Health
As health care breaks down in Massachusetts, patients die waiting for care
Fans of Athens Pizza in Brimfield, Mass., learned the restaurant’s beloved owner was sick via Facebook. “The pizza will be closed for the rest of the week,” reads the post from Nov. 30, 2021. “Unfortunately we have been exposed to Covid.” Get well wishes poured in, but Athens Pizza will not reopen. Tony Tsantinis, 68,…
Read MoreAfter fatal shooting by Springfield police, calls for outside probe, more mental health training
After a 23-year-old was killed Sunday by a police officer in Springfield, Massachusetts, family members and activists are demanding better training for how officers deal with people with mental health crises. Earlene Victoria Taylor said her grandson, Orlando Taylor, had been struggling with paranoia and other mental health problems for years. She said he’d been…
Read MoreForced to improvise COVID policies, school nurses are reaching a ‘breaking point’
Every morning before school, Lauren O’Malley-Singh’s heart races as she straps on an N95 mask. “I feel like I’m drowning,” said O’Malley-Singh, a nurse at Brighton High School in Boston. She’s drowning in coronavirus tests. She gives upwards of 40 rapid tests a day, isolating the students who test positive, calling their parents and finding…
Read MoreMass. is monitoring white-tailed deer for COVID. Here’s why
On a recent evening at the MassWildlife field headquarters in Westborough, Mass., Martin Feehan stood face-to-face with a 160-pound dead buck, splayed out on the loading dock. The deer died of a broken leg, after it was apparently hit by a car in Needham. Feehan, a deer and moose biologist, had brought it to headquarters to…
Read MoreIn Vermont, kids’ mental health is deteriorating after nearly two years of instability
Sara Lamie knows that if her daughter, Avah, has something to get off her chest, it’ll happen in the car after school: “Sometimes she’ll come right out and say, like, ‘Mom, [sigh] I had a rough day today.’” Sara asks Avah, who’s 11, if she wants to talk about it. If she does, she might…
Read MoreSome mental health advocates in Massachusetts want a new name for schizophrenia
When someone is diagnosed with schizophrenia — a psychotic disorder marked by delusional thinking — they often experience fear and anxiety. A group of Massachusetts-based researchers and advocates say changing the name of the mental illness could go a long way to reducing its stigma. But others say the term itself is not the problem.…
Read MoreInside an emergency room in Everett, Mass., fears mount as COVID cases climb
When patients or nurses need help in an emergency room, an alarm normally sounds. At Cambridge Health Alliance hospital in Everett, the beeps from the alarms never seem to stop these days. The CHA Everett ER had near record levels of patients last week, even though the holiday week is normally quiet. On a recent afternoon, there…
Read MoreInside a New Hampshire hospital overwhelmed by COVID
COVID infections are surging in much of the country, especially in parts of New England. And New Hampshire is at the epicenter. More than half of patients who show up in the emergency room at Monadnock Community Hospital in southwest New Hampshire are testing positive. And doctors are having a tough time finding beds for all the…
Read MoreA new way to talk about abortion? In Maine, using deep conversation to reach voters
It’s Saturday, and Sarah Mahoney is one of several Planned Parenthood volunteers knocking on doors in Windham, Maine, a politically moderate town not far from Portland. No one answers at the first couple of houses. But as Mahoney heads up the street, she sees a woman out for a walk. “Hey! We’re out canvassing,” she…
Read MoreIn western Massachusetts, farmworkers face barriers to COVID-19 vaccination
Undocumented farmworkers face many barriers when seeking health care. The pandemic has widened this disparity and now many workers are hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including in western Massachusetts. The air is cold and farmworkers in the region have to work through it. One undocumented worker, known as Flori, has dried leaves crunched beneath…
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