InvestigateWest (https://www.invw.org/category/health/)
Reporting on the safety and well-being of individuals and communities.
With nearly triple the usual number of wildfires this year, Washington and Oregon are set to have the worst summer fire forecasts in the nation. And it’s not the only one. As a result of COVID-19, volunteer firefighting numbers are down and those who did sign up face increased vulnerability to the virus. The pandemic has curtailed preventative measures, leading agencies across the country to plan for fast, low-headcount efforts to fight fires.
Compromise bill proposes tech solutions to end addicts’ “doctor shopping”
California and Oregon allow pharmacists to write prescriptions for hormonal birth control without a doctor’s approval. The practice, designed to improve access to contraceptives and curtail unplanned pregnancies, is being considered by several states.
At least a dozen bills on a range of women’s health issues have been debated, like measures to expand birth control and ensure workplace accommodations for working woman.
It might get a lot easier to see a doctor if two bills currently in front of the Washington Legislature are passed.
For Madeleine Fraley, the purple card is one small tool in her effort to maintain the dignity and quality of life of her husband of almost 53 years.
Despite broad agreement, the bill could be derailed over arguments over who gets to pick which toxic chemicals to ban in the future.
On a July afternoon in New Orleans last year, Philip Geeck was riding his bicycle in a marked bike lane on a busy street. Approaching an intersection, he came up alongside a tractor-trailer truck hauling a tank of chemicals. Geeck, 52, was at the 18-wheeler’s midpoint when suddenly, without signaling, the truck began to turn right, witnesses say. Victor Pizarro was driving nearby and watched in horror as the scene unfolded. He saw a look of confusion on Geeck’s face as the trailer came toward him.
After the school building was featured in several 2013 stories by KING 5 and InvestigateWest, Seattle Public Schools paid Veritox $35,000 to study whether traffic pollution could harm students and staff.
The story of Art and Sue Martin matters because increasingly Oregonians will have to pay to care for an aging population where Alzheimer’s and dementia are on a sharp uptick. Right now in Oregon, nearly 60,000 adults suffer from Alzheimer’s. By 2025, that number is set to jump to 84,000 — almost two percent of the population. Yet senior centers, an important provider of services to older adults and a local link to state and federal safety net programs, are frequently unprepared to serve people with Alzheimer’s and the family members who care for them.
Take a listen to Ashley Ahearn’s reporting as she first tells about the problems associated with aging portables and then how some schools in the Pacific Northwest are turning to new and better models.
