Health

Those living with compromised immune systems are facing a double whammy with the region's low vaccination rates and the possibility that the COVID-19 vaccine may not offer them the same protection as their peers.

The Biden administration is offering to send "surge response teams" to help stamp out COVID-19 hotspots across the country. The governor of Nevada has requested help in the Las Vegas area, where infections are rising and daily vaccinations have dropped sharply.

Humans aren’t the only mammals that can contract COVID-19 — zoo animals like large cats and apes can get it, too.

A new state law allows the Wyoming State Insurance Commission to regulate the Wyoming air ambulance membership organizations. Consumers pay for air ambulance memberships to try to avoid high prices if they ever need such services. This is a serious issue in rural areas of the state where there is a lack of emergency health care.

The growth in COVID-19 state caseloads has put Wyoming in the top ten most cases nationally. A big reason for this is the spike of cases in Laramie County where the vaccination rate is slightly above 30 percent. County Health Officer Dr. Stan Hartman told Bob Beck what's going on.

This past legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that will change who community health care providers can serve. Throughout the summer, stakeholders are now figuring out how to actually implement these policy changes on the ground. Wyoming Public Radio's Kamila Kudelska spoke with Andi Summerville, the executive director of the Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers, on the current process. Summerville said the new system involves priority groups that so far have been separated into three tiers.

The Campbell County Health Board of Trustees has been working on a potential deal to affiliate the local hospital system with UC Health, a Colorado-based hospital system. The move has caused uproar in the community, with many asking questions about what this could mean for local residents. Wyoming Public Radio's Catherine Wheeler spoke with Board Chair Adrian Gerrits and board member Tom Murphy about the Campbell County Board of Commissioners' recent decision to not move ahead with the deal. Gerrits said it's a move trustees have been discussing for years. He begins by explaining how and why they are considering the affiliation.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney introduced the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2021 with Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell. The bill is designed to keep telehealth accessible and easy for providers and their patients.

The Sheridan Veteran's Administration Health System is working on growing its telehealth services. With this expansion, the Sheridan VA will connect patients with doctors in other VAs. By keeping it within the VA system, a patient's files can easily transfer between hospitals and the veteran can go into their local VA clinic or sometimes stay in their home for appointments.

Hormones play an important role in mammalian reproduction. So when something goes wrong with them, a lot of other things can go wrong too. A University of Wyoming researcher is trying to figure out exactly what role misregulation of the hormones estrogen and progesterone play in female reproductive diseases like endometriosis, which affects one in ten women.