Health
For Deerfield Community School, Some Pandemic Changes Are Here to Stay
A year ago, New Hampshire schools shut down for what many thought would just be three weeks. Now, schools across the state are reopening fully. NHPR’s Sarah Gibson visited Deerfield Community School, where teachers and students have been spending a lot of the pandemic outside. And as they return, many are hoping that doesn’t change.…
Read MoreTraveling By Boat, Vaccinators ‘Injecting Hope’ For Maine Islanders
Even as the number of clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine has grown, some Mainers still face challenges getting access. Sometimes the barrier is no internet connection. Sometimes it’s finding a ride. And for some communities, it’s miles of ocean. Residents of Maine’s islands face unique hurdles in their efforts to get vaccinated, but a…
Read MoreLow Vaccination Rates Among Latinos Raise Concerns In Chelsea, Ravaged By The Pandemic
At the start of the pandemic, Joaquin Lux thought he was dying. “I have no air,” Lux told a reporter in Spanish, as he lay in a hospital bed in Boston. A year later, the Chelsea resident thanks God he survived COVID-19, but still feels lingering effects. Lux says he feels tired and struggles to breathe…
Read MoreFor English Language Learners, School Ties Are Key To Overcoming Pandemic Challenges
On Tuesday, the Manchester, New Hampshire School District announced tentative plans to expand in-person classes from two days a week to four, starting in May. And at Manchester West High School in Manchester, that experiment is well underway. For over a month, staff there have been encouraging students who are learning English as a second…
Read MoreEach Day, Vaccine Workers Solve Tricky Math To Keep Doses From Going To Waste
On the edge of the Reggie Lewis Center’s indoor track turned mass vaccination site, Emily Rice barely seems to notice the hundreds of people getting inoculated in front of her. Instead, she’s focused entirely on the tiny vial between her fingertips. In her other hand, she eases the plunger back on a syringe, drawing 0.3…
Read More‘You Just Can’t Give Up’: Surviving COVID-19 With Down Syndrome
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of medical problems that increase risk from the coronavirus includes common conditions like cancer, heart disease and obesity — plus a recent addition you might not guess: Down syndrome. People with Down syndrome are prone to serious illness — or even death — if they contract COVID-19. “I said, ‘Why…
Read MoreChildren Volunteer To Test The Safety Of The COVID Vaccine
Protecting children from COVID and getting to herd immunity will depend on children getting vaccinated. But the existing vaccines aren’t designed for most kids. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines can only be given to those 18 and older, and Pfizer’s vaccine can only be given to people ages 16 and older. That’s why volunteers…
Read MoreMapping Project Explores Links Between Historic Redlining And Future Climate Vulnerability
The rain started just before Mother’s Day, in 2006. It fell for days over the Merrimack Valley, causing the worst flooding in decades. Water reached to rooftops. Pipes burst in Haverhill, pouring millions of gallons of sewage into the rising Merrimack River. Streets flooded, highways closed, thousands of people evacuated their homes. Andy Vargas was…
Read MoreVaccine Inequities: Hundreds Of People From Across Rhode Island Sign Up For COVID-19 Shots Meant For Residents In Hard-Hit Neighborhoods
Inside a storefront health clinic in a Price Rite shopping plaza in Providence, the regulars are mostly immigrants who speak Spanish, Portuguese and Creole. They work cleaning offices, washing cars and fileting fish in grocery stores. And nearly one in four of the patients last month tested positive for the coronavirus, said Dr. Annie De…
Read MoreYoung Adults Are Struggling With Mental Illness. This New Center In Newport Wants To Intervene Earlier.
Jamie Lehane’s son was 18 years old and had just gone off to college, when Lehane’s phone rang unexpectedly. “I got the call from the campus police that, ‘Your son is being rushed to a local community hospital, and that he’s had a serious mental breakdown,’” Lehane said. It turned out to be a psychotic…
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