Hello, readers, and welcome to another edition of The Temperature.
Shall we compare Leadville’s St. Vincent Health hospital to a summer’s day? It is more lovely — according to a newly released survey — and more equipped to treat a patient for altitude sickness.
The hospital was recently ranked seventh on a list of the nation’s most beautiful hospitals. The contest was run by a company called Soliant Health, which bills itself as “a leader in human capital solutions” and has been doing these rankings since 2009. The hospital received high marks for its modern architecture and inviting registration area.
If you’re curious, the top spot went to Chickasaw Nation Medical Center in Oklahoma, which does actually look pretty sweet.
OK, we’ve got a lot of news to get to — and the governor just called a special session! — so let’s hit the gas.
John Ingold
Reporter
TEMP CHECK
FIREARM SAFETY
A lot of Colorado kids can access a loaded gun
A Glock 19 on display at Bristlecone Shooting, Training and Retail Center in Lakewood on Jan. 16. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)“It’s not just about a parent’s decision about what they’re doing in their home.”
— Colorado School of Public Health associate professor Ashley Brooks Russell
Nearly one-third of kids in Colorado say they could access a loaded firearm without adult permission, according to a new study by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health.
But just as significant is how those kids report they could obtain that firearm. While a slight majority — 53% — say they could access the firearm within their own home, others said they could get a loaded gun from an extended family member, from a friend, or through purchase or theft.
The new study is the first to look in more detail at ways Colorado kids say they could obtain loaded guns. The researchers hope the findings will inform future public health efforts to protect kids from firearm-related harms.
“It’s not just about a parent’s decision about what they’re doing in their home or what they teach their kid about firearm safety,” said Ashley Brooks Russell, an associate professor at the School of Public Health who worked on the study and is the director of the school’s Injury and Violence Prevention Center. “It’s about the whole community.”
The study was published last month in JAMA Network Open.
Data for the study comes from the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, an every-other-year look at a wide variety of health-related issues for children. The study is funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the 2025 version will launch in participating schools in the fall.
The issue of gun access is important because firearm-related injuries — especially from suicide, but also from violence or accident — are one of the leading causes of death for young people in Colorado. Diving more deeply into how kids are able to obtain loaded guns can help better focus public health messages.
For instance, the researchers found that the demographic groups who reported the highest rates of being able to access firearms in their homes — kids who are white and kids who live in rural areas — align with the groups at highest risk of firearm-related suicide. Kids more likely to report being able to obtain a loaded firearm outside the home — those in urban areas and those who are Black, Hispanic or multiracial — are also at the highest risk of firearm-related homicide.
Erin Wright-Kelly, another of the researchers on the study, said one thing the study highlights is the importance of parents having conversations with other families about firearms when their children play or have sleep-overs at a friend’s house.
While that may sound awkward, Wright-Kelly said the conversation can fit into existing discussions parents already have about safety. And the new study will help refine public health messages around guns — such as the state’s Let’s Talk Guns Colorado campaign.
“If you can get the right language, people are definitely comfortable having that conversation,” Wright-Kelly said.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
MEDICAID
Colorado tries to eke out more federal Medicaid funding
A man holds a “MEDICAID CUTS KILL” sign during a news conference May 29 on the steps of the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)$378 million
The annual amount Colorado hopes to receive from a newly proposed Medicaid program
Colorado is hoping a just-under-the-wire application to the federal government will help soften the blow of Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the recently signed tax and spending measure that is also known as H.R. 1.
The application is to create what is known as a state directed payments program. Such programs pull down extra federal Medicaid funding that can then be paid to health care providers with the goals of expanding access to care and improving the quality of the care.
Colorado submitted its application to federal health care authorities June 27. Seven days later, President Donald Trump signed the budget bill into law.
The timing is key here because the bill puts limits on federal funding for new state directed payments, but “legacy” programs are exempt from those limits. Colorado believes that, by submitting its application prior to the bill being signed, its program will now be grouped in with the legacies.
In a briefing last week to the state legislature’s Executive Committee of the Legislative Council, Bettina Schneider, the chief financial officer for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said if the program is approved it could mean up to $378 million in new federal funding per year.
That’s a lot of money, but it also wouldn’t come close to replacing what the state is expected to lose as a result of the bill. A change to a different funding mechanism known as the hospital provider fee could cut federal dollars coming to Colorado by $2.5 billion annually by 2032, Schneider said.
Meanwhile, the expected purge in the number of people covered by Medicaid in Colorado as a result of work requirements and new administrative rules would drop federal funding by another $3 billion, state budget director Mark Ferrandino said at last week’s hearing.
“It’s significant and long term,” Ferrandino said of the bill’s impact on the state budget.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
MORE ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH NEWS
Colorado could lose $156 million federal solar grant under EPA changes. The grant would have funded programs to put more solar panels on residential rooftops, as well as to train workers, Michael Booth reports.— The Colorado Sun Federal judges block Colorado from enforcing abortion pill reversal ban, uphold abortion “bubble law.” A 32-year-old law that bans activists from approaching people within 100 feet of the entrance of a health care facility will stand. But a law seeking to end the practice of abortion pill “reversal” will not, something the judge in that case had signaled years ago. Jesse Paul has more details.— The Colorado Sun In Colorado, food stamps will no longer buy soda, sugary drinks. The change — which several red states are also making — was cheered by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., our Jennifer Brown reports.— The Colorado Sun Colorado’s entire congressional delegation, Democrats and Republicans alike, tells Trump to release water project funds. The money — $140 million — would go toward projects on the Colorado River, Shannon Mullane writes.— The Colorado Sun A bunch of new laws, including some on health and the environment, just kicked in. Gas stoves will get warning labels, schools will distribute information on preventing gun violence and nuclear energy will now be considered a clean power source, among other laws now in effect.— KUNC Gold King put a spotlight on mine pollution in Colorado. Ten years later, locals are still waiting for a solution. The mine release that turned Animas River orange happened a decade ago, but since then, as one expert put it, “The EPA has done nothing to significantly improve water quality.” Shannon Mullane plunges deep into the frustrating afterlife of one of Colorado’s most visible pollution disasters.— The Colorado SunCHART OF THE WEEK
Colorado’s West Nile season is off and running, but so far at least the numbers are not suggesting we’re in for a historically bad year.
Through week 29 of the year — which fell in mid-July — Colorado had reported 11 cases of West Nile virus, including four cases each in weeks 28 and 29. That is a bit below the 10-year average for this time of the year.
The caveat is that West Nile generally doesn’t ramp up until August, and the state’s data lags by a few weeks. We are currently in week 32, when cases typically start spiking.
West Nile is spread by mosquitoes, especially a species that likes hanging around cattail marshes and wetland areas. Many people who are infected with West Nile will experience only mild symptoms, but some will develop more severe cases that can cause significant long-term health issues. So far this year, Colorado has seen five people with such neuroinvasive infections, and one person has died.
That already makes 2025 worse than last year, which was extraordinarily quiet. The year before that was historically awful, with 311 neuroinvasive infections and 51 deaths.
West Nile season runs until all the mosquitoes are dead or hibernating in the fall. Until then, use bug spray, get rid of standing water on your property, wear long sleeves and pants as much as possible when working outside and be careful going out during the early morning or evening when mosquitoes are most active.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
As the unimpressed deli sandwich said of the burrito, that’s a wrap. We’ll see you back here next week.
In the meantime, if you happen to need to go to the hospital, try to do it in Leadville. Might as well do some sightseeing while getting patched up.
— John & Michael
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