Author: Debbie Kelley
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Costs of COVID care are complex for patients, insurers, hospitals
As if the petri dish of COVID-19 wasn’t crowded enough with physical and mental pain, many who get the virus and recover face not only income loss, but also out-of-pocket expenses associated with the infection. Rich Alperin, a heavy equipment operator in New Hampshire, passed out at work at the end of March and spent…
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Foundation started after Sandy Hook shooting to study violence prevention to merge with CU Anschutz Medical Campus center
A foundation started by the parents of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim is closing and being reborn as a program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Folding the Avielle Foundation into the National Mental Health Innovation Center at the university’s main medical training and services campus will make the…
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Colorado Springs officials study how to spend nearly $10 million in COVID-19 relief for homeless and other services
The city of Colorado Springs has received nearly $10 million in federal coronavirus relief funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is being used to improve services for the homeless, provide more affordable housing and retain jobs in service industries. Some of the infusion has been disbursed to local human service…
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ZIP code data provides intriguing window on coronavirus spread
If “ZIP code” is the home Jeopardy! game answer, what’s the question? You are correct if you said, “What is the most popular item on El Paso County’s COVID-19 dashboard?” Where coronavirus cases are happening around the county appear to be what people want to know more than anything, said Stephen Goodwin, chief data scientific…
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Private schools challenge Colorado’s disbursement of pandemic relief funds in federal complaint
The Colorado Association of Private Schools has appealed to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to intervene in how Colorado Department of Education officials are interpreting allocation of federal COVID-19 relief funding for the state’s 500 religious and independent schools. “The Colorado Department of Education decided not to follow the guidance prepared by the U.S.…
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Colorado schools should prepare for possibility of not reopening in the fall, Polis tells superintendents
Schools should “prepare for the possibility” of not returning to in-person instruction until January 2021, Gov. Jared Polis told Colorado’s 178 public school district superintendents on a statewide conference call Tuesday, Colorado Springs School District 11 spokeswoman Devra Ashby said. Superintendents sought clarification and direction after Polis announced Monday while showing a slide, not verbally,…
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Voluntary ‘safe storage’ for personal guns seen as alternative to red flag law
Families with a potentially suicidal child or adult, or that are experiencing a contentious divorce or another possibly dangerous situation can take advantage of a first-in-the-nation program that some are calling a preemptive step to ward off the use of Colorado’s new red flag gun-control law. A group of representatives from the University of Colorado…
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COVER STORY | Keeping the faith on mental health
COLORADO SPRINGS ? “Pray harder,” Tracy Monteith heard from fellow churchgoers, including her husband, a fledgling pastor, when the darkness of depression kept her from getting out of bed in the morning. When hours would pass without Monteith accomplishing anything except turning on the television, and her four young children felt like a heavy burden,…
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Federal workers in Colorado Springs slow to sign up children for free school meals
Few people in Colorado Springs who aren’t getting paychecks during the federal shutdown have tapped an assistance program for their families. Public school students whose families have been affected by a federal furlough or temporary layoff can qualify to eat meals for free or at reduced prices. Federal workers can use current income information to…