WEEK OF JUNE 27, 2024
VOLUME 122 | ISSUE 31
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‘And he held my hand’
Douglas County School Board delays action on protections for trans students
Peer visits at Parker hospital bring hope to patients recovering from stroke
BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Something as simple as a touch of a hand and some comforting words brought Julie Pfankuch from hopelessness to being hopeful. That’s what helped Pfankuch on her long path to recovery from a stroke and now, years later, Pfankuch is spreading that hope at AdventHealth Parker Hospital with their new Stroke Peer Visitation Program. “Not knowing what’s coming down the road for you and the struggles… just sharing that with someone can make a big difference,” said Pfankuch. One of the most common post-stroke complications is depression. A 2023 study published in the federal National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine found that the prevalence of post-stroke depression is high, is often underestimated and tends to occur months after stroke. Recently retired from the hospital, Kimberly Roth was the stroke coordinator at AdventHealth Parker. Throughout her nearly two decades at the hospital, she Julie Pfankuch, who had an ischemic stroke in 2016, is now one of the first peer visisaw the number of stroke patients at the tors with AdventHealth Parker Hospital’s Stroke Peer Visitation Program. With the hospital increasing. premises of giving hope to people who have had a stroke, the program was created by Kimberly Roth, who saw a need for ongoing support for stroke survivors.
SEE RECOVERING, P5
VOICES: 14 | LIFE: 16 | CALENDAR: 19
Following backlash from a group of parents, elected officials and others opposed to updating discrimination policies to include transgender students, the board for the Douglas County School District has indefinitely delayed a vote on the matter. Proposed changes to the policies would have explicitly prohibited discrimination and harassment against transgender and nonbinary students, mirroring new language in the federal Title IX law as well as a 2023 Colorado law. Board president Christy Williams said the board received over 100 emails about the proposed changes prior to a meeting on June 18 and that she wanted to delay action on the matter to give the board more time to get information about the impacts of the changes.
COURTESY OF JULIE PFANKUCH
SEE DELAY, P11
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