The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Missouri Department of Health" ...
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"First, Do No Harm/Behind The Curtain"
Two women have come forward to say they were sexual assaulted by a male ER nurse while in the care of North Kansas City Hospital. The women were heavily drugged while the assaults occurred. KCTV reporters found that sexual assault on hospital patients is not as rare a problem as most might think. However, when asked about the issue, local advocacy groups, state nursing boards and even the senior V.P. of the Joint Commission were unaware it even existed.
Tags: MOCSA; Joint Commission; Federal Department of Health and Human Services; North Kansas City Hospital; William Price; Center for Health Ethics; Sarah Breier; Missouri State Board of Nursing; Paul Schyve
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Caring for Society's Most Vulnerable
The Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in northern St. Louis County houses nearly 400 mentally retarded residents. This series investigates accusations of staff abuse and neglect, along with one case surrounding the death of one resident. Because of the series, the state reopened investigations of abuse and neglect at Bellefontaine. Forty-seven workers were suspended and six were fired.
Tags: Bellefontaine Habilitation Center; Missouri Department of Mental Health; abuse; neglect
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Poisoning of a Town
The town of Herculaneum, Missouri was built around the Doe Run plant, now the nation's largest lead smelter. Though officials say they have taken measures to limit pollution and contamination from the plant, the area still shows much higher levels of lead than normal. It affect the soil, the air, and especially the several children who live near the plant and now have too-high levels of lead inside of them. The article examines not only the legal issues, but also the conflicting feelings town residents have about their ties to the plant versus their safety.
Tags: lead poisoning; environment; health; pollution; contamination; Department of Natural Resources
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Dumpster Diving
The investigative team looked into a form of identity theft, called "dumpster diving." This means, criminals can get everything they need to steal your identity by digging through your trash. The "Target-8" Team got permission by an area landlord to go dumpster diving, and found materials to steal someone's identity. When they took this information to city officials, they said it was completely legal. It's not a crime to dig through trash. It's unlawful to use materials from trash in an unlawful way.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Identity Theft; Trash; Dumpster Diving; Boone County Missouri Public Works; Boone County Health Department
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State of Pain
This story provides examples of the confusion new laws and regulations regarding Medicaid have brought to the state of Missouri. Social Workers have become overwhelmed by the process, there are never ending cases, and they are getting too may referrals. Often times the vast number of calls coming in to social workers, force them to close older projects to new clients on several occasions.
Tags: Medicaid; MC + Consumer Advocacy Project; Missouri Department of Social Services; DSS; social worker; Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act; Children's Health Insurance Program; Missouri State Workers Union Local 6355; Medicaid-expansion laws; Reform Organization for Welfare
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The Right to Answers
The Riverfront Times reports on the contaminants found in Weldon Springs. Uranium deposits left from the 1940's have been linked to sicknesses in the area and an increasing number of infant deaths. The damage to this area started in 1941, when chemists were trying to find ways to refine uranium. "The radioactive waste eventually wound up at the Weldon Springs site." The Department of Energy has made efforts to clean up the area over the last twenty years, but they say it is impossible to pump the ground water and remove the toxins. "Instead they plan to inject chemicals to neutralize the worst. . . . The air, soil and surface water may not be perfect, but they're a damn sight cleaner than they were in '86." In addition, the article details Father Gerry Kleba and his congregation at Immaculate Conception, as they endure the deaths of more young children and unite to learn more about prevention.
Tags: radioactive waste; uranium; Department of Energy; pollutants; contamination; St. Charles County; Missouri Department of Health; National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
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The Sturgeon Disaster: Twenty Years Later
This narrative retells the story of a chemical spill in Sturgeon, Missouri, twenty years later: the cleanup and the aftermath, and takes a look at how the lives of the townspeople were affected. "Cancer rates and other health problems in the town are abnormally high, according to many residents and one local doctor... Others are not convinced the chemicals had any lasting effect. The state Department of Health has never investigated concerns about the number of cancer cases in the area."
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Lifeguard ambulance
KCTV discovers an ambulance company using unsafe emergency vehicles and operating illegally in the state of Missouri. The company, Lifeguard Ambulance, was the sole emergency ambulance provider for five cities and over 100,000 people.
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"Lead mining fever in the Ozarks"
Environmentalists reveled early this fall when public pressure forced the MIssouri Conservation Commission to rescind its approval for lead prospecting on public lands within the Ozarks watersheds of southern Missouri. The celbration was short lived, however, as activists now struggle to block efforts, again by Doe Run Mining Co., to do exploratory drilling on 7,970 acres of U.S. Forest Service land north of the pristine Eleven Point River. Missourians have already borne considerable risk as the supplier of approximately 80 percent of the nation's mined lead each year. A state Department of Health study, in results reported in August, found elevated lead blood levels in 17 percent of randomly selected children, ages six months to six years, living in an area knowns as the Old Lead Belt in St. Francois County, about 80 miles south of St. Louis.
Tags: lead mining; lead poisoning; pollutants; Doe Run Company
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Emergency Medical Drivers Get a Free Ride
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch analyzed driver's licence records, criminal records and ambulance personnel records in the state of Missouri and found that the State failed to perform criminal and background checks on applicants for paramedical and emergency medical techninician positions. The computer-assisted investigation found that many people convicted of felonies and alcohol-related offenses continue to hold their medical service licences. As a result of the story, Missouri Governor, Mel Carnahan ordered an investigation into the licensing practices of the State Health Department's Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, Nov. 20, 22; Dec. 11, 27, 29, 1994.
Tags: MO Tuft Holleman Mosley CAJ Paramedics EMTs Criminal and Parole Records