ALT MEDICINE  Each year, in late April or early May, when the white flowers of White Camas (Lomatium canbyi) have dried up and the seeds are beginning to toast in the sun, members of the Spokane Tribe slip away to certain rocky scablands to dig white camas and other roots.

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GUEST COLUMN  In April, the American Lung Association released its 10th annual State of the Air report (visit www.stateoftheair.org). The report indicates how unhealthy an area’s outdoor air is and grades counties nationwide on air pollutant levels, including ground-level ozone (smog) and fine particle pollution (soot). Read More>>

SPECIAL SECTION  Everything in your home that takes up space, takes up energy, too. Practitioners of the ancient Chinese art of feng shui believe a person’s environment can impact the health of their body and mind. Read More>>

SPECIAL SECTION  A few years ago, an MIT professor entertained students with a mind-boggling notion: With every breath they took, it was statistically nearly certain that one molecule of that air had been exhaled by Julius Caesar as he took his final breath more than two thousand years ago. Because people breathe in and out more than 20,000 times a day, it may be worth considering what else, besides Caesar’s last gulp, is in that air. Outdoors, pollutants are rapidly dispersed. Indoors, contaminants can become much more concentrated. The EPA estimates people now spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, potentially exposed for long periods to those contaminants. Read More>>

SPECIAL SECTION  Visualize the home of the American Dream: a single-family house in a nice neighborhood, a broad expanse of green lawn, perhaps a garden, and maybe even a white picket fence. The grass in that lawn might be green in color, but chances are good that it’s far from environmentally friendly. The culturally ideal suburban lawn is an unnatural monoculture, in agricultural terms — a small-scale version of the endless corn and soybean fields of the American Midwest. Read More>>

INNOVATION  Santiago Acosta watches his mother across the table from behind the lenses of his neon green eyeglasses. He scoots slowly down the table — slow enough not to garner any attention — with his cup of macaroni and cheese. His eyes are on her as he attempts to sit under the table with his lunch. Read More>>

COOKING  Chef Dave Hill was in the back of the house kneading homemade focaccia bread on the day I visited Hills’ Restaurant and Lounge. His eyes twinkled when I arrived, and then he stepped aside mischievously to show me one of several small greenhouses behind his workstation. “Wait until you see the ones on the roof!” he added. Read More>>

DIET & FITNESS  If you want to succeed at getting fit and achieving a healthy weight, don’t keep it a secret. A recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine confirms what many fitness experts have long been touting: accountability works. Study participants who were kept accountable to their nutrition program through food journals and review were twice as likely to stick with it and get the results they wanted. A similar study, done months earlier in the same journal, showed the same outcome. Out of 1,685 weight-loss seekers, the single biggest predictor of their success was if they were held accountable through diaries in their fitness program. Read More>>

NEWS  Brooks Ohlson grew up in Everett and completed his undergrad education at Western Washington University in Bellingham. After he was accepted to the University of Washington’s medical school, he was told he would be spending his first year in Spokane. He and his wife weren’t quite prepared for this news. Read More>>

PARENTING  The image of the nursing mother is romantic: a smiling, relaxed woman with a clean baby head nestled at the breast; the only sound, a satisfied suckling. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to look like. Read More>>

PARENTING  A: Be grateful that in the Inland Northwest, bugs primarily just bug people. Yes, West Nile Virus hits the radar every summer, but fortunately, serious complications are rare. We have ticks as well, but they’re quite human-friendly, with complications such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever essentially non-existent in our region. There is still good reason, however, to avoid bites — they itch, which leads to scratching, which can lead to skin infection. So what to do? Read More>>

PEOPLE  For most of us, the workday starts when we reach the office. For Dr. William Sayres, work starts when he flips on his kitchen light. As the 52-year-old family physician prepares breakfast in his Valleyford home, he often gets calls from nearby neighbors needing a little medical assistance. How about a quick check on Mom? Could he answer a couple of quick questions about a prescription?
Sure, he says. He’ll come by. Making house calls is just a part of what he does. “It’s fun, and families are so appreciative,” he says. Read More>>

SENIORS  Kids fall all the time, mostly without any serious consequences. After all, those little tushes are pretty well cushioned. As people age, however, a fall can become a serious medical event. Read More>>

COVER STORY  The American health care system isn’t perfect. But compared to Rwanda, to Cameroon, to Armenia and Indonesia, the difference is night and day, life and death. People in those countries are crying out for the expertise that Inland Northwest medical professionals can provide. Fortunately, some health care providers are ready to help. And they are looking to do more than just slap a Band-Aid on the problem. Read More>>

COVER STORY  Not surprisingly, the artwork in the office of Pam Silverstein, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Deaconess Medical Center, has a lot to do with babies. Numerous sculptures and woodcarvings of infants and pregnant women — from all over the world — sit about her office. Read More>>

COVER STORY  Tim Lessmeier had never been overseas. No spring break vacations to England, or post-college excursions to Europe. So you wouldn’t think Armenia — an Eastern European country ground down by genocide, Communism and Communism’s collapse — would be the choice for his first overseas voyage. Read More>>

COVER STORY  It’s a sunny day on Shady Slope in north Spokane. Dr. Norman James — a plastic surgeon and hand surgeon — and his wife, Theresa, sit under the shade of an umbrella in their backyard and sip orange punch, talking about their work, their calling and the foreign country they love. Read More>>

COVER STORY  Julie Hoerner, director of emergency services for Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, is a bit shy about being interviewed. After all, hers isn’t one of those dramatic tales of removing land-mine shrapnel in a war-torn country overseas. Instead of poor Rwandans, she helped treat middle-class American kids. Instead of curing malaria, she helped combat dehydration. Read More>>

COVER STORY  The clinic is packed with onlookers. Doctor-patient confidentiality, HPPA regulations, privacy — these don’t exist in the small Indonesian village of Ujung Sialit.
“Nothing happens in a private room,” says Dr. Alisa Hideg. “The hardest part is keeping the kids away from the windows.” Read More>>

FROM THE EDITOR  As I edit each new issue of InHealthNW, I’m often surprised to find an overarching theme. This time I was struck by the notion of the benefits of a “fresh set of eyes” to consider problems. Daniel Walters’ set of stories on medical professionals on a mission is certainly enlightening. As these health care providers direct their highly trained eyes toward countries all over the globe, they often find creative ways of solving problems. Of course, money helps, but it’s amazing what a fresh perspective can offer. And I think it is safe to say that the experiences are also eye-opening for the people themselves.  Read More>>