The Columbian

Health Wire

This artist rendering provided by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma shows a new treatment facility. The Cherokee Nation, which is headquartered in Tahlequah in northeast Oklahoma, is the nation's largest Native American tribe, with more than 440,000 enrolled citizens. A portion of its $98 million in opioid settlement funds will be used to construct a treatment facility that will be completely operated by the tribe and provide no-cost treatment for Cherokee Nation citizens struggling with substance abuse.

Cherokee Nation announces plans for $18M treatment center

February 13, 2023, 10:10am Health

As a child welfare specialist for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma more than a decade ago, Juli Skinner saw firsthand the impact of the opioid crisis on Cherokee families. Read story

New University of Washington program aims to expand training for abortion providers

February 13, 2023, 9:58am Health

Three University of Washington reproductive health experts had already dreamed up parts of a plan that would expand access to abortion training in Washington state. But things had been slow moving. Read story

Elaine Stephens is examined by a medical student in University of Alabama-Birmingham???s standardized patient program. In the early years of this program, Stephens says, some students??? bedside manner would change once she revealed she was transgender.

Transgender people in rural America struggle to find doctors willing or able to provide care

February 12, 2023, 8:31am Health

For Tammy Rainey, finding a health care provider who knows about gender-affirming care has been a challenge in the rural northern Mississippi town where she lives. Read story

A nurse, right, attends to a non-COVID patient at Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital on Feb. 8, 2022, in West Covina, Calif.

While COVID raged, another deadly threat was on the rise in hospitals

February 11, 2023, 9:28am Health

As COVID-19 began to rip through California, hospitals were deluged with sickened patients. Medical staff struggled to manage the onslaught. Read story

A nurse administers a pediatric dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to a girl at a L.A. Care Health Plan vaccination clinic at Los Angeles Mission College in the Sylmar neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, Jan. 19, 2022.

CDC adds COVID vaccines to list of routine vaccines for kids and adults

February 10, 2023, 10:03am Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added COVID-19 vaccinations to a list of suggested routine immunizations, but they in no way mandate vaccines. Read story

FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. Attorney generals in 20 conservative-led states warned CVS and Walgreens on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, that they could face legal consequences if they sell abortion pills by mail in those states. (AP Photo/Allen G.

Abortion pill could be pulled off market by Texas lawsuit

February 10, 2023, 9:33am Health

A Texas lawsuit with a key deadline this month could threaten the nationwide availability of medication abortion, which now accounts for the majority of abortions in the U.S. Read story

Washington residents soon must apply to keep Medicaid coverage. Expert shares advice for preparing

February 10, 2023, 9:30am Health

On Jan. 30, the Biden administration announced it intends to end the public health emergency that’s been in effect since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution is set to expire May 11, three years since order was first put in place by former President Trump on March 13,… Read story