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Let’s hope it never happens, but there may come a time in your life when you need mental health care. Your Medicare covers a wide variety of such services, in both hospital inpatient and outpatient settings.

If you have Medicare Part A (hospital insurance), you’re eligible for mental health services when you’re admitted to a hospital as an inpatient. You can get these services either in a general hospital or a psychiatric hospital that only cares for people with mental health conditions.

The South Lake Tahoe Cancer League would like to thank Sage Alexander and Sophia Lamore from the advanced art class of Candy Lincoln at South Tahoe High School for their holiday window painting at their seasonal See's Candy store.

Dr. Robert Rand, whose pain pill prescribing practices led to the death of at least one patient and helped fuel a rampant pill mill run out of the Jones West Ford dealership, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Monday.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Miranda Du said doctors like Rand, who show ignorance and a reckless disregard for life, are fueling addiction and illegal distribution of pain pills.

"Doctors like Dr. Rand...are enablers and contribute to the opioid crisis in this community," Du said.

When medications and other treatments don't help your hip pain, you may have hip arthritis. Surgery to replace the hip joint may be the answer. An orthopedic surgeon who has experience with hip arthritis will understand your frustration with the pain and be able to help you get back to living your daily life.

What is hip arthritis?

One important component to living a long and healthy life is to get preventive health screening for serious diseases. If your doctor finds a disease early, it’s often easier to treat and may cause less damage.

In addition to celebrating milestone birthdays as celebrations, consider them reminders for important health checks. Here's a timeline for health screenings through the decades:

Homelessness isn’t just a South Lake Tahoe issue. It isn’t just an El Dorado county issue. It isn't just a California problem, though the state ranks 49th in housing units per capita.

And it isn't a problem that is going away any time soon and will take a change in the way the problem is currently being addressed to be solved. For every 100 people who are added to the population of California there are only 32 housing units built to house them.

Michael E. Fischer will portray the tenth governor of Nevada, John Sparks, at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 23, at 6:30 pm.

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Holocaust Survivor Dr. Jacob Eisenbach will be the special guest speaker at Chabad at the Ski Run Marina in South Lake Tahoe on July 13 at 7:00 p.m.

Jacob Eisenbach was born in Poland in 1923. Nicknamed “Kuba” by his father, Eisenbach grew up in a loving household with all of the hopes and dreams of any family… he was to be a doctor, his brother Sam, an author… his sister dreamed of a career as a pharmacist. That all changed when Hitler’s army invaded Poland in 1939.

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I took a couple of field trips this month related to learning more about cannabis and how it may affect our city if retail, commercial grows, testing, and edible production are implemented. I learned a lot and will share some of the highlights with you.

The first trip was to Breckenridge, a visit I piggybacked on top of a wedding I attended in Vail. I met with their Mayor, City Manager (formerly the police chief) and the assistant city manager. We met for two hours and our talk was primarily centered on their experiences with the legalization of cannabis in Breckenridge.

The first South Lake Tahoe Police Department community gathering was a successful one on Saturday as the 50th anniversary of the department was celebrated with hundreds of people at Lakeview Commons. There were rides on both the police and fire boats, a concert, BBQ, interactions with the police K-9s, booths, fingerprinting and an awards ceremony.

Going above and beyond the call of duty was recognized with awards to both staff members and the public.

South Lake Tahoe, CA – The votes have been counted and Lance Orr, MD has been named Barton Health’s Doctor of the Year.

Dr. Orr is a board-certified emergency physician and medical director at Barton Hospital’s Emergency Department. He is considered a “physician of all trades” and is currently acting as Barton Health’s interim Chief Medical Officer.

It’s been great seeing all of my friends and acquaintances who have lived here for less than 10 years posting photos and sharing how Snowmageddon 2017 has blown them away. I did the same when I first moved to Tahoe back in the 70’s and storms like this were not uncommon. Back then playing was more important than clearing the snow. I had a big Dodge Ram 4x4 pickup and I j drove over the snow in my driveway and packed it down. I did not own a snowblower and can’t remember shoveling much. One year the packed snow was so high I could not get the truck under the carport.

Denim is now the state’s official fabric to recognize its role in California history, and every autographed collectible sold in California must come with a certificate that verifies it's not a forgery. Those are just two of 898 new laws facing Californians in 2017.

Here are just a few of them compiled in part by California Highway Patrol (CHP):

Dear Voters,

I am writing to endorse Annie Davidson for LTUSD School Board. As coach of my daughter’s soccer team, Annie showed true devotion to her athletes and was an incredible teacher and mentor for the girls she coached. She showed true patience and skill in coaching nine 7-year-old girls. I got to know Annie during this time and was impressed with her enthusiasm for our youth and our community.

Historian Michael E. Fischer will speak on Baby Face Nelson in Nevada in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 13, at 10:00 am.

Few people living in Nevada today know that Baby Face Nelson, whose given name was Lester Gillis, spent a great deal of time in Nevada. He was avoiding the heat from authorities in the Midwest. In Reno, he was afforded protection from arrest and incarceration because of his connections to Bill Graham and James McKay. Their political and business connections covered almost the entire state.

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Ticket sales begin today for the Lake Tahoe Historical Society's Chautauqua at Lake Tahoe 2016, held Saturday, August 13, at the Duke Theater, Lake Tahoe Community College.

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As lawmakers grapple with how best to combat the nation’s prescription painkiller abuse crisis, a recent survey is shedding light on how patients who get these medications — drugs such as OxyContin, methadone or Vicodin — sometimes share or mishandle them.

Mya Rossi has been named Youth of the Year by the Boys and Girls club of Lake Tahoe because of her outstanding contributions to both the club and her community.

Along with this role she will also be receiving a Heavenly/Kirkwood/Northstar season pass next winter courtesy of the Vail Epic Promise Program.

An 18-year-old El Dorado Hills resident is the latest victim of a rash of overdoses from pills made to look like the prescription painkiller, Norco.

In Sacramento County, six deaths are attributed to the pills, and the death of county resident George Berry is now the seventh suspected victim. The pills ingested are actually Fentanyl, which is 80 times as potent as morphine and hundreds of times more potent than heroin.

"It was a sign that I need to retire," said Dr. Kelly Shanahan.

Shanahan sat down with me recently, to reflect on her 22 years in South Lake Tahoe, and the almost 10,000 babies she's delivered in her career.

The sign?

Without putting her office up for sale she received a phone call from a local realtor, asking if she'd like to sell the building that houses her Emerald Bay Center for Women's Health.

The potential buyer came to look at the property, and shortly after, a vacationing doctor called to see if she'd like to sell her practice.

"I will not let cancer define who I am. Cancer is not going to be my story."

Those powerful words come from South Lake Tahoe local Krista Kline Carson.

The 1989 South Tahoe High graduate, wife, mother and wellness coordinator for Barton University, is battling cancer after a tumor removed from her brain was found to be Stage IV Glioblastoma Multiforme, one of the fastest growing brain cancers. On Monday, January 18 she begins a six week regime of radiation and chemotherapy.

September 11 evokes a different meaning to South Lake Tahoe resident Christine O’Farrell. In 2002, on the one-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Christine was on the operating table at Barton Memorial Hospital facing a new threat: cancer.

Christine had been diagnosed with an aggressive case of breast cancer. At the time, she was 42 years old and working at Barton’s Home Health and Hospice for quality assurance and infection prevention. Her three children were 14, 12, and 9.

Tom and Cheryl Millham have been operating Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care (LTWC) out of their home since 1978. Since then, they've treated over 22,000 animals, released over 14,000 rehabilitated animals back into the wild, have a volunteer crew of 2,000 people, and train 50 to 100 new volunteers annually.

Former South Lake Tahoe orthopaedic surgeon and U.S. Ski Team doctor, J. Richard Steadman, MD, will be inducted into the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Hall of Fame on Friday, July 10th, during the Society’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. AOSSM Hall of Famers are individuals in the sports medicine community who have contributed immensely and set themselves apart from others in the field.