Briefs | Hospital hosts drug drop-off

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Hospital hosts drug drop-off

Several local organizations are sponsoring a free pharmaceutical drive-up and drop-off event from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, at 4747 Arapahoe Ave.

The sponsors of the event are the City of Boulder, Boulder County Public Health, Partners for a Clean Environment and Boulder Community Foothills Hospital.

Expired, excess and unwanted medications may be dropped off for proper disposal at the hospital during the event, including prescription and over-the-counter medications, pills, liquid medications, trans-dermal patches and inhalers.

Boulder’s municipal wastewater treatment plants are not equipped to completely remove all of the chemicals and compounds found in various medications. As a result, trace amounts of pharmaceuticals can be released into the waterways, where they may have an adverse impact on the environment. Recent studies have shown that these chemicals can affect aquatic life and even make their way into drinking water supplies.

To learn more about the event, visit www.bouldercolorado.gov and click on “Pharmaceutical Disposal” under “City A-Z.”

Fundraising for mental health

On Saturday, Oct. 15, Mental Health Partners Foundation and Mental Health Partners will host the sixth annual “Dandelion Ball — Spreading the Seeds of Mental Health” from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Stadium Club at the University of Colorado’s Folsom Field.

The fundraising gala will feature dinner, cocktails, silent and live auctions and Colorado’s Hazel Miller Band.

Tickets for the ball are $125 per person, $80 for young professionals, $1,100 for a table of 10 and $1,350 for a sponsor table. Tickets will be on sale until Oct. 5.

For more information, see www.mhcbc.org.

Valmont Road being reconstructed

Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 28, Valmont Road will be closed between 75th and 95th streets to all vehicles, including bicycles, on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The daytime closures will be in effect until Nov. 8. Cyclists and motorists are encouraged to use detours, since there will be heavy delays.

Accommodations have been made to allow passage of emergency vehicles, school buses, local traffic and delivery vehicles to homes within the work zone.

The Valmont Shoulders and Roadway Reconstruction project includes the complete removal and replacement of the existing asphalt pavement and the addition of paved shoulders to each edge of the road. The City of Boulder’s trail connection to the Teller Lake trailhead will also be reconstructed, and the trail crossing of Valmont Road improved.

Ride to rally for climate change

On Saturday, Sept. 24, thousands of cyclists will ride 37 miles from Boulder to Denver to call for local and national solutions to climate change.

Participants will launch from Boulder’s Municipal Building at 8 a.m. and will finish with a “Moving Planet Party” and “Green Fair” at the state Capitol building from 5 to 7 p.m.

The bike ride will stop to rally at various “fossil fuel action stations” along the way — coal plants, a tar sands oil refinery and corporate headquarters — to call for a transition to a clean energy future and show support for a U.S. 36 bikeway between Boulder and Denver so cyclists can commute fossil-free.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com