Rae Ellen Bichell

I cover the Rocky Mountain West, with a focus on land and water management, growth in the expanding west, issues facing the rural west, and western culture and heritage. I joined KUNC in January 2018 as part of a new regional collaboration between stations in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Please send along your thoughts/ideas/questions!

As a science reporter and Kroc fellow with NPR, I did important things like following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but also not-so-important stuff like spending far too much time searching for a piece of NASA audio from 1969 that captures the moment when an astronaut finds a loose turd floating through his spacecraft. As a Fulbright grantee living in Helsinki, Finland, I learned that dark winters are sad, reindeer meatballs are good, and ice swimming is best when avoided. Before that, I went to Yale to study archaeology, journalism and anything that involved handling insects and plants.

In my free time, I like reading, playing indoor soccer (not very well) and doing a crazy sport I came across in Colorado called canyoneering. Home is Nashville, Tennessee.

Patient satisfaction surveys fail to track how well hospitals treat people of color

Rae Ellen Bichell

The health care industry is obsessed with consumer satisfaction. But national patient surveys still don't get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care?
Pandemic or no, kids are still getting — and spreading — head lice

Rae Ellen Bichell

With kids back in school, business is picking back up for professional delousers. But how are kids getting head lice if they're physically distancing in the classroom?
With Delta Variant Surging In Colorado, A Country Music Festival Goes On

Rae Ellen Bichell

The CDC sent in a team to investigate a delta variant hotspot in Mesa County, Colo. That didn't stop tens of thousands of people from flocking to the state's largest country music festival.
A Hospital Charged More Than $700 For Each Push Of Medicine Through Her IV

Rae Ellen Bichell

A college student never learned the cause of intense pain that drove her to an ER, but her bill totaled $18,735.93. She and her mom, a nurse practitioner, were outraged after dissecting the charges.
Tips From Someone With Nearly 50 Years Of Social Distancing Experience

Rae Ellen Bichell

Billy Barr has lived alone in a cabin in a Colorado mountain ghost town for almost 50 years. He offers advice on how to find and maintain happiness in isolation.