There is much debate about school masking. What is the science on this? Does it help with covid? Is the US an outlier? We talk with a schoolteacher about her experience with masking and go over some of the latest research. 

Why do we make the decisions we do? What influences our decision making process? In this episode we bring back Dr. Erin Blake and discuss how the decision making process is shaped by our healthcare environment. We also look at an airline accident and analyze some of the factors influencing the decisions of the crew which sadly resulted in a terrible crash. 

Variolation and Coronavirus? In this episode we go over a brief history of vaccination and discuss Dr. Monica Gandhi's recent article that looked at facial masking during Covid-19 and potential benefits outside of preventing infection.

Do you really know the story of the of Thanksgiving?

In this episode we discuss how the pandemic is affecting individuals who are not on the frontline. Guests include oncologist, Dr. Erin Blake, Dr. Elizabeth Holguin medical director of community health at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, middle school teacher Cristina Gonzales, and Scott Lardner owner of Rocky Mountain Stone. 

In this episode of the Journal Committee we discuss the different machines available to assist patients when they struggle with breathing as well as what happens when the air we breathe is polluted with wildfire smoke. Our guests include a respiratory therapist and a wildland firefighter. Citations are posted below:Bruells, C. S., Smuder, A. J., Reiss, L. K., Hudson, M. B., Nelson, W. B., Wiggs, M. P., . . . Powers, S. K. (2013). Negative Pressure Ventilation and Positive Pressure Ventilation Promote Comparable Levels of Ventilator-induced Diaphragmatic Dysfunction in Rats. Anesthesiology, 119(3), 652-662. doi:10.1097/aln.0b013e31829b3692Corrado, A., & Gorini, M. (2002). Negative-pressure ventilation: Is there still a role? European Respiratory Journal, 20(1), 187-197. doi:10.1183/09031936.02.00302602Energy, J. (2020, April 07). Modern iron lung designed to address ventilator shortage. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://newatlas.com/medical/british-engineers-modern-iron-lung-covid-19-ventilator-alternative/Grasso, F., Engelberts, D., Helm, E., Frndova, H., Jarvis, S., Talakoub, O., . . . Kavanagh, B. P. (2008). Negative-Pressure Ventilation. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 177(4), 412-418. doi:10.1164/rccm.200707-1004ocKurt. O. K., Zhang, J., & Pinkerton, K. E. (2016). Pulmonary health effects of air pollution. Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, 22(2), 138-143. doi:10.1097/mcp.0000000000000248Lee, B., Kim, B., & Lee, K. (2014). Air Pollution Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease. Toxicological Research, 30(2), 71-75. doi:10.5487/tr.2014.30.2.071Liu J. C., Pereira, G., Uhl, S. A., Bravo, M. A., & Bell, M. L. (2015). A systematic review of the physical health impacts from non-occupational exposure to wildfire smoke. Environmental Research, 136, 120-132. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2014.10.015Liu, J. C., Wilson, A., Mickley, L. J., Dominici, F., Ebisu, K., Wang, Y., . . . Bell, M. L. (2017). Wildfire-specific Fine Particulate Matter and Risk of Hospital Admissions in Urban and Rural Counties. Epidemiology, 28(1), 77-85. doi:10.1097/ede.0000000000000556Peters, A., Annette Peters From the Department of Environmental Health (A.P., Dockery, D., Douglas W. Dockery From the Department of Environmental Health (A.P., Muller, J., James E. Muller From the Department of Environmental Health (A.P., . . . Peters, C. (2001, June 12). Increased Particulate Air Pollution and the Triggering of Myocardial Infarction. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.CIR.103.23.2810Raymondos, K., Ahrens, J., & Molitoris, U. (2015). Combined Negative- and Positive-Pressure Ventilation for the Treatment of ARDS. Case Reports in Critical Care, 2015, 1-5. doi:10.1155/2015/714902Rep. No. EPA-452/R-19-901 (2019).Staff, K., Boxman, K., Rolfe, F., Wu, L., DeMars, G., & Auld, A. (2020). Hays company bringing back 'iron lungs' to help rural hospitals in need of ventilators. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.kwch.com/content/news/Hays-company-bringing-back-iron-lungs-to-help-rural-hospitals-in-need-of-ventilators-569640331.html