News - Part 25
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 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 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 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 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 Diane Carman Ezekiel Zeke Emanuel told an audience Thursday morning that the United States will be guaranteed a much better health care system by 2020 because of the Affordable Care Act, while his debate opponent Linda Gorman countered that the objective of Emanuel and other architects of Obamacare was really to limit our freedom. The debate, sponsored by the University of Denver and the Denver Post, revealed yet again how far apart Americans remain on the issue of health care reform two years after its passage. Emanuel, a University of Pennsylvania professor who served as special advisor to the…
By Diane Carman Hunter Doherty Patch Adams is a physician who has never made a penny from medicine. He treats patients with laughter and loving, and he rebels openly against the tyranny of market capitalism. He said he is ashamed of the U.S. health care system. Its not about health. Its not about care. And its not a system, its a business. Adams spoke at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus Wednesday, challenging his audience to join his revolution of joy for the sake of their own well-being and that of the planet. You can decide to never…
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…