CMS — the federal bureaucracy that certifies nursing homes and writes the checks — has forbidden family members from visiting… certainly a cause for depression and feelings of abandonment…
Category: Education/Health
Pagosa Peak Open School Receives ‘Colorado Health Foundation’ Donation
“Charter Schools, by the nature of their geographic placement in Colorado, often lack equitable access to needed resources…”
COVID-19 ‘Antibody Tests’ Causing Confusion
“To give people a false sense of security has a lot of danger right now,” said Dr. Travis Riddell, the health officer for Teton County, which includes Jackson, Wyoming…
EDITORIAL: A Season of Educational Confusion, Part One
This past Tuesday, May 26, members of the news media were invited to listen to a Zoom presentation by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), featuring Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes…
Discussing a ‘National Health Force’ with Senator Bennet
The Health Force is inspired by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps, which similarly tapped the unemployed to help the nation recover from a sharp economic downturn…
EDITORIAL: Colorado’s Mysterious Death Statistics, Part Three
My young granddaughters and I took a stroll through Pagosa’s Hilltop cemetery on Memorial Day. We don’t have any family members buried there, but we recognized some familiar names…
EDITORIAL: Colorado’s Mysterious Death Statistics, Part Two
I think of my dear mother, one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet, who passed away a few years ago at the ripe old age of 92…
EDITORIAL: Colorado’s Mysterious Death Statistics, Part One
A new disease, COVID-19, has appeared in the statistical records, and has passed up heart disease as a reported cause of death. But something else equally dramatic has taken place…
LETTER: Americans Losing Their Health Insurance
What’s the best way to cover the millions of Americans who are losing their insurance every week? The answer is hiding in plain sight…
Colorado Lawmakers Plan Budget Cuts for Education
“There is a reason K-12 education came at the end,” said state Sen. Dominick Moreno. “We wanted to make every painful reduction in every department before we put K-12 on the table…”
VIDEO: Colorado Crisis Services Will Target Rural Communities
In Colorado, the rate of suicide per 100,000 people was 22.1 in urban areas and 27.7 in rural areas in 2018, according to the Colorado Health Institute…
Final Opportunity Today to Share Feedback on Draft Restaurant Re-Opening Guidance
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Office of Governor Jared Polis have provided links for Coloradans to share concerns…
City of Durango Now Requiring Face Coverings
The order becomes effective today, Friday, May 22, and will expire on June 19 unless extended or modified by further order of the Interim City Manager…
OPINION: The Virus Among Us
A possible economic opportunity in this situation is that businesses, cities, and states that achieve reliable testing would be demonstrably safe and then prosper as medical/tourist destinations…
EDITORIAL: Our New Normal
“This implies that by staying home, you’re doing something that helps protect people. To not stay home then, would mean putting others at risk….”
LETTER: Rural Healthcare Gets Slammed
As a Family Medicine doctor who has worked in rural Colorado throughout my 33 year career, I am very concerned about the future health of the families I have cared for….
OPINION: Germ Theory v. Terrain Theory
Nightingale’s 6-foot rule was very specific to sick patients, in a hospital full of disease, and patients too sick to care for themselves…
EDITORIAL: Contact Tracing, For Fun and Profit
Archuleta County has been surprisingly free of infections — only 8 confirmed cases and no reported fatalities — but we assume that travelers from other parts of the country could easily bring new infections with them…
VIDEO: Special Message from Our School District Superintendent
Archuleta School District Superintendent Linda Reed was featured last week in a video produced by Pagosa Springs’ “Local News Network”…