CU Anschutz In The News

The Workplace Mental Health Module, part of a certification and advising program out of the Colorado School of Public Health called Health Links, helps organizations assess their existing mental health supports through a survey for higher-ups, and then provides management consultations and advising sessions with recommendations to best help employees, said David Shapiro, program manager for the CU Anschutz Center for Health, Work and Environment.

Dr. Adit Ginde, who’s researching monoclonal antibodies at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, says awareness is a major problem. “Patients in the general public haven’t generally heard of this treatment.”

And at Colorado's partnership, a survey of patients from 2015 to 2020 found statistically significant drops in stress and poor physical health, as well as fewer missed medical appointments among its 69 respondents, says Dr. Angela Sauaia, a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health who led the research.

“Arguably, I think that the federal government is simply trying to stay ahead of the curve,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado [School of Medicine]. But, he said, “I have not seen robust data yet to suggest that it is better to boost Americans who have gotten two vaccines than invest resources and time in getting unvaccinated people across the world vaccinated.”

"I've been trying to shout it from the rooftops," to get parents to take their kids in for routine vaccines, says Dr. Sean O'Leary, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and vice chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Many parents worry about COVID-19 and when they can vaccinate their kids against it, O'Leary notes. But he says, "Frankly, a lot of the diseases that we vaccinate kids for are more severe in children than COVID, and so the last thing we want as we reenter the school year is outbreaks of these other vaccine-preventable diseases."

Normal activities will become safe again when the vaccination rate is high and the number of new infections is low, said Beth Carlton, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. “We need to rely on more than just vaccines,” she said, noting that while they’re highly effective at preventing severe illness and death, breakthrough infections will increase when the rate of transmission is high like it is now.

“We were motivated by anecdotes in which family members discover a relative’s dementia through a catastrophic financial event, like a home being seized,” said Lauren Nicholas, the lead author and a health economist at the University of Colorado School of Public Health. “This could be a way to identify patients at risk.”

“It’s very different when you’re on oxygen or you’re on a diuretic or heart medicine or, you know, you’re a smoker or have existing heart disease,” said Jay Lemery, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “At that point, you know, that physiological stressor is just enough to put you over into crisis.”