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MICK STEVENS OF TIGARD PUT HIS PARALEGAL CAREER ON HOLD TO TAKE CARE OF HIS DAUGHTER, JILLIAN, DURING THE PANDEMIC./COURTESY OF MICK STEVENS.

An artist's drawing of a new county Behavioral Health Resource Center planned for downtown Portland, at the old Bushong building site./Courtesy of Multnomah County

NICHOLAS KELLY WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS AS AN INFANT AND HAS NEVER BEEN HEALTHY ENOUGH TO WORK FULL TIME. HE WAS RECENTLY HOSPITALIZED FOR 2½ MONTHS DUE TO A LUNG INFECTION, A COMMON COMPLICATION FOR THE 30,000 AMERICANS WITH THIS DISEASE, MANY OF WHOM ARE BLACK AND/OR HISPANIC. ALTHOUGH NOVEL MEDICATIONS HAVE TRANSFORMED THE LIVES OF MOST PEOPLE WITH CF, THEY DON’T WORK IN 10% OF PATIENTS. “NOBODY WANTS TO BE HOSPITALIZED,” SAYS KELLY, WHO LIVES IN WILLOUGHBY, OHIO, A SUBURB OF CLEVELAND. “IF SOMETHING COULD DECREASE MY SYMPTOMS EVEN 10%, I WOULD TRY IT.”/KEN BLAZE FOR KHN

STEVE BUISSINNE/PIXABAY