Study protocol of sustaining home palliative care for patients with Heart Failure (HF) and their family caregivers in rural Appalachia: a mixed methods randomized clinical trial.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is the leading cause of mortality, morbidity, and rehospitalization in Appalachia. Rural areas have the highest HF mortality rates. Rural Appalachians lack access to health services and end-of-life palliative care (EOLPC) and have extreme inequities in health.

Perceptions of the Role of West Virginia's Cooperative Extension Service in Tobacco Control Coalitions.

Despite the fact that the consequences of tobacco use are well identified and known, it remains the single most preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. In West Virginia alone, the adult prevalence of cigarette smoking is 26.8%.