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  • Cop Who Ignored Dying NY Asthma Girl Identified, Suspended

    Cop Who Ignored Dying NY Asthma Girl Identified, Suspended

    This is a Public Service Announcement for everyone, police officers or not and in New York or elsewhere, who might some day confront a man, woman, or child who is flaring and struggling to breathe. Asthma kills. Let me write that again: ASTHMA KILLS. It doesn’t happen very often. Most asthmatics can do everything that people with more reliable [...]

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  • Weird Health Wednesdays – Marshmallow and Licorice “Medicine”

    Weird Health Wednesdays – Marshmallow and Licorice “Medicine”

    In the original incarnation of Weird Health Wednesdays, candy posts always brought the most traffic. Maybe candy stories are irresistible because they remind us of childhood or maybe because, hello? It’s candy. It’s sweet, yummy goodness in a pocket-sized package. At any rate, look at two common treats with a long history of medicinal use: Marshmallows [...]

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  • Tuesdays are Your Turn – How to Enjoy Fall

    Tuesdays are Your Turn – How to Enjoy Fall

    Today, the girls finished getting ready for school early, so the three of us hung out on the front porch together until it was time for them to head to the bus stop. While the Sidekick took pictures of the foothills with my phone and AG sang a little Lady GaGa, as she has been [...]

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  • No More Winter Outdoor Lab Stories. Please.

    No More Winter Outdoor Lab Stories. Please.

    I’ve decided I will not be discussing AG’s Outdoor Lab trip in December (DECEMBER) with any other local parents until I absolutely have to. In fact, Mr. Asthma Mom may end up attending the first informational parent meeting by himself this Thursday night so I can continue avoiding the conversations that include alarming statements like [...]

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  • Friday Links – Inhaler Wars, Harold Dow and Summer Asthma Deaths

    Friday Links – Inhaler Wars, Harold Dow and Summer Asthma Deaths

    Mold and Kids’ Asthma in New Orleans, 5 Years After Katrina High post-Katrina levels of asthma among New Orleans residents is the big story here, and it’s a devastating one. At the end of this particular interview, though, something else caught my eye. Dr. Floyd Malveaux, when talking about his intervention and treatment program of 184 [...]

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  • Weird Health Wednesdays – Safety First

    Weird Health Wednesdays – Safety First

    Scaring the crap out of children, one traffic tip at a time: This image comes from It’s great to be alive! an old children’s safety brochure full of starkly bleak images like this one that warn kids about strangers, traffic, and other dangerous elements. To see my other favorite page, “While hiding in a leaf pile [...]

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  • Tuesdays are Your Turn – Medical Advocacy in Schools

    Tuesdays are Your Turn – Medical Advocacy in Schools

    Speaking of asthma and school, as I’ve been doing here ad nauseum lately, Samantha has a question about groups that might help asthma parents resolve school issues. Samantha tells me her friend, another asthma mom, has been struggling with her child’s school over the timing and frequency of medication and nebulizer treatments and could use [...]

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  • Health Tips for the School Year

    Health Tips for the School Year

    The First Day of School. My asthma kid’s starting sixth grade, her last year of elementary school, and her sister is a third grader this year. With school back in session and since Colorado sits poised on the verge of fall, this time of year my focus shifts conversations with the new teacher about my asthma [...]

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  • The Victorian Mining Legacy of Georgetown, CO

    The Victorian Mining Legacy of Georgetown, CO

    Recently, we fled the late-summer heat of the valley to visit Georgetown, the Silver Queen of Colorado. In 1859, two prospector brothers from Kentucky founded Georgetown during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. It grew fast during the Colorado Silver Boom of the late nineteenth century, started to fade away when the boom ended, and could have [...]

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  • Friday Links – Inhaler Identification, Vitamin D, More on Javonte Woods

    Friday Links – Inhaler Identification, Vitamin D, More on Javonte Woods

    About.com on Color-Coding Kids’ Inhalers When my daughter was little, I used to write out pages and pages of instructions for her babysitters. No, I don’t mean her Asthma Action Plan – I’m talking about my notes and explanations that accompanied her action plan (isn’t asthma fun?) This wonderful tip would’ve saved me at least a [...]

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