From the newsroom:

Reporting on the ever-complex intricacies of health care and public health is often an intimate experience. I'm asking doctors and patients to share details with me that many others might not know about them, while understanding the systemic forces that may have led a patient to seek a doctor.

This work takes time, and when done with empathy and persistence, can result in powerful stories weaving lived experiences with public policies that help us understand elements of our hard-to-navigate health care system. 

For the last few weeks, I've been working on one of these stories. It began as a check-up on the state of opioid use in Whatcom County. As I talked with addiction specialists, the story's scope narrowed to focus on one facet of addiction recovery: medications for opioid use disorder.

Focusing on one of these treatments led me to the kitchen table of Linsey and Brian Dodds, a Mount Vernon couple who shared, with intimate detail, their decades-long road to this treatment. Only a sliver of the Dodds' story is shared in today's Sunday read, but with the support of readers like you, more experiences like the Dodds' can be heard and help us all understand the human stories behind our health care system.

You can support this in-depth reporting and learn more by donating at cascadiadaily.com/rfa.

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Sunday read

Linsey, left, and Brian Dodds look out the window of their Mount Vernon home Aug. 20. The couple have been clean and sober since beginning monthly buprenorphine injections in 2023.. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)

A 'miracle drug' is spreading hope for opioid addiction in Bellingham and beyond

Ignored, overlooked, and hard-to-obtain; an addiction treatment is showing promise in Whatcom County, and its uptake is spreading. Buprenorphine, an opioid treatment, staves off cravings and prevents overdoses and withdrawals. The hard-to-obtain, expensive and long-acting treatment is spreading hope for those with opioid use disorder. 

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Stories of the week

News

How many local kindergartners have all their vaccines? Fewer than the state average

What percentage of kindergartners have the measles vaccine? It's likely lower than the 95% immunization rate needed to stop the spread of measles. In Whatcom and Skagit county school districts, vaccine compliance has decreased in the last five years. 

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Opinion

Guest writer: Coal gets a boost as renewables are gutted

The Trump administration is acting to undo environmentally positive changes and make the air dirty again by throwing multiple lifelines to the flagging coal industry.

Letters to the Editor: Scooping poop, a fluoride fan, and where did the Chestnut trees go?

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Sports & Rec

Whatcom youth club sports teams provide affordable, competitive options

Youth club sports teams are thriving in Whatcom County, like what's seen in larger metro areas. However, several clubs believe they provide more affordable and flexible options for the local athletes in the area. 

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Living

Every Friday, these men serve a warm bowl of cultural heritage at PeaceHealth

PeaceHealth Executive Chef Andy Nguyen and head cook Khanh Trinh dish out more than 2,000 meals a day to caregivers, patients and community members. And, at the end of nearly every week, they share their heritage with Pho Fridays.

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