Eugene Weekly

One day, a patient with diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and depression walked into a doctor’s clinic in Milwaukee, Wis. Due to the limited time they had for the appointment, the doctor told the patient they could only treat one of the afflictions during that visit. The patient chose to tackle the weight issue, completely ignoring all of the other problems. For Dr. Leigh Saint-Louis, that was the moment she knew she could never practice medicine this way again.  Continue reading →

Patricia Cortez started volunteering in 1997 at Amigos, an organization that assists Latino families arriving in the U.S. after experiencing political violence and torture. Since then, not only has Cortez held every position within the organization, she created Juventud Faceta, a leadership program for Latino youth. “The social norm is that young people are a trouble, and are the problem of many communities,” Cortez says, but she challenges this idea in her work every day. Continue reading →

Kelsey Juliana and Olivia Chernaik are suing Gov. John Kitzhaber and the state of Oregon under the Public Trust Doctrine, and their climate change case came before the Oregon Court of Appeals in January. The young women say the governor and state are failing to protect essential natural resources, including the atmosphere, state waters and coastlines. “I’m the first person that should be stepping up,” Juliana says. “You don’t have to be an ‘activist’ to do something. You can be a kid or a parent.” Continue reading →