Green River Star -

Years ago, a family brought a 25-year-old farmer into the emergency room with a gunshot hole over his heart and with no pulse or breathing for more than ten minutes. It was a self-inflicted wound and this young farmer would farm no more. The family...

Of the 40 million people with hearing loss in the U.S., 25 percent of those, or 10 million, have lost their hearing as a result of exposure to excessive noise. But how much noise is too much? Measured as decibels (dB), the acceptable manufacturing...

A muddle and mixture of family and friends surrounded the dying elderly woman like she was a campfire. They came to honor and pay their respects; many generations, from all over the country. This group seemed well educated, well-read, and the...

The elderly patient came back to our rural hospital from a hospital in a nearby larger city after having had major surgery and feeding-tube placement. The care from the bigger hospital was superb except that the patient was getting too much nutrient...

“Every once in a while, my heart seems to be jumping out of my chest, I get a weak feeling and short of breath,” the patient explained. When I listened with my stethoscope, his rhythm was different than the usual lub-dub, foot-tapping, sounds,...

We have all had to deal with bullies throughout our lives, and I have had my share. One fall day, coming home from school, I saw two guys from my third-grade class beating up on a smaller kid and was moved to step in to help. I was chagrined, but...

It is miraculous to consider how much access and exposure we have to information through our computers, televisions, radios and newspapers. Unfortunately, we need to be on guard because too much of this buzz can be false information. In an October...

Q: What are some types of skin cancer?  A: The three major types are basal cell, squamous cell and malignant melanoma. In general, one in five, or 20 percent of people in the U.S. have had or will have some type of skin cancer. In Australia where...

Nothing has touched my soul and spoken to aging with grace quite like the ancient Indian medicine wheel and the traditions that have evolved from it. From the National Library of Medicine, I learned that in the Americas, Indian tribes have multiple...

Addiction can be defined as the compulsive repeated use of a drug or substance (such as alcohol) or performance of a behavior (such as gambling). Dependence is different, occurring when repeated use of a drug (such as heroine) results in physical dep...

(Publisher’s note: The Prairie Doc is a new health column offered to us from the Wyoming Press Association. Let us know if you enjoy it.) My good friend, a single man in his 60s, didn’t like going to the medical clinic for anything, let alone a...