Elena Rivera
Health ReporterElena Rivera is the health reporter at KERA.
Before joining KERA, Elena covered health in Southern Colorado for KRCC and Colorado Public Radio. Her stories covered pandemic mental health support, rural community health access issues and vaccine equity across the region. She also worked as a daily show producer with Georgia Public Broadcasting and a reporter and host with Blue Ridge Public Radio. She has won awards for arts and culture reporting, podcasting and team coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Elena got her start as a reporter and producer at KBIA, Mid-Missouri’s NPR station. She has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Outside of her public radio work, she serves as a mentor to emerging audio producers and reporters as the captain of the New Voices program with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR).
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The First Unitarian Church of Dallas is starting The Truth Pregnancy Resource Center to counter anti-abortion messages from crisis pregnancy centers. -
More than 2 million Texans, mostly children, have lost health insurance as the state has redetermined their eligibility for Medicaid coverage. -
According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, Texas has more severe racial and ethnic health disparities than other states in the Southwest. -
Parkland Health expands testing and outreach to address the maternal syphilis crisis in North Texas. -
When issues like bleeding and postpartum depression are left untreated, they can lead to death. Black Texans and other groups of color experience maternal mortality at higher rates, but organizations are working to change that reality. -
National LGBTQ+ organization PFLAG won a temporary injunction blocking Texas from demanding information on trans kids. -
More than 2,000 patients have had their personal medical information leaked in a UT Southwestern Medical Center data breach -
Flu, COVID-19 and RSV cases have been decreasing in Dallas County since mid-January, but county officials encourage people to stay up-to-date on vaccines. -
A new Medicaid extension goes into effect today that gives pregnant Texans twelve months of postpartum coverage. -
HHS Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine visited Parkland Health in Dallas on Thursday to discuss high rates of syphilis in Texas. -
It’s been two years since Texas implemented new health education standards for students, but advocates say the opt-in instruction still isn’t comprehensive. -
New research underlines the importance of doula care in improving maternal mortality and morbidity for pregnant Medicaid patients.
