2019.
That's a reduction of 29%, a news release said.
The number of people who have a high-dose opioid prescription and a naloxone overdose-reversal drug prescription also increased, though those overall numbers were small.
Pharmacists authorized more than a third of the state's naloxone prescriptions, the review said.
State health officials, including Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane, have advocated for more widespread naloxone use by first responders and people who use opioids.