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Struggling with mental demons, Kayla Williams went to her bathroom and held a gun in her hand, contemplating suicide. It was 2004, and she’d been home for only a few months after serving as an Army sergeant and Arab linguist in the Iraq war.But hers is one story that doesn’t end in tragedy: Ms. Williams held those demons at bay long enough to get help and learn to manage the challenges of marriage to a combat-wounded veteran while writing two books about her experiences. “I’m doing well,” she told me. She is now the director of the Military, Veterans and Society program at the Center for a New American Security. (Carol Giacomo, 11/1)

The success of 9-1-1, our nation’s emergency service hotline, is undeniable. In an instant, Americans can   reach police, fire and emergency services from anywhere in the country. It’s hard to fathom that before the adoption of 9-1-1, Americans had to dial the individual numbers to their local police station, fire department or EMT services in an emergency. Yet, for millions of Americans, this remains the reality during a mental health crisis. Crucial services, which can save lives, can be difficult to access because our nation does not have an easy-to-remember number to call for a mental health or suicide emergency. (David Guth, 11/6)

An unspoken truth about the journey of a thousand miles is that the first and most significant steps often happen in one’s own backyard. A “historic” gift of $150 million from the Huntsman family to the University of Utah to establish a mental health institute is another move in changing the direction of mental health trends in Utah and beyond. The new institute has the potential to do for mental health what the Huntsman Cancer Center did for cancer research — save lives through unprecedented study and medical prowess. And it could be a game changer for a mental health crisis gripping the country. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that 1 in 5 Americans experience mental illness each year. In Utah, suicide is the leading cause of death for youths ages 10 to 24. (11/6)

The members of the team that discovered insulin sold the patent to the University of Toronto for $1 each because they felt that the drug belonged to the public. Nearly 100 years later, insulin is inaccessible to thousands of Americans because of its high cost. (Michael Fralick, M.D., and Aaron S. Kesselheim, 11/7)

She’s probably sleeping. Terrina Riley remembers a hospital nurse offering her that reassurance after she noticed the normally active baby in her belly had stopped moving. As Riley tells it, she was seven months pregnant and had already spent a few days in a Washington, D.C., hospital bed, worried about the amniotic fluid she was losing each hour. (Theresa Vargas, 11/6)

New standards to address the maternal mortality crisis will go into effect July 2020 and aim to improve how hospitals prevent, identify, and treat maternal hemorrhage and severe pre-eclampsia. Journalists from USA Today and ProPublica have documented this crisis and its impact on every day women. Even famous women like Beyonce and Serena Williams survived serious complications with their recent pregnancies, preeclampsia and a pulmonary embolism respectively. (Bryna Koch, 11/6)

When we celebrate World AIDS Day less than a month from now, Americans will have something to celebrate. Innovative treatments have transformed a disease that a few decades ago would have been a death sentence into a diagnosis that, with support, is manageable. While lawmakers should acknowledge this progress, they should not consider this crisis solved. (Sharon R. Browne, 11/6)