7 results for tag: #health
Colorado legislators push obesity prevention bill, governor’s approval is uncertain
April 12, 2024
By: Marissa Ventrelli
Erin Harrop of Mental Health Colorado echoed Chastain's concerns with the pharmaceutical industry profiting from weight loss medications whose long-term effects have not yet been fully studied. She said the longest trial of GLP-1 medications on obese individuals lasted only two years.
"Like the opioid epidemic, the pharmaceutical industry stands to make huge profits before the long-term studies are even completed as desperate patients and well-meaning providers seek solutions," she said.
Read the full article in Colorado Politics
Fix archaic medical policy failing Coloradans with mental health needs | OPINION
February 20, 2024
By: Vincent Atchity
Many are aware Colorado is in a dire crisis of mental health, substance use and homelessness. We see every day too many of our friends, family members and neighbors are experiencing difficulties. We see we don’t have the proper supports and safeguards in place to stop people from experiencing preventable worst outcomes. What most are unaware of, however, is how outdated and seemingly benign policies perpetuate this vicious cycle in which so many Coloradans are trapped.
We’re constantly seeing tragic stories play out in our communities. A person falls on hard times, experiences a mental health or substance ...
Denver Gymnastics to Host First ‘My Ribbon, My Reason’ Meet
February 7, 2024
By: The University of Denver
The University of Denver gymnastics team will host its first "My Ribbon, My Reason" meet on Sunday, February 11, when DU competes against Iowa State and SE Missouri State in Magness Arena.
During the competition, gymnasts from all three teams will wear colored hair ribbons that represent causes that each student-athlete has identified as important to them. DU has partnered with campus and local organizations to help raise awareness for the causes that the Denver gymnasts have selected. Some organizations will be in attendance on Sunday while others will supply materials for fans to learn more ...
Decades-old rule pushes mentally ill Coloradans out of hospitals too soon. Legislators may finally change it.
December 11, 2023
By: Seth Klammann
Barbara Vassis keeps a spreadsheet to track her daughter’s years-long journey through Colorado’s patchwork mental health system.
The sheet goes back 11 years, a third of Erin’s life. There are holes in the narrative: Her daughter is schizophrenic bipolar, Vassis said, and she’s moved around different parts of the country. Still, even incomplete, Vassis’ growing tracker provides a glimpse at the revolving doors that Erin and hundreds of other Coloradans are stuck in every year.
From April 2021 to April 2022, for instance, Erin spent 106 days bouncing between emergency rooms, detox facilities, ...
Two Colorado mental health centers merge, creating largest in the state
November 16, 2023
By: Jennifer Brown
Two of Colorado’s community mental health centers will merge in July, creating the largest behavioral health center in the state. WellPower, which provides mental health services and homeless outreach in Denver, is combining with Jefferson Center, the safety-net mental health organization for Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties.
Together, the two have almost 2,000 employees and serve about 48,000 people per year. The centers have mobile medication-assisted treatment for patients addicted to opioids, walk-in crisis centers and outreach programs that send mental health professionals out with RTD ...
Solitary Confinement Reform Challenges Spotlight Mental Health Care Need
October 18, 2023
By: Vincent Atchity
A new law went into effect in July 2022 that limits how Colorado jails and prisons can use solitary confinement for people with certain mental and physical health needs. Some advocates saw the law as a small step forward toward the elimination of solitary confinement, which is associated with numerous health risks including increased suicide risk. Those advocates are right. It would be a small step forward, but only if it were fully implemented.
Full implementation, however, is difficult to accomplish in many, perhaps most, counties. For example, Boulder County Jail, where more than half of the individuals ...
Colorado addiction experts prioritize care for individuals leaving carceral settings
November 7, 2023
By: Shane Ersland
Helping Coloradans who struggle with addiction, particularly for individuals transitioning out of a carceral setting, will require greater availability of adequate treatment services in the state, according to health leaders.
Harm Reduction Action Center Executive Director Lisa Raville and Mental Health Colorado President and CEO Vincent Atchity discussed the state’s addiction-related challenges at the 2023 Colorado State of Reform Health Policy Conference last month.
“At Mental Health Colorado, we acknowledge that humans have used a wide variety of substances, ranging from caffeine and tea to things ...
