This past weekend two students at Bellevue High School overdosed on what is being treated as lookalike medications laced with fentanyl.

Bellevue investigators were alerted with a shocking fentanyl warning in Bellevue. Police are warning and sending out reminders to parents after two teens overdosed last weekend just minutes apart. What is even worse is that these were two separate students who overdosed at approximately the same time.

Fortunately, the two teenagers survived. However, a mom who lost her teenage son to a fentanyl overdose join Bellevue investigators with an important and powerful warning. Investigators stated that the teens who attend Bellevue High School thought they were taking Percocet (pain killer), but the the pills were found to contain fentanyl or laced with fentanyl. The two boys admitted to the police that they bought Percocet off the streets before they overdosed at their homes- minutes apart.

Detectives said one is a 17-year-old boy who lives in Bellevue and his dad did CPR to bring him back. The other is an 18-year-old boy who lives in Yarrow Point and he had to be revived using Narcan, police said. Although both teens were fortunate enough to survive this horrible incident, police report that this underscores the fentanyl crisis.

“Now the message has changed,” said detective Jim Keene. “We can’t even really worry about addiction, we have to worry about life and death. One pill, sometimes the first pill you take, can be lethal.”

Olga Davidov-Beirer joined Bellevue investigators for the first time since her son died from a fentanyl overdose to try and help save the children of many other families. “On September 30th, 2019 I walked to his room just to cover him, it was early morning and I found his cold body,” Davidov-Beirer said. This is no sight that any mother should have to see. Davidov-Beirer found her son Lucas dead from a fentanyl overdose. Lucas was a football player at Skyline High School and his mother states that he thought he was buying Percocet pain killer off the streets.

Detectives state that cartels are making high quality pills which means the fake ones laced with fentanyl look exactly like real prescription pills. They say that it would be very cheap to make and dealers can manufacture their owns pills which contain fentanyl.

“These pills are very dangerous,” Keene said. “You just can’t assume anymore that any pill that you get off the street is legitimate. The only way it’s legitimate is if you got it from your pharmacist.”

Police and detectives are still investigating where the pills came from. Bellevue School District states that they take this matter very seriously as it could cost student lives. As of right now, officials are trying to make this problem more aware by pushing out more educational resources to students and families about the seriousness of this opioid crisis, including fentanyl.

There are currently 73,335 cases of this deathly virus around the world: 1,873 of those cases have resulted in deaths. 72,438 cases in China alone and even 15 cases in US. This deathly disease known as the coronavirus is spreading like wildfire and been considered and named as a global health emergency. Research has been shown that this virus originates from bats but the new coronavirus is tied to a seafood market in Wuhan, China. However, the true source of coronavirus has not been determined.

The new coronavirus is extremely dangerous because it is transmitted through face to face interactions. It even takes 14 days for people to recognize symptoms and diagnose, but within those 14 days, it could easily spread to everyone you speak to. This international crisis has yet be solved but has caused many dilemmas.

Access to Mainland China Suspended

Delta, American, and United have announced that they will be temporarily cancelling all flights to mainland China due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. These airlines were faced with pressure from unions of airplane employees and warnings from public health officials.

The US State Department has elevated its China travel advisory to a level 4, advising that all Americans should not travel there. This change occured after the declaration of a global health emergency by the coronavirus that was declared by the World Health Organization.

White House officials had considered a ban on all travel to China but they had yet to contact the airlines. However, the decision of all airlines to suspend travels to China had rendered the White House action debate.

“The risk of infection for Americans remains low,” said Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services and chairman of the coronavirus task force set up by President Donald Trump. “We are working to keep the risk low.”

Airlines are now working with all customers that are directly affected by this decision to help them make alternate travel arrangements.

Discrimination Against Asian-Americans

This new outbreak of coronavirus has not only caused medical problems, but also social problems. Once people heard that this deathly virus started in China, Asian-Americans became exposed to the harshness of discrimination.

A flier in Los Angeles’ Carson area, with a fake seal of the World Health Organisation, tells residents to avoid Asian-American businesses because of a coronavirus outbreak. A Los Angeles middle schooler is beaten and hospitalised after students say he is as an Asian-American with coronavirus.

Bullying and assault of Asian-Americans are being reported nationwide, kindled by the fear that they are related to the virus that originated in China.

With one of the largest population of Asian-Americans in the nation, California officials are doing the best they can to try to get ahead of hate crimes before they spread even further.

However, the existing prejudice of Asian-Americans combined with media images from China have furthered the fear that Asians are more likely to be virus carriers. The discrimination could get worse given chances the virus may spread in US communities in the weeks and months ahead, said Robin Toma, head of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.

This issue is not unique to just the California area.

New York City designer Yiheng Yu works in an office where many colleagues have recently returned from China and where she and others wear face masks as a precaution.

On one occasion when she wore a mask outside her office she was accosted by a woman.

“She started yelling, ‘Are you Crazy? Get the heck out of here,” said Yu, 34. “I realised it was because I was wearing a mask.”

These situations only get worse and worse with the increasing amount of new coronavirus cases in the United States and China. Coronavirus has become the smallpox of the 21st century.

Thousands of nurses at Swedish Medical Centers are on strike for the first time in history. A three day strike by majority of the nurses in the First Hill, Cherry Hill, and other campuses. Some Swedish emergency rooms were shut down, very few still stayed open.

More than 15000 nurses from hospitals such as Swedish Medical Center voted to approve the strike happening on January 29th due to various unfair labor practices, insufficient staffing and much more.

“We want equity wages and health care benefits, and we want more than ever to do this through a racial justice lens,” Swedish Cherry Hill charge nurse Delores Prescott said. “We want equity and inclusion for all — that’s for patients as well as ourselves.”

There were many problems occuring with the system at Swedish which left the nurses no other option but to strike when management would not negotiate with them.

“At one time, Swedish was a place where it was comfortable and safe to work — the bosses seemed like they cared.” said Prescott. “We’re feeling today that patient safety, staff retention, and recruitment are not the bosses’ interests.”

The hospital recently eliminated a team of nurses specifically trained to apply IVs to patients. Without those nurses, the process to administer IVs takes as many as three to four tries from overworked, understaffed nurses.

News from the union states that the nurses have been terminated due to participation in union activity and that “the best quality care is no longer Swedish-Providence’s top priority.”

According the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 31.9 percent of all adolescents from ages 13-18 experience an anxiety disorder. These statistics have been continually rising annually since 2007.

Along with these numbers, the number of suicidal teens admitted to hospitals and doctor have doubled in the past decade. This raises many concerns and questions.

What is causing the dramatic rise of teen anxiety?

Why is this happening? Even though there is not a specific cause, there are a number of factors contributing to the increase of anxiety. There are a number of biological factors that could lead to this such as genetics, life events, personality, and brain functions, however there are also social factors that should be considered.

• High expectations and pressure. Teenagers tend to place very high expectations on themselves which increases their stress. Today’s teenagers are expected to do extremely well in school and attend prestigious universities. They must also maintain good relations and active social lives. However with this comes loads of stress and pressure that teenagers cannot handle. This creates feelings of overwhelm which then lead to anxiousness and when severe, depression.
• Parental approval. Teens are in an awkward phase where they want their parents to approve of everything they are doing but they also want to do things that they personally want to do or things that rebel parental authority. This is frustrating for both teenagers and parents. Parents always want what is best for their children and sometimes that comes with very high expectations. For example, a parent wanting their teenager to have perfect grades. However, teenagers do not view these expectations from the same perspective as their parents do which will create stress and anxiety for them. This is a necessary and normal stage of development but when extreme, it can create lasting effects on a teenager’s mental health.

• Social media and peer pressure. Teenagers these days are under a lot of pressure from their peers. Peer pressure can be a positive or negative thing but both types will create stress. For example, being pressure into smoking because it will make you cool is an example of negative peer pressure. On the other hand, if a teen’s friend is getting the grades and forming one of the best reputations in their school, this creates a lot of pressure for that teen to conform with everyone and keep up their social lives as well. Teens today are also under the powerful influence of social media. It is not shocking that their lives become connected to responses of social media posts. It is difficult for them to not compare themselves and their social lives to the standards set by social media.

Regardless the cause, the rise of teen anxiety in our youth is a serious problem.

The skyrocketing of anxiety leads to much more serious mental health problems- depression, suicide, and substance abuse. This interferes with their ability to focus and concentrate in school causing longterm impacts on a teen’s education. This anxiety also leads to many physical problems- headaches, pain, and potentially heart disease. Anxiety affects everyone very severly, those who are school bound and those that are not.

So what can our society do about this problem?

• Stay aware of signs of anxiety.
• Be aware of the expectations set for our youth.
• Talk with teens about problems.
• Talk with teens about social media use.

The world is a challenging and scary place. Our role as a society is to help the youth take on problems, build new coping strategies, and develop the resilience that is needed when faced with difficulties and hardships.

“If we didn’t have genetic mutations, we wouldn’t have us. You need error to open the door to the adjacent possible.”

Steven Johnson

The idea of genetic modification has been debated over the years by many. Some say that the very idea of genetic modification is not saving the world but instead controlling the world. Others argue that the ability to change the human DNA can modify humans to perfection. Whether people may agree with this practice or not, human genetic modification is becoming increasingly common in modern society.

Why is human genetic modification important?

It could prevent various types of diseases that newborns are born with. It could eliminate many forms of depression and anxiety. It could help increase intelligence. It could improve the quality and span of our lives. There are endless possibilities that could be achieved with genetic modification.

On a bigger picture, genetic modification could drastically improve our society. Human evolution would be changed. When most people think about human evolution, they think biologically and about the process of natural selection. But there are many other forms of evolution that are possible with genetic engineering. Gene therapy can used to replace the defective human genes with effective ones. By doing this, there is the creation of artificial intelligence and even synthetic life. This creates a process of evolution that is much faster than natural selection. Instead of waiting years for positive mutations to show up(natural selection), beneficial changes in humans can be seen much more frequently. This helps to create the illusion of the perfect human being that many aspire to be.

This sounds pretty amazing and beneficial to many people, but it is not predicted to be achieved in the near future.

In the meantime, there are still many problems relating genetic engineering.

The question of “Is it right?” is still debated on today. Many religions frown upon the idea of genetic engineering and strictly forbid it. Besides religious arguments, there are still numerous amounts of ethic objections. Diseases and many problems that us humans have exist for a reason and have lasted throughout all of history for the same reason. Although many of these diseases are fatal and harmful, if we completely eliminate these diseases, then humans would be able to live much longer than they already can which can create many problems for society. Creating artificially longer lifespans can cause overpopulation on Earth which can create social problems in society and even more problems in the future that we cannot predict. Technologically speaking, there could also be genetic defects to this method. Because genetic engineering is not perfected yet by medical professionals, scientists are yet to know if this method works properly without leaving any side effects. Human bodies are incredibly complicated and even the most intelligent scientists do not know everything about how the human body works. If they were to eliminate one type of disease, a brand new disease could be introduced and could be even more dangerous. There is just still so much that scientists don’t know yet that they cannot account for all the possibilities of things to go wrong. And finally, the last controversial question, “Could it go too far?”. There are thousands of genetic scientists that have pure intentions of eliminating fatal diseases that are taking away the lives of millions in society. However, what if researchers take this invention a step too far? People start to create the idea of a perfect human or a “designer baby”. What happens when people start toying with the idea of artificially changing the eye color or hair color of there baby? What happens if people want to genetically engineer the sex of their baby or the intelligence of their baby? Is this right or wrong? This is idea of genetic engineering has gone too far especially in our society where the technology behind this idea is progressing further everyday.

Genetically modifying humans is an idea that raises lots of controversy. The ability to alter the human gene could be very useful in right hands or it could go too far in the wrong hands. It may be a wonderful creation but no ones know if it will be entirely safe to alter human nature.

Healthcare disparities are a huge problem within the United States and globally. Many people face the problems of not having access to healthcare due to social, economic, or more factors. A healthcare disparity refers to differences between groups and how they access their medicine. They are usually not associated with preferences and wants but rather no access and lack of a solid economic situation.

A complex set of social determinants of health contribute to disparities in health and healthcare. Some of it has to do with behaviors and how people will want to lost weight versus following medical advice from a professional. Majority of the time, it is how healthcare is financed, organized, and provided that shapes disparities. A broader range of socioeconomic factors effect a person’s health and access to quality medicine.

Most people commonly view race and ethnicity as determining factors to health disaparities, however there is a wider amount of factors such as economic status, age, gender, education level, and citizenship status. Many federal efforts have been targeted at these specific groups that are more vulnerable to health inequality including women, low-income groups, groups of color, and much more. These groups are not exclusive and in fact many of them interact with each other or within in each other.

Addressing these disparities are crucial as there are very devastating outcomes when they are not addressed such as fatality, lower life expectancy, etc. Health disparities have a large impact on the overall population and the quality of care that everyone receives. It is especially important now as our population is becoming more diverse than before.

Some of the most pervalent disparities that are occuring in our nation are for the people of color and people in low income families. This issue is still persisting to this day. These people have historically faced greater hardships in getting access to quality care and they have a much higher rate of uninsurance. This leads to much more health hazards for them as they are not able to receive healthcare when they are sick or seriously injured.

As of right now, this still remains a big issue in this nation that the federal government is still trying to fix and eliminate.