5280 Health 2017

BEFORE 5280 ASSISTANT EDITOR Mary Clare Fischer began reporting this issue’s “Addicted” (page 38), I had a vague notion of our national appetite for opioids. I might have been able to tell you that opioids—the class of drug that includes prescription painkillers such as codeine, morphine, Vicodin, and fentanyl and the illegal drug heroin—are highly addictive. I could have told you that in some cases, prescription opioids lead people to “graduate” to heroin because it’s often cheaper and, despite its illicit status, easier to get. I could have also told you that the recent deaths of celebrities Philip Seymour Hoffman and Prince involved opioid use. But the problem of addiction to opioids in Colorado is far more serious than I knew. Colorado is the only state the Substance Abuse and…

HELEN OLSSON Writer Helen Olsson is no stranger to chronicling her life with kids. The author of The Down & Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids and creator of the blog maddogmom.com tackled a sensitive topic in her essay “Got Milk?” (page 18), which details how her son overcame a dairy allergy. “Seeing him squirt whipped cream from the can into his mouth was a thrilling day for all of us,” Olsson says. Her work has appeared in Elevation Outdoors, Ski Magazine, and Women’s Sports & Fitness. NAFTALI BEDER An illustrator and developer, Naftali Beder created the opening illustration for this issue’s “Seeking Help” (page 22), an in-depth look at how Colorado hospitals serve—or fail to serve—victims of sexual assault. Beder’s illustrations have been published in the New York Times,…

Nearly 2,000 American service members have lost arms, legs, hands, and feet in our 16-year-long conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. But unlike many of the 15,000 veterans who lost limbs in World War II or the 6,000 amputees from Vietnam, today’s veterans aren’t afraid to show off their prostheses. “In earlier times, veterans would hide them,” says Lea Lew, a certified prosthetist/orthotist who oversees the Veterans Affairs’ Jewell Clinic in Aurora, one of only seven regional amputation centers in the country. “Now it’s almost a point of pride.” Jewell Clinic’s prosthetics lab has a unique role in showcasing that pride: It customizes, on-site, the design of a prosthetic’s socket— the element most essential to stabilizing the prosthetic, ensuring comfort, and preventing infection and other injuries. Staffers make between 20 and…

Wwhen a familiar song plays, you can probably recall where you first heard the melody as easily as you can sing the lyrics. That’s because music is thought to trigger memories, a potentially important connection for the 92,000 Coloradans who are projected to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease by 2025. Colorado State University researchers decided to test the theory by inviting 30 Fort Collins and Loveland residents with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia (plus their caregivers) to attend five of the Fort Collins Symphony’s 2015-’16 Masterworks concerts—a program the researchers dubbed B Sharp. What happened next provides hope for new music-based treatments for dementia patients. MEMORY LANE Many of the B Sharp caregivers have reported that their loved ones brought up the concerts several days later— a breakthrough for…

Before moving into a new house, you’d likely spend months searching for digs suited to your specific needs. Finding an assisted living home for an aging parent tends to be less methodical: 90 percent of those making their first transitions to assisted living need to find housing within a week or two. Enter Mimi, a Denverbased startup that matches small assisted living facilities (which average 10 beds) with potential residents through a quick online assessment. Answer 15 questions about your loved one (Is your father diabetic? Does your mother need two or more people to help her out of bed?) via the HIPAA-compliant site, and it’ll return vetted results that fit your criteria and are within four miles of your chosen location. Then book your tours directly through Mimi—a no-hassle…

At 79 years old, Bill Zinke started a second career by founding the Boulder-based Center for Productive Longevity in 2006 to help other people over the age of 50 maximize their second acts. “Many of these older people want to continue adding value and being productively engaged,” he says. Eleven years later, he’s still touting his seven guidelines for aging successfully, including social connection, physical fitness, adequate sleep, and sound financial management. The center hosts forums that give guests a chance to explore and implement these pillars in their own lives. And Zinke’s secret to living it up at 50-plus? “I’ve encountered very little ageism, and that’s not just because I live in Boulder and work out four times a week,” Zinke says. “I believe it’s because I project myself…