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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Children's Health in Dallas recently released its biannual report measuring kids’ well-being across seven counties, showing there’s still a need for more mental health support. -
Children's Health in Dallas was recently recognized nationally for excellence in nursing, during a time hospitals across DFW are experiencing a surge of patients with respiratory viruses.
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A new study from U-T Southwestern Medical Center shows high stress contributes to worse heart disease over time.
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Mandy Cohen, the director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, visited Dallas County today to discuss vaccines heading into the winter months.
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Texas has the highest rate of uninsured kids in the nation. And advocates say it’s only going to get worse as the state continues to check whether people are still eligible for Medicaid.
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Psychologists explore how Dungeons & Dragons can help improve mental health—by connecting people with support and creating space to process tough emotions.
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Cook Children's in Fort Worth is experiencing a surge of RSV cases that is overwhelming their emergency department.
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New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Texas was one of four states whose infant mortality rate rose from 2021 to 2022.
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Texas has the second-highest rate of new HIV infections in the United States. Medicines like PrEP can prevent HIV, but without insurance, it's hard to find, and afford.
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People didn’t have to review Medicaid applications for years because of pandemic-era protections. But now millions of Texans are going through the process for the first time ever.
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Whistleblowers who say they work in the Texas Health and Human Services Commission are alleging some of the more than 900,000 people kicked off Medicaid were because of departmental mismanagement.
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Dallas is the new site of a federal science and health research network with ARPA-H researching ways to improve patient experiences.
