Health

Sheridan County Prevention is in the process or working towards applying for a grant next year from a national organization that would help with their suicide and substance abuse prevention efforts and that would also increase community involvement in them. The grant also requires that a more comprehensive effort be taken to focus on the general health and well being of the community, an initiative that's to be called "Healthy Sheridan County."

Sublette County is the only county in the state without a hospital but the community is trying to change that. Back in November of 2020, voters approved the formation of the Sublette County Hospital District by a 60 percent margin. This granted the district the ability to levy a property tax to build a hospital and long-term care facility. Since then, the Sublette County Health Foundation has been trying to secure funding. Wyoming Public Radio’s Kamila Kudelska spoke to Kari Dewitt, Sublette County Hospital District public relations director and the Sublette County Health Foundation director, on the challenges and need for this new hospital.

A bill that defines abortion as not healthcare and criminalizes providers who perform abortions has passed both houses in the Wyoming Legislature. If signed by the governor, this bill immediately becomes law and the current abortion ban that is being held up in the courts will be void. Lawmakers for and against it have stated that this bill will most likely be immediately questioned.

Two bills related to limiting access to abortion were introduced to their second house of chambers committees and passed on Thursday, Feb. 23, just one day short of the deadline to come out of its second house committee. Although both passed with recommended amendments.

Fentanyl-related deaths in Wyoming have been on the rise since 2015. There were 106 overdose deaths in 2021 alone. Wyoming Public Radio’s Sage Davis spoke with Melissa Hunter, the drug information director at the University of Wyoming (UW) to understand just how dangerous fentanyl can be.

Fentanyl is a large contributor to the opioid crisis. Fentanyl-related deaths in Wyoming have been on the rise since 2015, with 106 overdose deaths in 2021.

Last year, the Wyoming legislature passed a trigger ban that went into effect when Roe vs. Wade was overturned in June. That law is currently being challenged in court, so abortion is still legal in the state. One of the main arguments against the trigger ban is that it violates a certain section of the Wyoming constitution that's been on a lot of lawmakers' lips recently: Article 1, section 38: Right to health care access.

Wyoming leads the nation for suicide deaths per capita. A bill hopes to address that fact and is slowly moving through the legislature. It would permanently establish the 988 Suicide and Crisis Line in Wyoming, establish quality standards and potentially provide some kind of funding.

After much debate in the Wyoming House of Representatives, a bill that would enact even stricter abortion laws than another bill currently tied up in court passed on its third reading. An adopted amendment addressed some of the lawmakers' questions about the need for it.

The Wyoming House of Representatives passed a first reading of a bill that would create an even stricter abortion ban, however, some pro-life lawmakers feared its constitutionality.