Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa to start seeking doctor help
If there is no doctor in the house, Amazon’s Alexa will soon be able to summon one. Amazon and telemedicine provider Teladoc Health are starting a voice-activated virtual care program that lets customers get medical help without picking up their phones. The service, for health issues that aren’t emergencies, will...
CDC: Most Americans can stop wearing masks as risk of severe covid infection eases
Most Americans live in places where healthy people, including students in schools, can safely stop wearing masks under new U.S. guidelines released Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined the new set of measures for communities where covid-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on...
CDC to significantly ease pandemic mask guidelines Friday
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against covid-19 transmission on Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, meaning most Americans will no longer be advised to wear masks in indoor public settings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday...
U.S. regulators lift in-person restrictions on abortion pillVideo
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday permanently removed a major obstacle for women seeking abortion pills, eliminating a long-standing requirement that they pick up the medication in person. Millions of American women will now be able to get a prescription via an online consultation and receive the...
UPMC doctor involved in research to treat pulmonary hypertension with cancer medicines
Allison Dsouza was unable to walk a short distance without becoming winded. The Munhall resident’s trouble breathing led to a diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure in the blood vessels in the lungs. Pulmonary hypertension is a rare, incurable lung disease. She has what’s called “idiopathic” pulmonary hypertension, which...
Hospital worker survey will help Gainey administration understand industry challenges
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s transition team plans to undertake a massive survey of Pittsburgh hospital workers, hoping the information gleaned will help the city lessen the challenges that are driving health care workers away from the bedside. Jake Pawlak, Gainey’s transition director and head of the city’s Office of Management...
CDC: Some people should wait longer for 2nd covid shot
Some people getting Pfizer or Moderna covid-19 vaccines should consider waiting up to eight weeks between the first and second doses, instead of the three or four weeks previously recommended, U.S. health officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday quietly changed its advice on spacing the...
Satchels of Caring Foundation closing after nearly 2 decades giving hope to cancer patients
Over the course of 19 years, these hand-sewn fabric bags contained more than scarves, journals and tissues. They also carried hope for recipients dealing with cancer. What started as a project in 2003 through the American Cancer Society, the Satchels of Caring Foundation was formed initially to help women who...
Some Pa. cannabis companies use misleading statements to promote marijuana for addiction treatment
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Some Pennsylvania cannabis companies are using incomplete or misleading claims to promote marijuana as a treatment for opioid addiction,...
What’s the true covid death toll in Pa.? New analysis sheds light
For many reasons, it’s hard to know the full impact of the covid-19 pandemic. Some deaths may have gone uncounted for reasons such as the person died at home and was never tested. A person may have died from an existing disease exacerbated by covid-19. Or a person may have...
A mild U.S. flu season is waning, but is it really over?
This winter’s mild flu season has faded to a trickle of cases in much of the U.S., but health officials aren’t ready to call it over. Since the beginning of the year, positive flu test results and doctor’s office visits for flu-like illness are down. But second waves of influenza...
Health care leaders and Alzheimer’s Association officials celebrate passage of state lawVideo
A new state law promotes Alzheimer’s awareness and, its backers say, will help provide assistance to families impacted by it and other degenerative diseases. Local health care leaders and other officials gathered Thursday at Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s facility in Oakmont to celebrate the Early Detection and Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or...
UPMC opens primary and specialty care facility in Edgeworth
Sewickley area residents seeking primary and specialty care at a UPMC facility now have an option that’s closer to home. A new UPMC Primary and Specialty Care facility opened in Edgeworth, and the healthcare giant is excited about it. “This is what we call a UPMC outpatient center,” said Mark...
Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy may protect babies after birth
Covid-19 vaccines during pregnancy can protect babies after they’re born and lead to fewer hospitalized infants, a U.S. government study released Tuesday suggested. The study is the first to show potential benefits to infants born to people who received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines during pregnancy, Centers for...
Covid mask mandates are ending, but should you keep wearing one? What experts say
Covid-19 mask mandates are ending across the United States, and while many may take that as a sign that it’s time to quit covering up, experts say there’s a lot to consider before going barefaced in public. Though cases are plummeting, deaths and hospitalizations remain high, proving covid is still...
Bill to protect doctors prescribing ivermectin, other unproven drugs against covid advances in Pa.
A state House committee on Monday approved a bill that would free doctors to prescribe off-label drugs to treat covid-19 and allow pharmacists to fill the prescriptions, also without penalty. The bill was authored by Republican state Rep. Dawn Keefer of York County. It was approved by the health committee...
Emotional support or hogwash? Man fights to keep his pet pig
CANAJOHARIE, N.Y. — Ellie the potbellied pig snuggles up to Wyverne Flatt when he watches TV and sometimes rolls over to let him pet her belly. The 110-pound pig is “family,” Flatt says, an emotional support animal who helped him through a divorce and the death of his mother. Officials...
Bethel Park woman meets the Beaver County man to whom she donated a kidney
Erin Prindle is a trail runner. The Bethel Park mom laces up her Saucony shoes and ventures out. She often takes new paths. “I love running in the woods and being in nature; it’s cathartic,” she said. “Navigating a new trail is like life in the way that sometimes you...
Novavax says protein vaccine works for kids as young as 12
Novavax announced Thursday that its covid-19 vaccine proved safe and effective in a study of 12- to 17-year-olds. Novavax makes a protein-based vaccine — a different type than the most widely used shots — that’s a late arrival to the covid-19 arsenal. Its shots have been cleared for use in...
CDC proposes softer guidance on opioid prescriptions
NEW YORK — The nation’s top public health agency on Thursday proposed changing — and in some instances, softening — guidelines for U.S. doctors prescribing oxycodone and other opioid painkillers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s previous guidance, issued six years ago, helped slow the kind of prescribing that...
Report: U.S. fight against opioid abuse needs new strategy
WASHINGTON — The U.S. needs a nimble, multipronged strategy and Cabinet-level leadership to counter its festering overdose epidemic, a bipartisan congressional commission advises. With vastly powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl driving record overdose deaths, the scourge of opioids awaits after the covid-19 pandemic finally recedes, a shift that public health...
Strained U.S. hospitals seek foreign nurses amid visa windfall
With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care workers. And it could be just in time. There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the...
Medicare opens up access to free at-home covid-19 tests
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration, seeking to fill a frustrating gap in coverage for covid-19 tests, Thursday announced that people with Medicare will be able to get free over-the-counter tests much more easily in the coming weeks. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Medicare will cover up to...
Franklin Park woman advocates for women’s heart health via National Wear Red Day
The pin on Kim Leo’s outfit is a sparkling accessory. It’s there to make a statement – but not a fashion statement. She wears it to send a heartfelt message. The shiny piece of red jewelry in the shape of a dress represents the symbol for the American Heart Association’s...
Biden aims to reduce cancer deaths by 50% over next 25 years
President Joe Biden is committing to reduce the cancer death rate by 50% — a new goal for the “moonshot” initiative against the disease that was announced in 2016 when he was vice president. Biden has set a 25-year timeline for achieving that goal, part of his broader effort to...
