How a rural clinic sparked a small-town addiction crisis.
Public health
Posted inArticles
How many Westerners does the Affordable Care Act cover?
As Republicans push Obamacare repeal, Montana stands to lose the most.
Posted inDecember 12, 2016: How the Park Service is Failing Women
Plans falter for West Coast coal terminals
Coal companies look to Asia, but face port challenges.
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Election roundup: What happened in the West
A rundown of the West’s political shifts and ballot measures.
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West Obsessed: How to fix a broken rural health care system
The staff of High Country News discuss the solutions small towns are trying to patch up their healthcare.
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The myth of telemedicine?
While technology can fill in some gaps for rural health, it can’t do it all.
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Northern New Mexico’s fight against food insecurity
In the region’s most impoverished rural areas, food pantries fill gaps of grocery stores.
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How to feed the masses in small-town America
New business models bring food to towns too small for big box stores.
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Food, food, everywhere, and not a bite to eat
Reforming America’s broken food and agriculture systems is possible, but it won’t happen overnight.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
A cure for the ‘catch-all’ emergency room
In Colorado, a new movement aims to provide an alternative for people experiencing mental health crises. But does it work?
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
Rural hospitals pool their resources to survive
A group of ten New Mexico hospitals is making a go of it in tough times.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
Telemedicine shrinks the West’s vast health desert
In New Mexico, an experiment in treating stroke victims at a distance.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
The West’s widening health care gaps
Changing demographics, including an aging rural population, put more pressure on health care systems.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
What hospital closures mean for rural California
The very economic decline that contributed to their closure is likely to be worsened by their disappearance.
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A different type of addiction
In Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, alcohol claims more lives than other drugs, but now an alternative treatment program could help.
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What New Mexico can learn from New Jersey’s approach to health data
Healthcare providers are trying to get on the same page across diffuse networks of providers.
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Inside a small-town addict’s struggle to get clean
Could an innovative new program help turn the tide on opioid addiction in rural New Mexico?
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How a police chief used compassion to combat his community’s drug problem
The approach taken by Gloucester, Massacusetts, might falter in New Mexico, where it’s desperately needed.
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How to find its high-risk drug users before it’s too late
Rio Arriba’s health care providers are pulling together to treat patients and prevent overdoses.
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A community curbs pain pill abuse, but heroin addiction grows
Interventions intended to reduce over-prescription of pain medicine may unintentionally be feeding a rise in heroin use in southwest Colorado.