Reporting

<div class="node-body"><p>What is air pollution doing to our kids? The air we breathe gets plenty of media coverage, but we tend to consider it more of an inconvenience than an emergency. Yet at every stage of children’s lives – from their time in the womb until they’re ready to leave the nest – the pollution in the air affects their health.</p></div>

<p>This story is Part 12 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.</p> <p>John Grimm knows the city of Gary faces severe financial problems and didn’t expect city crews to plow all of its streets overnight after the recent blizzard.</p><p class="body.text">But Grimm, the

<p>There is a world of difference in how districts provide healthy school lunches. One key difference is money—both the income levels of school districts and the cost of lunch programs. Another is the food culture of diverse communities, so to speak, and what kids and their families are used to eating. In districts like Oakland, which participate in the federally and state subsidized lunch programs, the nutrition services have just $2.74 per meal to deliver a lunch that meets guidelines--and that kids will want to eat. Affluent districts such as Orinda don't participate in the subsidized lunch program and may serve catered lunches that are a lot like food they would eat at home.</p>

<p>This story is Part 11 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.</p> <p class="NormalParagraphStyle">Nearly 33 years after the federal government designated Gary a health professional shortage area and 17 years after federal health authorities qualified it as a medically underserved area, Gary continues to suffer from physician shortages.</p> <p class="body.text">Those shortages are partially to blame for the poor health status of many Gary citizens, according to local doctors and hospital officials.</p> <p class="body.text">Gary is home to disproportionately high numbers of severely ill patients suffering from multiple potentially life threatening conditions, including heart disease, kidney failure, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and asthma.</p>

<p>This story is Part 10 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.</p><p>Methodist Hospitals’ financial turnaround has impressed hospital analysts and bond ratings agencies.</p><p class="body.text">In May, New York bond-rating firm Standard &amp; Poor’s changed its outlook

<p>On a tie vote, state senators on Thursday rejected a proposal to require a prescription for cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine.</p>

<p>This story is Part 9 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.</p><p class="body.text">Dorothy Manley knew something was wrong nine years ago because whenever she ate sweets, she grew sleepy.</p> <p class="body.text">Manley, 77, of Gary, visited a local health fair and was

<p>This story is Part 8 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.</p><p class="body.text">Gary resident Teresa Johnson said she recognizes the woman in the “before” pictures and remembers her pain.</p> <p class="body.text">Johnson, 50, who worked with developmentally disabled adults in Lake and Porter counties before becoming disabled, said she has been overweight all her life.</p> <p class="body.text">“I had very little success losing weight on my own,” she said. “I’d lose weight and then gain it right back. But last year I needed a knee replacement surgery and didn’t want to have it while I was still morbidly obese.”</p>

<p>This story is Part 7 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Indiana.</p><p class="body.text">Every dollar invested in a community health center yields returns beyond that investment, said an official of the association representing such centers in Indiana.</p><p>“Not on