Letter of the day: As HCMC goes begging,
the governor gets an invitation
Star Tribune, January 26, 2010
Each Wednesday I spend four hours volunteering at the Dignity Center in Minneapolis with folks who have no money, live on the streets and have medical issues. Many are single men, some are women, and a few are families with small children. Many of them visit clinics and receive medical care at Hennepin County Medical Center. Most cannot pay for this care or even minimal copays.…read more
HCMC asks other counties for help -- gets no takers
By KATIE HUMPHREY and KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune staff writers, January 24, 2010
It was an unusual plea that went out from cash-strapped Hennepin County Medical Center to other metro area counties: Please help pay our pile of medical bills for the uninsured destitute patients who live in your county.…read more
Minnesota's sick and poor, hospitals, brace for end of GAMC
By Scott Goldberg, KARE 11, 1/21/2010
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- Minnesota's sickest and poorest residents, as well as law enforcement officials and hospitals, are bracing for March 1 - the day the state's safety-net program called General Assistance Medical Care, or GAMC, is scheduled to end.…read more
Carbon monoxide poisonings peak in winter months
By The Associated Press, 1/1/2010
MINNEAPOLIS -- A new report from the Minnesota Department of Health says accidental carbon monoxide poisonings peak in winter.…read more
HCMC's hyperbaric chamber saves lives,
but is running on borrowed time
By MATT McKINNEY, Star Tribune, December 31, 2009
It was a key part of a life-and-death drama this week when it was used to help save a St. Paul couple poisoned by carbon monoxide, but the hyperbaric chamber at the Hennepin County Medical Center is no state-of-the-art piece of equipment.…read more
Carbon monoxide cases treated in state's
only emergency hyperbaric chamber
By Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio, December 30, 2009
St. Paul, Minn. — Found unconscious in their St. Paul home because of a defective boiler, Tom and Nancy Nordeen were rushed this week to the state's only facility that offers emergency hyperbaric oxygen treatment.…read more
St. Paul couple, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning,
were rescued in the nick of time
By Mara H. Gottfried, mgottfried@pioneerpress.com, 12/30/2009
If their son hadn't arrived when he did, John "Tom" and Nancy Nordeen could have died Tuesday from carbon monoxide poisoning in their St. Paul home, a Hennepin County Medical Center physician said Wednesday.…read more
HCMC struggles with budget choices
By Brandt Williams, Minnesota Public Radio, December 9, 2009
Minneapolis — DFL state lawmakers will announce on Thursday their plan to to restore funding for General Assistance Medical Care. Gov. Pawlenty cut the program earlier this year to help balance the budget. GAMC reimburses hospitals that treat uninsured patients.…read more
The coffee lady's cancer battle on a budget
By John Croman, Kare11.com, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009
Laura works the coffee and snack counter, which is owned by a private company that contracts with the museum. Even when I'm not stopping to grab a cup she manages to shout out a hello and a question or two about what story I'm off to cover.…read more
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