Category: News - Part 21

The happiness cure

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Good health makes us happy and happiness makes us healthy. So what are the secrets to becoming happier and healthier? Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist and author of the bestseller, Stumbling on Happiness, shared his insights on Monday during a speech at his alma mater, the University of Colorado Denver.. His prescription for a happy life could be summed up with these mini-mantras: Get married. Earn at least $50 K. Have sex. Skip kids. Work. Dont try to predict happiness youll be wrong. Women: talk and eat with friends. (Ahh. Happiness is summing up happiness in…

Local farms can boost nutrition and the economy

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon One of the biggest myths about the obesity epidemic is that Americans cant afford fresh fruits and vegetables, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan said during a visit to Colorado this week. We have 18 million kids in this country who are food insecure while we also have an obesity epidemic, Merrigan said during a talk at the University of Colorado Denver on Thursday. I like to do some myth-busting, she said. People say if we increase the number of fruits and vegetables, it increases the cost. Fruits and vegetables are too expensive. We have a…

Eliminating ‘candy bribery’ in schools

By Rebecca Jones of Education News Coloradoand EdNews Parent Colorado Samara Williams candy epiphany came on the morning she saw the dental van parked in front of Rose Hill Elementary, and the volunteers preparing to provide free teeth cleanings for second-graders. Rose Hill in Commerce City serves some of the poorest kids in the metro area and dental care is a precious commodity that many of their parents simply cant afford. Suddenly, it all clicked for Williams, the school principal. Why, she wondered, would the school arrange to clean the kids teeth in the morning and then pass out candy…

New project aims to give Coloradans voice on health debate

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Do you wear a seat belt when you drive? Do you recycle? Do you think smoking is unhealthy? Its likely your answers are yes, yes and yes again. But decades ago, cars didnt have seat belts, no one bothered to recycle and once upon a time, Americans viewed smoking as glamorous, not as a killer habit to be uniformly condemned. Education campaigns over years convinced people to change their attitudes. Thats the long-term goal of a new effort that is being launched today to engage Coloradans about important health coverage and care issues. The campaign, Project…

Opinion: Report Card highlights âWinnable Battlesâ in health

By Dr. Chris Urbina Never have I been satisfied with average at least when it comes to report cards. Unfortunately, the results of the Colorado Health Foundations 2011 Colorado Health Report Card, to be released this week, show Colorado is generally getting above average to below average grades when compared to other states in 38 health indicators. But while the report card indicates how Colorado is doing in certain national rankings, it doesnt provide a complete picture of how the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is working with the states 54 local public health agencies and other partners…

Consumers want live help with online exchange

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Surveys of nearly 700 Coloradans found they support the states new health insurance exchange, but found they want hands-on help to make sense of the online market slated to go into effect in 2014. A navigator system is critical, said Danny Katz, director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group Foundation, CoPIRG, one of the groups that conducted focus group meetings in October and November at 53 sites across Colorado. People liked the idea of comparing health plans (online), but said, we need to have an ability to talk to somebody to get advice, Katz said….

From malaria to med school, new doc cements childhood dream

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon As a child growing up in Denver and Sudan, Ali Khalifa used to carry a little white doctors bag with a red cross and a toy stethoscope. His parents were diplomats who traveled the world. Suffering through multiple bouts of malaria as a child in Sudan, Khalifa admired uncles who were doctors and cared for him in their homes as he struggled through weeks of fever and nausea. Seeing that spirit of compassion and sacrifice left a life-long impression on me, Khalifa said. Now 24, Khalifas dream of becoming a doctor moved one step closer to…

Opinion: Stop politicizing womenâs health

By Vicki Cowart Like many women across Colorado and the nation, I am outraged and perplexed about the birth control debate taking place in todays political climate. First, there was the all-male congressional hearing on the Obama Administrations new birth control benefit that ensures women have access to birth control with no costly co-pays, regardless of where they work. The Republican Congressional leaders refused to let any woman speak in support of the new birth control benefit during that hearing. In fact, they said that a woman affected by the policy wasnt appropriate or qualified to speak on the issues….

Food guru blames health woes on corporate food producers

By Diane Carman Michael Pollen, one of the high priests of the trendy local, organic food movement, is brutally honest about its real impact on the American diet. As a percentage of food production, he said, its still in the single digits. Despite high-profile advocates from Chez Panisse celebrity chef Alice Waters to First Lady Michelle Obama, the industrial food production system still reigns supreme. For those who do harvest lettuce or fresh eggs from backyard gardens, buy peaches from a farmers market and cook dinner at home instead of picking it up at a fast-food drive-through, the benefits go…

Cantaloupe growers working with state, CSU on rigorous food safety program

By Mark Wolf Eleven cantaloupes rested on the produce display in a suburban supermarket earlier this week. Steps away, sliced cantaloupe was among the fruit arrayed in a ready-to-eat party tray. Soon, surely, a shopper will heft one of the cantaloupes, inspect it briefly to make sure the stem end isnt rough and there are no soft spots, then place it into a cart next to a bunch of asparagus. Perhaps the shoppers mind will flash back to last summer when cantaloupes made headlines for all the wrong reasons: recall, outbreak, listeria, illness, death. These cantaloupes bear stickers indicating they…