Hello, Colorado!
Happy Friday, and welcome back to Checkup Denver! I hope you enjoyed the warm weather as much as I did earlier this week. Sun. Temps in the 70s. What more could we want?
Here’s the latest health news:
Little known about links between suicide and mass tragedies like Columbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland
After the public learned of the suspected suicides of two Parkland shooting survivors and that of a father of a child killed at Sandy Hook, some began to point to what happened after the Columbine High School massacre as an example of the lasting trauma communities face after such tragedies.
Not much is known about the link between suicide and mass tragedies, and health officials caution that suicides are not caused by a single event in a person’s life. But the deaths highlighted the trauma of such events and the growing number of suicides across the nation.
Read the full story here.
If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide, call the Colorado Crisis Line at 1-844-493-8255.
Patients are showing up in emergency rooms after smoking marijuana, eating edibles
A new study by the University of Colorado School of Medicine has found Coloradans are more likely to visit the emergency room after smoking marijuana than they are after ingesting an edible.
However, patients using edibles are experiencing more psychiatric and cardiovascular symptoms, according to the study.
“Part of the issue (with edibles) is that the onset is delayed and the peak effect is delayed,” meaning some people can stack doses when they don’t feel the effects right away, said Dr. Andrew Monte, an associate professor of emergency medicine at CU’s School of Medicine.
Read the full story here.
Health must-reads:
- Colorado’s attorney general says the U.S. Department of Justice must “defend and enforce the law” after the Trump administration asked for a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
- Gov. Jared Polis signed a new law that requires hospitals to share financial reports with the state.
- In Colorado, teen births have dropped through a state program that helped clinics cover costs of long-term birth control, such as IUDs. Now that funding is at risk.
- Centura Health has notified patients after a former doctor at one of its clinics was arrested on suspicion of knowingly transporting child pornography. Prosecutors say the physician admitted to secretly videotaping children during physical exams.
- Denver health officials are investigating a possible tuberculosis exposure at Metropolitan State University of Denver. The investigation comes a few days after an Aurora middle school was cleared of new cases of the disease.
Here’s what I’m reading:
- Vicks VapoRub takes on , which uses it for more than relief for a cold — Los Angeles Times
- A federal judge has for Medicaid recipients in Arkansas and Kentucky — The Washington Post
- Breast implants are over possible ties to cancer and claims they cause pain, chronic fatigue and other problems — The Atlantic
- In a first, surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital from a living HIV-positive donor — The Washington Post
- A county in New York has that will prohibit unvaccinated minors from being in public places — NPR
Have a story tip or other feedback? Email me at jseaman@denverpost.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at And don’t forget to become a to The Post!
See you in two weeks — Jessica
