Category: News - Part 29

Opinion: Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate at heart of legal challenges

By Bob Semro The individual mandate is a fundamental part of last years national health care reform law. Under the Affordable Care Act in 2014, Americans who do not have health insurance will be required, or mandated, to purchase coverage or pay a tax penalty. Exemptions will be granted for financial hardship, religious reasons or if the price of the lowest-cost plan exceeds 8 percent of annual income. After the act was signed into law by President Obama, the individual mandate was challenged in a number of federal courts. In perhaps the most important case, 26 state attorneys general (including…

Opinion: Healthy Beginnings a daring experiment that works

By Susan H. France Doctors can be scary. This is true for anyone, but more so for some. Imagine you are a low-income single mom with small children. You have a past filled with disappointment and disruption, bad luck and bad choices. You may have been mistreated very possibly abused. You have untreated health issues that you try to ignore. Your infrequent encounters with authority have not gone well. You have learned to keep your head down. Now at Warren Village, a community of single-parent families working to together to become self-sufficient through school, work and community service, you want…

Student-run clinic offers care to kids in need

By Diane Carman Years ago when Teresa Long was a resident at Warren Village, she tentatively signed up for an appointment for well-child care at something called the Healthy Beginnings clinic, just to see what it was like. One of her children had a seizure disorder and all of them needed routine immunizations, treatment for the occasional cold or flu virus, check-ups and care for the bumps and bruises that come with normal childhood. The clinic was held nearly every Wednesday evening at Warren Village. It was free and residents could access it right where they lived. It was fabulous,…

Listeria in Colorado, E. coli in Europe vexing epidemiologists

By Diane Carman For Alicia Cronquist and fellow epidemiologists at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the recent listeria outbreak creates plenty of made-for-TV drama. The investigation under way is part CSI, part House, all with far greater urgency and complexity than any fictional drama could begin to depict. The timing of the listeria outbreak coinciding with the deadly outbreak of a previously unknown strain of E. coli in Europe has brought the work of epidemiological investigators into sharp focus this week. The United Nations News Service reported that as of Monday 22 people had died and more…

Cancer transitions: From treatment to survival

By Molly Maher Linda Parmiter has just celebrated her 57th birthday. In June 2006 doctors had given her only one year to live after being diagnosed with stage IV melanoma. This is just another day on the calendar to appreciate, she explained, every one being reason to celebrate. Still, this milestone has significance for her. Its important to me because its one step closer to living as long as my mother, the Thornton resident said. Having recently had a tumor-free scan at a follow up, Parmiter has fortunately become one of many cancer survivors today, with national mortality rates of…

Linda Parmiter’s story

By Molly Maher Linda Parmiter imagines different cartoon for each stage of her melanoma treatment. She said she could visualize the drug as a character, battling her cancer. One drug caused her skin to flake, so she imagined it as Pig Pen from Peanuts. Another, very powerful chemotherapy drug started with the letter T, and so she saw a cartoon capital T with muscled arms fighting. Unfortunately, it ended up fighting her healthy side a bit in the meantime. Lastly came the combination treatments that finally shrunk her cancer. That was a Pac Man, munching the tumors away as it…

Maia Rogers’ story

By Molly Maher Every Wednesday, Maia Rogers goes to her regular breakfast spot down the road from her childrens schools. Often she is joined by friends or sometimes by her son home from school with a cold, but on this day she is alone, her first day free of an oxygen tank since a bout with pneumonia. Rogers said this weekly breakfast is one way she has slowed her pace to enjoy life after being diagnosed with cancer. Though she mocks the clich in her feelings, she said cancer has changed her perspective. Youve just had a life-changing illness, she…

Opinion: 30 percent for 30 percent

By C.J. (Dian) M. Corneliussen-James The most devastating and feared breast cancer is metastatic (stage IV) breast cancer. This occurs when breast cancer spreads to distant, non-adjacent parts of the body. It strikes 30 percent of breast cancer patients and is fatal, taking lives on average within two to four years of diagnosis. Clearly, ending death from metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is of critical importance not only to those living with it, but also to anyone who has had, or may at some point develop breast cancer. Unfortunately, research for MBC is vastly underfunded. Indeed, research for all metastasized cancers…

Doctor coaches cadre of immigrant women

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon When a robber pointed a gun at Oumar Ouattara while he was working the graveyard shift at a busy 7-Eleven on Denvers East Colfax Avenue, Ouattara begged the gunman not to shoot and wondered why he had ever left his native Ivory Coast. Like many immigrants, Ouattara had to take any job he could to survive after arriving in Colorado. Unlike some immigrants, Ouattara was highly educated and had left behind a good life in his native Africa. A doctor, he was married and owned a four-bedroom home. On a lark, Ouattara entered the annual U.S….

Refugees find path back to medicine

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon After arriving in the U.S., the Cuban refugees darkest moments came when he had to scrub dishes and install wood floors. He missed being respected in his community and practicing medicine, especially caring for babies. Then, when he moved to Denver in 2007 after brief stints in Miami and New Mexico, the doctor with nearly 15 years of medical training in Cuba who is a specialist in both family medicine and radiology, couldnt get a single employer to call him back. All Dr. Edilberto Edy Diaz Rodriguez wanted was a basic health care job like drawing…