GUEST COLUMN   As a makeup artist, the best part of my job is providing the means and materials for women to feel good about themselves, to brighten their spirits and to greet each day on a positive note. But my work led me to understand that there are many among us whose circumstances do not support feelings of self-esteem, nor the abilities to interact successfully with the world outside their doors. The idea for Project Beauty Share started as a conversation with one of my clients during a makeup lesson. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  We’ve all heard the old adage: The Spokane area is a great place to raise a family. Central to this statement is a belief about our residents’ health as a resource that enables our community to achieve its fullest potential. But the Spokane Regional Health District’s recent report, Health Inequities in Spokane County, paints a different picture of the town where I was born. In reality, health inequities are affecting the lives and futures of people all over the world. Spokane is no different. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN    Each year hundreds of individuals are injured from dog bites and dog attacks in Spokane County. Most dog bites are preventable if owners practice responsible pet ownership. The best first step is to make your pet a member of your family. Dogs are social animals and need to be part of a pack. If they spend too much time alone or tied in the back yard, dogs have a much greater chance of developing aggressive behavioral problems. The rules are that owners must keep their dogs confined to their property, while dogs off their property must be on a leash. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  Today, the day I’m writing this piece, the Centers for Disease Control has reported that one in 88 children are diagnosed on the autism spectrum; among boys, one in 54 are affected. When our son was diagnosed some 15 years ago, there was a one-in-10,000 chance to win the autism lottery. Now, one child is diagnosed on the spectrum every 20 seconds.

Is it just that more children are affected with the disorder? Or are more cases being detected? Good questions, but not ones I’m going to attempt to answer here. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  As a society, we face a growing problem that we pay for in multiple ways. The places we feel the safest might have environmental hazards causing a major threat to our well-being. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan made the link between health and housing clear at a recent conference in Detroit, noting, “You can predict the life expectancy of a child by the zip code in which they grow up. This is wrong.” As a research group called Children’s HealthWatch states, “A safe, decent, affordable home is like a vaccine — it literally keeps children healthy.” Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  I’m a child of the ’80s, so when I hear the word “exercise,” I visualize a group of men and women in leotards and leg warmers doing aerobics to Olivia Newton-John’s pop music. Needless to say, I much prefer the term “physical activity” to “exercise,” but there’s no denying those spandex-clad, big-haired enthusiasts were on to something. Regular physical activity is important for good health, and it’s especially important if you’re trying to lose or maintain a healthy weight. Read More>>

Riley Gonzales looks like a picture of health. An engaging 5-year-old who loves helicopters and airplanes, Riley’s cheerful smile belies the trouble within his little body. An insidious enemy wages war with his immune system, which overreacts and damages his joints. The name of this painful, chronic and disabling disease is juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, better known as JRA. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  It has now been nearly 18 months since the passage of federal health care reform. Yet a Kaiser Family Foundation poll earlier this year showed that 22 percent of Americans thought — wrongly — that the law had been repealed. Another 26 percent didn’t know whether it was still law. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  To many people, the 2011 legislative session was all about cuts, about slashing government to make up a $5 billion revenue shortfall to balance the budget. Actually, that was only half the story. Yes, we had to make up a historic shortfall due to the Great Recession, and to close the gap we had to drastically reduce many important public services. But we also exploited what opportunities we could to position our state for future growth and prosperity and, most importantly, to chart a path out of this crippling recession. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  Most everyone can recall a “lunch lady” story. They usually involve mystery meat and hairnets, summoning up visions of crowded school cafeterias and food fights. My favorite came from the Pasco School District nutrition director. She told me that a cook in an elementary school regularly saw a young boy bring a lunchbox to school but she never saw him eating lunch. One day on his way into school, the lunchbox fell open. It was empty. There was no lunch and there had never been one. Read More>>