Category: Health

We follow local stories of well-being in the Hill Country Observer, from physical and mental health to systems of healthcare and insurance and the challenges of medicine today.

  • Issue:

    Berkshires’ path to the future? A network of walking trails

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    Group aims for 200-mile network of walking trails across county By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   Olivia’s Overlook, which offers a sweeping view of Stockbridge Bowl from Richmond Mountain Road in Lenox, is among many properties conserved by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council. The group recently unveiled an ambitious effort to link these sites read more

    Berkshires’ path to the future? A network of walking trails
  • Issue:

    Town may veto conservation deal

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    Plan to protect bird habitat clashes with dreams of growth, development By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer FORT EDWARD, N.Y.   Merrilyn Pulver-Moulthrop wants to conserve 180 acres of her farm as habitat for threatened bird species, but town officials may veto the deal because of concerns it could hinder a water system for future development. Joan read more

    Town may veto conservation deal
  • Issue:

    A cultural exchange you can taste — Fermentation festivals

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    Mass., Vermont festivals celebrate the variety of fermented foods By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.   Real Pickles, a worker-owned cooperative based in Greenfield, Mass., was among the vendors at last month’s Berkshire Fermentation Festival in Great Barrington. A similar event is planned this month in Poultney, Vt.Courtesy photo/Chris Gauthier When many people hear read more

    A cultural exchange you can taste — Fermentation festivals
  • Issue:

    GMO — State still seeking the right to know

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    Activists weigh path forward after Congress thwarts GMO food labels By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., joined other elected officials and activists on July 1 to celebrate the start of Vermont’s new law requiring labeling of genetically modified foods. The achievement would prove short-lived, as Congress voted later in July to read more

    GMO — State still seeking the right to know
  • Issue:

    Eggs, farms and the law

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    Mass. ballot question launches debate on agricultural practices By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   Sara Housman, the marketing manager at Wild Oats Market in Williamstown, shows off some of the co-op’s locallly sourced eggs. The store only sells eggs from cage-free hens under a policy adopted in 2006. A November ballot question aims to read more

    Eggs, farms and the law
  • Issue:

    From water to blood — Got PFOA?

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    Anger, frustration grow as blood tests show hundreds with high levels of toxin in Hoosick Falls, Petersburgh By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y.   State tests this spring showed Emily Marpe of Petersburgh had the chemical PFOA in her blood at a concentration of 332 parts per billion, far above the typical background level read more

    From water to blood — Got PFOA?
  • Issue:

    Vermont’s new anti-sprawl law faces test in Rutland

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    State’s new anti-sprawl law faces early test in Rutland By C.B. HALLContributing writer RUTLAND, Vt.   The struggling Diamond Run Mall in Rutland, Vt., is visible atop a hill in the distance, across Route 7 from a meadow where developers want to build a new BJ’s Wholesale Club store. Opponents, including the mall’s owners, say read more

    Vermont’s new anti-sprawl law faces test in Rutland
  • Issue:

    State pesticide-reporting effort lags

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    New York program, adopted with fanfare, yields old, opaque data By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   Twenty years ago, a coalition of breast-cancer activists, environmentalists and others celebrated a hard-fought victory when New York agreed to set up a statewide system for tracking the sale and use of pesticides. When the legislation was signed into law read more

    State pesticide-reporting effort lags
  • Issue:

    Vermont sees evidence of tainted water

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    Concern grows along with list of towns contaminated by PFOA By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer NORTH BENNINGTON, Vt. Relying on bottled water for drinking and cooking is a new and unwelcome experience for Jim Sullivan. Like the rest of his neighbors on a small street at the southeastern edge of North Bennington, Sullivan gets his water read more

    Vermont sees evidence of tainted water
  • Issue:

    A nursing home revolution

    By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer COHOES, N.Y.   Administrator James Farnan shares a laugh with one of the residents of Eddy Village Green, a facility built a decade ago to replace an older nursing home in Cohoes. The complex is the first in the region designed to meet the standards of the Green House movement, a read more

    A nursing home revolution