Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Flint Resident's Lead Levels Five Times What Is Considered Toxic
Aaron Stinson shook his head and wiped the sweat from his brow as he sat in a brown, oversized sofa chair in the living room of his aunt's Flint home. Excessive sweating, fatigue and severe headaches are just a handful of inexplicable symptoms he has experienced over the last six months, seemingly out of nowhere. (Stafford, 2/18)
Flint鈥檚 water fund could run out of cash by summer without $30 million in residential assistance from the state, and even then could be insolvent by the end of the year, according to the city鈥檚 chief financial officer. 鈥淭he city lacks the financial resources to provide any relief to customers on its own,鈥 CFO Jody Lundquist said Wednesday in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. 鈥淎t the current rate of collections, the city鈥檚 water fund is projected to run out of cash by this summer. (Oosting, 2/17)
And, with all the uncertainty created from the Flint crisis, health professionals elsewhere are struggling with their push to get people to chose聽safe tap water over sugary drinks聽鈥
Colorado Public Radio's John Daley, in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is making some public health messages harder to get across 鈥 namely, in most communities, the tap water is perfectly safe. And it is so much healthier than sugary drinks. It鈥檚 a message Dr. Patty Braun, a pediatrician and oral health specialist at Denver Health, spends a lot of time on in Denver, even before lead was found in the water system of Flint. (Daley, 2/18)
