Melissa Bailey

Melissa Bailey was a correspondent for KFF Health News until October 2019.

@mmbaily

A medida que bajan los niveles de agua, suben los de arsénico

KFF Health News Original

A medida que el oeste lucha contra una mega sequía que ha durado más de dos décadas y los estados corren el riesgo de recortes en el agua del menguante río Colorado, el Valle de San Luis ofrece pistas sobre lo que el futuro puede deparar.

As Water Levels Drop, the Risk of Arsenic Rises

KFF Health News Original

As the West grapples with a megadrought, its driest spell in at least 1,200 years, rising levels of arsenic — a known carcinogen — in Colorado’s San Luis Valley offer clues to what the future may hold.

Climate Change May Push the US Toward the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ for West Nile Virus

KFF Health News Original

Colorado recently recorded the most West Nile virus deaths and cases of neuroinvasive infections in nearly two decades. Scientists warn that climate change will make conditions ripe for more West Nile transmission.

Lost on the Frontline

KFF Health News Original

“Lost on the Frontline” is an ongoing project by Kaiser Health News and The Guardian that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who died from COVID 19, and to investigate why so many are victims of the disease.

Bringing ‘Poogie’ Home: Hospice In The Time Of COVID-19

KFF Health News Original

One family took up the challenge of taking their mother, who had serious medical problems and the coronavirus, from the hospital to die at home. But because of the risk of infection, home hospice can be a daunting experience.

On The Eve Of Retirement, VA Nurse Succumbs To COVID-19

KFF Health News Original

Nurse Divina “Debbie” Accad had cared for veterans for over 25 years and was set to retire in April. But after contracting the novel coronavirus, she spent her final 11 days on a ventilator — and didn’t survive past March.

Nurse At Nevada VA Dies After Caring For Infected Colleague

KFF Health News Original

Nurse Vianna Thompson, 52, spent two night shifts caring for a fellow Veterans Affairs health care worker who was dying from COVID-19. Two weeks later, she too was lying in a hospital intensive care unit, with a co-worker holding her hand as she died.

‘Fear Of Falling’: How Hospitals Do Even More Harm By Keeping Patients In Bed

KFF Health News Original

In what experts call an “epidemic of immobility,” older hospital patients remain stuck in bed, their movements tracked by loud and ineffective bed alarms, losing muscle mass that’s key to their health and daily functioning.