Alex Smith
Alex Smith began working in radio as an intern at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. A few years and a couple of radio jobs later, he became the assistant producer of KCUR's magazine show, KC Currents. In January 2014 he became KCUR's health reporter.
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Gun buying among African Americans is up in recent years, and so are suicide rates among young Black men.
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Gun buying among African Americans has soared in recent years. So have suicide rates among young black men. Gun safety efforts and suicide prevention need to address race and cultural differences. -
After her son's death, a mother in the Midwest promotes mental health for environmentalists. It's part of a larger push to address the burnout and psychological stress that can affect activists. -
Data collection for race and ethnicity vary among states, complicating efforts to distribute COVID-19 shots to all groups. In Missouri, health officials have questioned the data's usefulness. -
To avoid racial or ethnic disparities in vaccination rates, health officials are doing outreach. But demographic data quality varies between states. In Missouri, there are errors they can't quite fix.
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In Kansas City, hospitals are treating local COVID-19 patients as well as patients transferred from rural counties in Missouri and Kansas, where there's no mandate or culture for wearing masks. -
With coronavirus infections at record rates in rural areas, the sickest patients are being sent to big cities for care, and those urban hospitals are getting alarmingly full.
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Health communication experts say that misinformation spread through support groups can undermine trust in medicine and science. But some patients work to counter falsehoods with facts. -
Rural Missouri counties are becoming coronavirus hot spots, with some slow to embrace safety protocols. Testing problems and funding delays only worsen the situation.
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Missouri is the second state to expand the health care program via ballot measure during the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million people could get health insurance thanks to the measure.