Rae Ellen Bichell, KFF Health News
Rae Ellen Bichell is a Colorado correspondent for Kaiser Health News, based in Longmont. Previously, she was a radio reporter covering the region for the Mountain West News Bureau and KUNC. Before moving to KUNC, Bichell worked for NPR. She spent brief but formative times in the newsrooms of Nashville Public Radio and KNKX in Seattle and has filed stories from Australia, Finland and Lithuania. She is a graduate of Yale University.
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Greeley dairy workers, mostly Spanish-speaking, have come down with conjunctivitis and flu-like symptoms that they fear to be bird flu, but their employers have given them nothing besides gloves for their protection. -
Colorado defended its high disenrollment rates following the covid crisis by saying that what goes up must come down. Advocates and researchers disagree. -
"Diagnosis: Debt Colorado” is a reporting partnership among Colorado newsrooms led by KFF Health News and the Colorado News Collaborative that explores the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in Colorado. -
High school students from Durango are pushing for a change they say is necessary to combat fentanyl poisoning: ensuring students can’t get in trouble for carrying the overdose reversal drug naloxone wherever they go, including at school. -
“There’s a lot of steps between where we are today and getting a functional tattoo that’s going to tell you something about your health,” Swierk said. -
If Roe v. Wade falters, Colorado will be nearly surrounded by a sea of anti-abortion states. The state is bracing for impact from out-of-state residents, while lawmakers cement abortion protections. -
The U.S. is in the midst of another COVID holiday season, and federal laws that offered COVID-related paid sick leave to workers have expired. Colorado, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh are among a small number of places that have put in place their own COVID protections, but many sick workers across the country must wrestle with difficult financial and ethical questions when deciding whether to stay home. -
As spring breakers flock to their favorite destinations, health officials were raising concerns about potential spikes in COVID-19 cases. Durango, Colorado found a creative way to enforce mask mandates without taking away any of the town's Old West charm. -
Polls show Americans are increasingly interested in getting vaccinated against COVID-19, but such surveys are largely national, leaving a big question: When the vaccines become available to the general public, will enough people get it in your county, city or neighborhood to keep your community safe? -
The app builders had planned for pranksters, ensuring that only people with verified COVID-19 cases could trigger an alert. They’d planned for heavy criticism about privacy, in many cases making the features as bare-bones as possible. But, as more states roll out smartphone contact-tracing technology, other challenges are emerging. Namely, human nature.
