By Gosia Kung People want to walk when neighborhoods are vibrant, when there is something to see and when sidewalks are full of other people and colorful spaces. WalkDenver brought the first Better Block demonstration to Colorado in June. A brief video now showcases the transformation. (Click here to see it.) The project provides great lessons for how the built environment can promote better health. The Better Block Jefferson Park focused on a potentially forgotten commercial district in northwest Denver near Federal Boulevard and West 25th Avenue. Building on the history of the area as an original streetcar suburb, the…
Category: Public Health Issues - Part 18
By Kelly Dunkin In recent years, a growing body of evidence strongly suggests that healthy places are conducive to healthier people. For example, a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that those who reside in neighborhoods where theres access to sidewalks and trails are twice as likely to get adequate physical activity. On the flip side of that coin, an analysis from the National Survey of Childrens Health found the odds of a child being obese or overweight are 20 to 60 percent higher in neighborhoods with no access to sidewalks, parks and recreation centers. Like…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Policy makers who want to simultaneously boost high school graduation rates and reverse health epidemics from diabetes to obesity should focus intently on helping the youngest children and their families, according to one of the nations leading experts on early child development. Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff, director of Harvard Universitys Center on the Developing Childmet with Colorado policymakers on Thursday and spoke to childrens advocates at the annual luncheon for the Colorado Childrens Campaign. His message was clear. Intervene early. Intervene now. And pool your resources. Early experiences shape the development of the brain and affect…
By Mary Winter DENVER Holli Wiseman remembers when nurses were expected to be seen, not heard. In the late 1970s, shortly after shed graduated nursing school and was working at Porter Hospital, Wiseman says a doctor screamed at her: Dont give the patient any information unless the doctor says to! Wisemans faux pas? Shed taken time to explain blood pressure readings to a man in her care. Wiseman laughs at the memory. Today, of course, doctors depend on you to give patients information, says Wiseman, a clinical nurse specialist with the Visiting Nurse Association in Denver. Teaching is a major…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon The MacArthur Foundation has honored a Colorado doctor with a $500,000 genius grant for his work to help chronically ill older adults stay well. University of Colorado School of Medicine geriatrician, Dr. Eric Coleman, has won the prestigious MacArthur fellowshipfor creating the concept of low cost transition coaches. The coaches provide relatively simple support to chronically ill older adults and their caregivers for a month after hospitals release the patient. His program is called Care Transitions Intervention. The issue is critically important because hospital readmissions are costing taxpayers an estimated $17.5 billion dollars a year. Studies…
By Michael Elliott Teen marijuana use isincreasingnationwide. Yet according to federal government data collected by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Colorado is seeing adecreaseinmarijuanauseamongteens. Considering that Colorado is now home to state-licensed medical cannabis businesses, this news may be surprising to opponents who previously claimed with certainty that the regulation of these new businesses would lead to increases in teen marijuana use. The data show that these opponents were wrong, and states may have more control over teen drug use if they strictly regulate the cultivation and sale of medical cannabis. According to the federal government, from 2009…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon COLORADO SPRINGS The relationship is on the rocks. Long divided into opposing cultures, doctors, who focus on the body, are trying to work side-by-side with behavioral health experts who try to heal patients minds. In a grand Colorado experiment called Advancing Care Together, 11 pilot sites are participating in a $4 million four-year experiment to bring these disparate worlds together. And some are pining for a divorce. Or at least they want a proper wedding that includes electronic medical records that actually talk to each other. If we want it, weve got a put a ring…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon In the first case of its kind in Colorado, a former Jefferson County teacher has won an undisclosed cash settlement and concessions from the school where she said she lost her job for taking breaks to pump her breast milk. Under the 2008 Colorado Nursing Mothers Act, breastfeeding mothers in Colorado are entitled to take time in a private location to express milk at work. Colorado is one of 24 states with laws that support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. The right to pump milk at work is also now guaranteed under the federal Affordable Care…
By Julie Poppen of Education News Colorado Politicians descended on Denvers Lowry Elementary Monday to eat fresh veggies grown at school as part of a healthy lunch, tour the schools impressive gardens and even dance to the left with people half their size. It was all part of the U.S. Department of Educations third annual back-to-school bus tour, which featured the nations schools chief Arne Duncan joining forces with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and other politicians to tout the importance of healthy school lunches and increased exercise during the school day. If kids are healthy, they…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon GREENWOOD VILLAGE Infant formula should be tracked and locked at all hospitals just like other supplies and pharmaceuticals, experts said Tuesday during the first-ever Colorado Hospital Breastfeeding Summit. Studies in Colorado have found that nine of 10 mothers want to breastfeed their babies, and unnecessary use of infant formula in the early hours and days of newborns lives can derail mothers plans, according to breastfeeding expert and parenting author, Dr. Marianne Neifert, also known as Dr. Mom. In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is fighting obesity by limiting soda serving sizes and calling for formula to…