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VOLUME 117 | ISSUE 36
Colorado’s Caraveo opens up about her struggle with depression Congresswoman said it’s her responsibility to discuss mental health BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Yadira Caraveo said her public admission this week of her struggle with chronic depression is like helping passengers trying to survive an airliner in distress. “When an airplane is in trouble and the oxygen masks come down, you make sure your mask is on safely, then you want to help the passenger next to you get their mask on as well. This so everyone can survive,” the 43-year-old Caraveo said this week. “I just think it’s my responsibility as a public figure to come forward and talk about mental health.” Caraveo is finishing up her first term as Colorado’s representative in the newly minted 8th Congressional District. A Democrat, Caraveo is also a pediatrician and is the first Latina congressperson in Colorado history. But while she climbed to the heights of the medical profession and achieved national prominence in politics, Caraveo has been followed by a dark shadow of depression. “It is something I’ve dealt with since I was a teenager,” Caraveo said while in her Northglenn office. “I thought at first it was just being in the throes of puberty and adolescence. It wasn’t until medical school that I realized I needed help and got treatment for depression.” By then, society was starting to shift its perception of clinical depression, she said.
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Big surgery for a tiny baby Platteville parents pleased with daughter’s recovery from abdominal surgery BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Expectant parents anticipate the 20-week ultrasound scan to get a better look at their baby, and that was the case for Amanda Sullivan and Roy Mendez of Platteville. The 20-week pregnancy scan, about halfway through the pregnancy, can allow parents to see their baby’s face, hands and legs. They might catch a glimpse of the baby sucking their thumb or their beating heart. But doctors use the scans to check on the baby’s health and pre-natal development, looking for things such as the growth of the brain, the bones or the kidneys. In Sullivan’s case, the scan of her unborn daughter Emilia showed a mismatch in her small intestine, one that would need to be corrected with surgery right after she was born. As her first birthday approaches, baby Emilia has a long way to go. But despite her SEE SURGERY, P7
SEE MENTAL HEALTH, P9
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challenges, Children’s Hospital Colorado said the doctors and staff will help her grow PHOTO BY AMANDA SULLIVAN into a healthy girl.
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