Years after a devastating fire, a recovering city finds itself a health care desert.Continue readingParadise’s recovery from the Camp Fire became harder when the only hospital left
Category: Health & the West
The West led the charge to legalize marijuana. As it becomes big business in many cities and towns, some others view it with distaste grounded in moral qualms or concerns about criminal cartels. Will growing revenues help sweeten the pot?Continue readingUrban, rural and tribal: how three Wests diverge on cannabis
To keep the virus under control and health-care resources within capacity, counties and towns rely on trust and try to cajole residents to comply with mandates, rather than punish them for flouting rules.Continue readingTo Fight a Plague, Local Governments Lean on Trust. Could They Lose It?
Welcome to the world of community health workers. The job, part medical aide and part social worker, is a tradition in poor and rural communities around New Mexico and well established in similar places around the country. But institutional recognition has been slow to come.Continue readingBy Treating Obstacles to Health, Community Health Workers Also Treat a Troubled System
The fungal species that causes the illness known as Valley Fever is known as cocciodiodes. Two strains have been found around the North American Southwest. Researchers have found that the fungal spores have made their home – the scientific term is “endemic” – in areas characterized by low rainfall, temperatures that are high in summer…Continue readingThe Southwest’s Orphan Disease Thrives on Ignorance