Guest Column

New Cancer Drug Donation Program Will Help Patients, Fill Needs

Nearly everyone’s lives have been touched by cancer. A new state law effective October 1 establishes a cancer drug donation program to help cancer patients get drugs they cannot afford by distributing thousands of dollars of unused medication to patients, instead of destroying the drugs.

In the last state legislative session, House Bill 409 created a way for unused, unopened cancer drugs to be donated to participating pharmacies and care facilities and re-dispensed to qualifying patients, who otherwise could not attain them because of their astronomical cost.

Holidays in the Grand Canyon

A Journey of Powering Off into a Simple Life

My down coat and flip-flops are packed. I placed my toothbrush in a plastic bag and an 11-book, 2-map library into a waterproof container. I've sorted and organized food and my daily life for a departure and descent into the Grand Canyon for a 23-day river trip over Christmas and New Years.

My fear and excitement both stem from the same place: turning the power button to "Off" for 23 days. For someone who reads the newspaper religiously every morning, it's a challenge to tune-out for such an extended period of time. But also thrilling to tune-in to nature's pace, which I especially appreciate after working as an Outward Bound instructor spending three-seasons a year in the wilderness.

I just need to remind myself that my steaming morning coffee will be spent reading the geologic history eroded into the canyon walls — and the world will still be turning when I return.

NEWWESTERNERS: INTERVIEW with BOB 'ACTION' JACKSON, PART III

In Animal Kingdom, Are Bison Equal In ‘Value’ To Humans?

In the big picture of earthly existence, are the lives of bison and other animals equal in value to humans? Bob Jackson doesn't think of himself as an animal rights activist, nor as a philosopher nor an intellectual who is immune to personal hypocrisy. In fact, he admits in plainspoken, opinionated, homespun English that at times his command of proper grammar is sorely lacking. But he is no Neanderthal. As a consumer and capitalist, he raises bison for sale to provide meat on the dinner table for hundreds of human families who are his customers.

Nonetheless, he relates to bison as sentient creatures that possess their own range of emotions and sense of belonging to one another. Is there a contradiction here? This kind of paradox in Jackson has not only attracted responses of incredulity from members of the scientific community, who have pegged him with a "Dr. Doolittle" label, but it has left Jackson staking out contentious terrain, for it challenges our own value system. In this, the third part of NewWest.Net's continuing conversation with 'Action' Jackson, the topic moves from a discussion of Bison Culture to the relationship humans have with bison and other species.

Rural Healthcare

Gov. Schweitzer, Madison County & Ennis Break Ground for New Clinic

Striving to meet the needs of this growing valley, the Madison Valley Hospital and Clinic broke ground on the construction of an over $10 million hospital in Ennis this past Tuesday. Well over 100 people attended the ceremony at the construction site adjacent to the existing and humble Madison Valley Clinic, including Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and representatives from the offices of Senators Baucus and Tester as well as Rep. Rehberg.

Governor Schweitzer spoke briefly at the beginning of the ceremony, calling Madison County “one of the most vibrant communities in Montana.” However, Schweitzer’s comments related to healthcare were limited to emphasizing the importance of the health of a community and that “the best healthcare is the healthcare that’s closest to your family.”

When pressed after his speech on what is being done to improve healthcare in Montana’s other less vibrant communities—in particular, communities that do not benefit from as many tourist dollars as Madison County, such as in eastern Montana and in the state’s seven Indian reservations—Schweitzer responded, “The best thing we can do for every one of these communities is to grow jobs” with things like biodiesel and “clean coal” technology.

There goes my dream of pitching a perfect game

The Takedown Artist: Your Body

Never underestimate the ability of your body to take you to a dark alley and roll you like a thug.

In recovering from what was supposed to be “minor” shoulder surgery, I have been humbled by the temporary loss of use of my right arm, but have apparently lived to tell the tale.

It’s “apparently” because the past ten days have been fuzzy, narcotically speaking, so I’m a little wobbly on my alive vs. dead status.

My rotator cuff and bicep were all messed up and had to be fixed. At my age, it’s somewhat nice to be able to say the injuries were accomplished while lifting weights at the gym, although it is embarrassing that I clearly didn’t know what I was doing, or I wouldn’t have shredded the shoulder.

Even Fox News Praised It

Michael Moore’s Newest Film Hits Boise Early

Want to be the first on your block to catch Michael Moore’s new documentary “Sicko"? Show up for the first screening of the film in Idaho next Thursday, June 28 - a day earlier than the nationwide premiere.

Good Health, Good Luck

Illness as a Non-Metaphor

I am healthy. In fact, I exist in a halo of good health, surrounded by suffering legions. My whole family does, actually: my parents are in their mid-70s and still hale, my two older brothers have been healthy as draft animals their entire lives, and both our grandmothers made it well into their 90s. (My grandfathers weren't so lucky.)

As for my immediate family, my wife suffers from various aches associated with faulty joints, middle age, and a car crash, but her internal systems are as pristine as a 14-year-old's. I'm criminally disease-free considering how I've dosed my body with various substances over the years. And Walker, well, if all kids were like Walker there'd be a lot of pediatricians out of work nationwide.

This is contrast to other Dads, both famous (like Michael Lewis, author of Liars' Poker and The Blind Side) and non- (like the blogger who produced Dadcentric). Lewis' ongoing series on Slate, about the birth of his third child, is tremendously readable and instantly recognizable to all of us boomer fathers who still dream of preserving some few shreds of our bachelor lives.

April, the Cruelest Month

Forecast: Freezing Rain and Sinking Spirits

Sitting in my downtown Boulder office, killing a Friday afternoon as the freezing rain pelts down, wondering if the first game of my son's soccer team's season will be canceled tomorrow, when emails with the following subject lines pop into my inbox:

"Boulder Farmers' Market Returns & SPRING IS IN THE AIR"

"Tri-State announce plans for two mega-coal plants"

"World’s Scientists: Global warming could wipe out 1/4 of all species"

The last refers to the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body that has just released its fourth annual assessment of the scientific record on global warming, each grimmer than the last.

Add to which I just last night watched Alfonso Cuarón's brilliant, dystopian Children of Men, and you've got a powerful recipe for springtime depression. Spring may be in the air, but the world is going to hell.

At least the mountains are getting hammered with snow. Maybe it's time for a springtime skiing escape.

Let's talk about STD

STDs are on the Rise in Utah

Ah, Utah. We truly have it all: Mountains, desert, goblin-like rock formations, cheap electricity and lots and lots of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Eh. The Deseret News is reporting that while STDs such as Chlamydia and gonorrhea are on the decline throughout the rest of the U.S., Utah is experiencing, well – a bit of an STD boom.