Let's say you asked for data during the early stages of reporting, but the agency in question told you, "Tough luck." Contributor William Heisel offers tips on how to fill an empty spreadsheet with pluck and will.
Environmental Health
A new Health Matters webinar this week explored just how different the health care spending map looks when researchers are given access to price and spending data from private insurance plans.
If you have a story that needs to be told, don't wait for a huge attachment to show up in your inbox. Hunt for the data that will help you tell your story. And keep in mind that a data expert can be an invaluable guide along the way.
In California's Sonoma County, some families face living conditions that include high levels of dangerous mold and other asthma triggers. When landlords don't act, problems can fester for years, leading to a host of health problems.
Short of government action, residents living in substandard housing are banding together or stepping forward on their own to turn up the heat on unresponsive landlords. Some are seeking legal assistance to force repairs, with some cases escalating to lengthy civil lawsuits.
In California's Sonoma County, an alarming number of tenants live in housing so run down that it poses a risk to their health and safety. For Karla Orozco's family, the hazards included mold, rats and cockroaches, a broken heater, and sewage backups.
The effect of squalid housing on people’s health is difficult to determine in California's Sonoma County, since there is no study, stockpile of data or government agency that tracks illness in connection with living environments.
Dr. Seema Yasmin’s reported this story as a National Health Journalism Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism.
Washington state health officials say they’ll start telling families who’ve lost babies to a devastating birth-defects cluster about genetic studies aimed at decoding possible causes.
Washington is among 33 states that don’t have active birth-defects surveillance systems to track problems. It took an astute nurse to raise warnings about a cluster of rare and fatal defects in Central Washington.