Experts help New Mexicans with greatest foe: pollen
You know the pollen count is elevated and allergy season is here if you have itchy eyes, a red, swollen nose that’s runny with clear fluid or itchiness in the nose, throat, ears and mouth.
Allergy season usually begins in February in the Albuquerque area and sticks around through May or June, says Dr. Mark Schuyler, an allergist for The University of New Mexico Hospital and a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine.
According to the 2018 National Health Interview Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19.2 million adults suffered from hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, during a 12-month period. People with asthma have to take extra care during allergy season.
I Received Tips to Look Into How a Hospital Treated Premature Babies. Getting Data Was Nearly Impossible. ProPublica 2 days ago
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
It’s not unusual for health care reporters to get out-of-the-blue calls or emails from people in the industry. But when three clinicians from Albuquerque hospitals reached out to me to share concerns about the state’s largest for-profit maternity hospital, Lovelace Women’s, I took note.
Two of the tipsters worked at Lovelace. None knew the others had contacted me, but all three had concerns about how Lovelace cared for its most premature babies.
Note: This story contains a description of the death of an infant.
This article is co-published by New Mexico In Depth and ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. New Mexico In Depth is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.
It was morning shift change at Lovelace Women’s Hospital in Albuquerque. In the neonatal intensive care unit, the lights were dimmed, as usual. People spoke in hushed tones typical of the NICU. But an arriving clinician knew immediately that something had gone wrong.
A “crash cart” carrying resuscitation equipment was positioned next to a newborn incubator, the enclosed cribs that keep preterm babies warm. Nurses stood nearby with grim expressions.
Good news: Hospitalizations, deaths keep spiraling downward
The news doesn’t get any better than this: New Mexico recorded zero COVID-related deaths on March 21, the first time the state has done that since October.
And, according to four medical experts representing as many hospital groups in the state, the numbers keep getting better with the month of March recording 18 or fewer COVID-related deaths through its first 25 days, and 15 single-digit fatality days in that stretch.
There are also far fewer people hospitalized with COVID symptoms fewer than 200 every day of the month after an average of more than 328 a day in February, 650 per day in January, and 749-947 in December.
Parents of would-be shooter: 1 dead, 1 has case pending
Dale and Tamara Owen sit in court in 2019. Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal
The man whose teenage son was charged with trying to commit a school shooting in February 2019 has died, and his widow’s case is pending.
Dale Owen, charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, died Dec. 5 at age 64 after a short hospitalization, according to a notice his attorney filed with the 13th Judicial District Court. No cause of death was given.
His widow, Tamara Owen, now 49, still faces the same charge, a fourth-degree felony.
Joshua Owen, then 16, brought his parents’ handgun to Cleveland High School on Valentine’s Day 2019 and tried to shoot fellow students, according to Rio Rancho Police. The gun malfunctioned, and Owen ran away without hurting anyone before being arrested, according to police.