The Mail Tribune reports on Southern Oregon family returning home after having triplets at OHSU, including spending 102 days in the neonatal intensive care unit.

OHSU and AFSCME bargaining teams present their final offers seven days after the union declared impasse. OHSU said in a statement that it hopes that “the bargaining teams will be able to come to agreement. OHSU values its partnership with AFSCME and remains committed to all employees and is looking forward to returning to the bargaining table soon and moving forward with a new contract.”

In a Parade story about the basics of cannabis consumption, Rob Hendrickson, M.D., says that THC metabolizes to a chemical called carboxy-THC that is detectible in the body much longer than THC itself. He says, “In general, after a single use of cannabis, carboxy-THC will be present in urine over the drug test cut off for a few days. However, if you use cannabis on a regular basis, carboxy-THC may be detectable in urine for several weeks.” Story is republished by numerous outlets across the country.

Parade interviews Kathy Grant, Ph.D., about the basics of alcohol consumption. She says, “In general, how much you drink, how fast you drink, if your stomach is empty when you drink, your biological sex, your body composition, if you are on certain mediations and your genetics all affect your alcohol clearance rate.” Story is republished by numerous outlets across the country.

A republishing of an OHA blog post interviewing Eric Stecker, M.D., about how the SARS-CoV-2 virus can damage the heart along with other organs.

New research from OHSU reveals private equity firms that acquire physician-owned medical practices appear to be imposing measures to squeeze out more profits. Senior author Jane Zhu, M.D., says, “The reason this is of concern to patients and policymakers is that private equity is often driven by profit margins of 20% or more. To do that, they have to generate higher revenues or reduce costs. Increasing private equity in these physician practices may be a symptom of the continuing corporatization of health care."

Oregon Health Authority distributes new bivalent vaccine booster as OHSU’s latest statewide forecast reports illnesses from the current wave peaked on July 13.

Heather Voss, Ph.D., RN, and Rachel Richmond, M.S.N., RN, discuss the Ashland-based OHSU Street Nursing Team, which works to better meet the health needs of Southern Oregonians who are experiencing homelessness and also educates nursing students about how to best care for the unhoused population. Richmond says: “I hope this project will help tomorrow’s health care workers see each and every patient as a whole human being who deserves respect and compassion.”

OPB-Radio covers the challenges nurses are facing in overcrowded hospitals, and ongoing staffing shortages as people leave the profession. Renee Edwards, M.D., notes long-term efforts to alleviate the crisis with OHSU’s 30-30-30 initiative, and in the short-term, asks patients to be patient: “What [clinicians] are living through, the effort they’ve put forward, and the care that they’re delivering on a daily basis can’t be emphasized enough.”

Judith Guzman-Cottrill, D.O., discusses the importance of receiving the newly authorized booster shots, which target both the original strain of COVID-19 and the two omicron subvariants that are causing most of the current infections: “This virus has been mutating so quickly over the past two years … I feel like we've been playing catch up and finally we have caught up.”