Journalist and author Florence Williams discusses her new book, The Nature Fix.
Public health
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: How pain pills spread in one Colorado town
The staff of High Country News discuss the cycle of addiction in the rural West.
Posted inFebruary 20, 2017: Overdosed
When private pain becomes a community problem
How a rural clinic sparked a small-town addiction crisis.
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.
Posted inArticles
Election roundup: What happened in the West
A rundown of the West’s political shifts and ballot measures.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
The myth of telemedicine?
While technology can fill in some gaps for rural health, it can’t do it all.
Posted inArticles
Northern New Mexico’s fight against food insecurity
In the region’s most impoverished rural areas, food pantries fill gaps of grocery stores.
Posted inArticles
How to feed the masses in small-town America
New business models bring food to towns too small for big box stores.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
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?
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
The San Luis Valley’s controversial needle exchange idea
Local leaders contemplate a program to address drug-associated health risks with a rocky history.