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5280 •

The Pandemic Only Amplified Colorado’s Drinking Problem

Nora began drinking heavily in her late 30s, turning to alcohol after the demons of early childhood trauma resurfaced. A self-described emotional drinker, the fortysomething Denverite, who asked that her real name be withheld to protect her privacy, says her consumption only increased during the COVID-19 crisis. “You’d be seeing all these memes on social media at 2 p.m. that people were having wine parties together,” Nora says, “so you’d feel comfortable doing it as well.” But after a two-week bender in early 2021, Nora woke up feeling more broken than usual.

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5280 Health •

How Binge Drinking During the Pandemic Led to a Liver Disease Crisis in Colorado

Dr. Elizabeth Pomfret, chief of the division of transplant surgery at UCHealth, has seen a lot of liquor-addled livers during her 33-year career. In the past, most of them belonged to patients in their late 50s or 60s who had permanently scarred the organ after years of heavy drinking. Recently, however, Pomfret’s patients are trending younger. Decades younger. The culprit? COVID-19 culture, which normalized daytime boozing to cope with the anxiety that accompanied the pandemic.

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5280 Health •

A Patient's Guide to Denver Emergency Rooms

Last year, about one in six Centennial Staters visited an emergency department, despite the fact that more than a third of respondents to a 2019 Colorado Health Institute survey believed the maladies that landed them there could have been treated by a nonemergency doctor. Why is the ED so confusing? We asked local physicians for insight into that question—as well as 10 other queries that routinely pop up when crises arise.

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5280 •

6 Places Around Denver to Take Your Kid in Need of a Play Date

Navigating the last two-plus years of pandemic twists has been taxing on everyone, but parents: We see you. We hear you. (We are you.) From constant quarantines to canceled play dates, we’re guessing you’ve exhausted your reserve of backyard activities—and maybe your sanity. We’re all for family bonding, but with school out and summer in, we’ve rounded up some warm-weather ideas for getting your offspring to mingle with someone their own size. Let the play dates commence.

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5280 Health •

How to Raise a More Resilient Kid: Ages 2-7

The preschool and early elementary years are a period of widespread external exploration, characterized by rapid language development, make-believe play and emulation, and egocentrism. “Language becomes more complex as kids learn to speak in full sentences, and that comes with additional milestones in the way they interact with others,” says Jessica Hawks, child and adolescent psychologist and clinical director of ambulatory services at the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Yet, she adds, “they can only understand why things are happening in their world based on their own point of view.” Figuring out how to keep their cool after they’re told they can’t do exactly what they want to—often by a caregiver and for their own protection—is crucial to developing resilience at this age.

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5280: The Denver Magazine •

Ready, Set, Race!

Pick a weekend in Colorado—literally any weekend—and odds are that somewhere within our state’s boundaries, you’ll find a bunch of sweaty people sporting race bibs, timing chips, and an array of moisture-wicking, speed-enhancing, heart-rate-tracking gear. They might be on bikes or wearing skis or in kayaks. Maybe they’re just hoofing it in sneakers. It could be a snowy January day in the city or a scorcher in July on a high mountain pass. The exact details of each competition—be it a 5K, a century ride, or a backcountry ultra-grind—are mostly irrelevant. What is important to note? Friendly (albeit high-caliber) athletic competition is a way of life here in the Centennial State.

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5280 Health •

Peace Out (cover story)

We know there are circumstances under which no amount of sage advice or mental TLC will soothe the soul. For many of us, though, feeling unsettled, disgruntled, or burnt out is the result of multiple ongoing factors we can address. So we sought the guidance of professionals and everyday people who’ve carved their own paths to healing or fulfillment. Our hope is that the following pages might be a toolbox of sorts, stocked with ideas to grab when you need ’em. Here, our guide to de-stressing, simplifying, and living a more peaceful life.

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Chicago magazine •

GPS for Brain Surgery

How much is too much? The answer is trickier than you might think for a surgeon removing a brain tumor. Ideally, the whole thing would come out. But cutting out an entire tumor can cause severe damage to the surrounding brain tissue, leading to complications that range from motor skill impairment to death. So the best course of action has typically been to leave a small part of the tumor behind and then zap it with radiation—which carries its own risks if applied to too large of an area.

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Chicago magazine •

The T Cell Booster

The immune system relies on T cells to attack abnormalities that sneak into the body. Each invader triggers only one type of T cell, like a stubborn bolt that requires a particular wrench to remove it. But not every body has the right set of wrenches to handle certain infiltrators—including melanoma. About 20 years ago, Michael Nishimura, then with the National Institutes of Health, identified the T cell that responds to melanoma and cloned those genes. But that raised another question—how do you get the effective genes out of the lab and into a patient’s immune system?

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Chicago magazine •

The Drug that Makes Cancer Kill Itself

Just like people, the cells in human bodies aren’t in a hurry to meet their maker. Normally, cells have a natural life cycle that ends in a process called apoptosis, which eliminates old or damaged cells to make room for the new. Problem is, sometimes cells cheat death by mooching off certain proteins in the body—an act of rebellion that lets those cells survive, spawn, and generally wreak havoc. And that’s one of the ways people get cancer.

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Chicago magazine •

Carrie Meghie: 2016 Chicagoan of the Year

Not long after her son was born 10 weeks premature, Carrie Meghie received an eye-opening credit card statement: She and her husband, Terry, had spent about $2,000 on parking in six weeks while visiting their newborn, Jackson Chance, at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. Even with a good income—Carrie is copresident of her family’s company, Becker Ventures, which owns Hard Rock Hotel Chicago, and she and Terry own the Jamaican restaurant Mr. Brown’s Lounge—the bill was a shock.

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Johnson & Wales University Magazine •

Doctoring the Menu: Food as Medicine

Clad in a crisp white apron and chef’s hat, Eric Sharer ’08 zips around a gleaming kitchen setting mixing bowls, utensils and ingredients on the island countertop. Butternut squash, cumin, paprika, chickpeas, kale — the foods and spices pile up beside the cutting board as Sharer consults his recipe. “We’re going to make something really fun today,” he tells his aproned co-chef, “using things you typically have on hand at home.” The scene is straight out of a cooking demo TV spot, but there’s no studio audience, and Sharer’s 40-something co-chef isn’t a morning show host; she’s a patient enrolled in a 12-week weight-loss program at the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine in Delmar, New York, outside of Albany.

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Outside Online •

The Grueling Workout That Got Team Abu Dhabi in Shape to Win the Race Around the World

Team Abu Dhabi sailed its way to victory on June 22 to wrap up the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race around the world—and it wasn’t by happenstance. Nor was it because of superior boat design or technical advantage. For the first time in the race’s nearly 40-year history, each of the seven teams raced a boat that was uniformly designed, so factors like aerodynamics didn’t affect speed. In other words: It was an athlete’s race to win or lose.

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5280 Health •

Sitting Pretty (cover story)

Denverites aren’t known for their vanity—not in the way that, say, Los Angelenos or Miamians are known for their high-gloss, high-maintenance (and sometimes highly enhanced) facades. But just because those of us who live a mile high don’t go for the Barbie doll look doesn’t mean we don’t work at it a bit. “Colorado’s definition of beauty is just a little more healthy, sporty, active, and outdoorsy,” says Dr. Cory Dunnick of the University of Colorado Cosmetic Services center. “People here tend to go for more natural results.” In other words, Coloradans aren’t above a little augmentation (yes, we’re talking plastic surgery as well as less invasive procedures); they simply have different ideas about what constitutes beauty—and how to attain it.

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5280 •

Wellness: A Place At The Table

Nearly six years ago, I examined one of our state’s—and America’s—most pressing problems through the eyes of six Coloradans in “The Face of Hunger.” These individuals came from different backgrounds, lived in different corners of the state, and had very different life experiences. They all had one thing in common, though: food insecurity. I learned that it’s not a stereotype relegated to the panhandler on the corner with the cardboard sign.

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