The Chicago Tribune has a great op-ed piece today on food insecurity in the United States—and issue we most commonly associate with foreign countries. However, as the country prepares for Thanksgiving, it’s worth noting that 14 percent of U.S. households lack access to adequate food, a number that jumps to more than 23 percent when households with children are factored in.

In other words, nearly one in four families in the United States is considered food insecure. That’s an outstanding (and quite frankly, shameful) statistic.

Chandi Edmonds: “In a recent study, an association was found between children with substandard meals and cognitive impairment. Other findings show that children in food-insecure households have higher odds of being in fair or poor health, have up to 2.6 times higher odds of having asthma and up to three times higher odds of having anemia.”

During this season of giving, I have to ask myself: can we really not do any better than this?

A panel of medical professionals and treatment experts packed a room at the Mill Casino-Hotel in Coos Bay last week, as officials discussed the ever-growing problem of heroin abuse in the region and Oregon as a whole.

Coos Bay World: “The National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2011 estimated 246,300 Oregonians self-reported using prescription pain relievers non-medically, meaning there was no legal prescription or medical need and instead they were used for recreational abuse and dependence purposes. According to a more recent survey, Oregon ranked first for past-year use of non-medical painkillers in 2013 and second in 2014.”