Lower Burrell woman, others join 6-person living-donor transplant swapVideo
Katherine “Kate” Maloney is definitely a daddy’s girl. And her father, Steve Leach, is definitely a girl dad. “When I look at my dad, I see a strong, hardworking man. I see my best friend,” said Maloney, 30, of Lower Burrell. “I see an amazing grandfather. I love that I...
Hundreds rally at Massachusetts State House against flu vaccine mandate for studentsVideo
Demonstrators, many not wearing masks, came to the Massachusetts State House on Sunday to oppose a new state rule that requires flu shots for school children. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker announced what is believed to be the first such requirement in the country earlier this month. A Massachusetts Department of...
Nurses on NY’s front lines call for minimum staffing ratios
ALBANY, N.Y. — Nurses on the front lines of New York’s covid-19 pandemic are calling for the state to enact minimum staffing standards ahead of another wave of infections. Health care industry leaders, though, warn that passing such a law would saddle facilities with billions of dollars in extra costs...
UPMC tops $11B in revenue in 1st half of 2020
UPMC took in $11.1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2020 — nearly $1 billion more than the same time period last year — despite grappling with hospital losses during the pandemic-spurred lockdown, the nonprofit health system reported Wednesday. By July, as patient volume picked up following a...
CDC, Pa. health department ease up on covid-19 travel guidelines
Federal and state officials have eased up on some of their guidelines for coronavirus-related travel restrictions. On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health removed Arizona from its list of travel restrictions originally announced on July 2. No new states were added. The states that remain on Pennsylvania’s travel restriction list...
Gisele Fetterman gets personal about her medical marijuana use
View Gisele Barreto Fetterman through the lens of social media, and one might assume she is among the world’s most upbeat people. But those close to the lieutenant governor’s wife know she’s waged a lifelong war against chronic pain, with medical marijuana being an effective form of treatment. She felt...
Here is the AHN mobile clinic covid-19 testing schedule for this week
Allegheny Health Network announced its newest covid-19 testing schedule for its mobile clinic and community sites. AHN’s mobile clinic will visit the following locations from 10:30 a.m. till 4 p.m.:Wednesday: Hazelwood Family Health Center in Hazelwood at 4915 Second AvenueThursday: Alma Illery Medical Center in Homewood at 7227 Hamilton AvenueMonday:...
Miami ICU nurse: I have never in my life seen so many deaths
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Their final breaths are tormented. Rublas Ruiz has seen too many of them — the last gasps of 17 men and women who died of the coronavirus. A 41-year-old ICU nurse in Miami’s Kendall Regional Medical Center, Ruiz has witnessed the desperate, pleading, wide-eyed, barely there...
Indoor air purification systems play supporting role in covid-19 prevention measures
A mask mandate, a no-smoking policy and a suspension of indoor dining were among the measures Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore took to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus when it reopened in early July. That same week, the World Health Organization acknowledged airborne transmission of the virus, particularly...
UPMC East emergency department doubling capacity
UPMC East in Monroeville said Friday it is expanding its emergency department and doubling its capacity to accommodate patients. The hospital will begin using the new space on Aug. 24. The $24 million emergency department expansion adds 30,000 square feet to UPMC East. With the renovation, the number of private...
Allegheny County dealing with backlog of covid-19 hospitalization data
The Allegheny County Health Department is catching up on covid-19 hospitalization data that accumulated in the month of July. At a Wednesday news conference, Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen explained why this week, the county dashboard stopped providing daily counts of the number of past and present hospitalizations. During the...
Pharmacists can give childhood shots, U.S. officials say
NEW YORK — Pharmacists in all 50 states are now allowed to give childhood vaccinations under a new directive aimed at preventing future outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases. Alex Azar, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, took the step using emergency powers he...
WHO walks back advice to delay routine dental work, blames mediaVideo
When the World Health Organization in early August advised people to postpone routine dental work during the pandemic, Pittsburgh oral surgeon Dr. Eric Smiga was livid. “I was shocked, quite frankly. I thought it was a sad commentary from the WHO without any scientific basis,” Smiga said. “The Centers for...
Flu vaccines are important, safe in midst of pandemic, experts say
With flu season rapidly approaching and covid-19 still spreading, health experts say it’s imperative — and safe — to get a flu shot this year. Dr. Marc Itskowitz, an internal medicine physician with Allegheny Health Network, said he recommends the flu vaccine this and every year. “It gives the immune...
Facing incurable, speech-robbing disorder, Westmoreland Chamber CEO Chad Amond forges ahead
The first signs of trouble were unmistakably odd. It wasn’t like Chad Amond to forget the name of someone he knew as they greeted. Not once but twice. And it certainly wasn’t like him to ask his wife, Amy, when she brought home a new type of his favorite ginger...
Study hints, can’t prove, survivor plasma fights covid-19
Mayo Clinic researchers reported a strong hint that blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors helps other patients recover, but it’s not proof and some experts worry if, amid clamor for the treatment, they’ll ever get a clear answer. More than 64,000 patients in the U.S. have been given convalescent plasma, a...
Pitt researchers collect stories of covid-19 patients in Story Booth project
University of Pittsburgh researchers are gathering the personal accounts of patients who have recovered from covid-19 as part of an ongoing project called Story Booth. The archive of stories will be used as a tool to promote patient-centered outcome research — a mentality that focuses attention on patient experience and...
Slippery Rock, McKeesport school districts contend in lawsuits that Juul created ‘youth vaping epidemic’
Slippery Rock and McKeesport Area school districts have filed lawsuits against the makers of Juul vape products, alleging their marketing tactics have created an epidemic of harmful e-cigarette use among students. The districts are the fifth and sixth area districts to file federal lawsuits against the company. Lawsuits filed by...
Highmark CEO: Covid-19 pandemic has not deterred growth across Pa., neighboring states
Despite recent plunges in hospital revenues statewide, the covid-19 pandemic has not thwarted Highmark Health from strengthening its overall financial position and increasing its reach across Pennsylvania and neighboring states, Highmark CEO David Holmberg said Thursday. “We believe that we are very well-positioned for the long term,” Holmberg told reporters...
Allergy season plagues Western Pennsylvania, thanks to grass, ragweed, pollution
Seasonal allergies are plaguing Western Pennsylvania again this year with ragweed pollen on the rise. Dr. Thomas Mertz, an allergist at Allergy and Asthma Associates of Pittsburgh, said this allergy season seems to be severe as mid-August arrives. Mertz blamed poor air quality and lots of pollen for the severe...
New York’s true nursing home death toll cloaked in secrecy
NEW YORK — Riverdale Nursing Home in the Bronx appears, on paper, to have escaped the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, with an official state count of just four deaths in its 146-bed facility. The truth, according to the home, is far worse: 21 dead, most transported to hospitals before...
U.S. skeptical of Russia’s virus vaccine safetyVideo
TAIPAI, Taiwan — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says it’s more important to have a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus than to be the first to produce a vaccine. Azar, on a visit to Taiwan, was asked by ABC on Tuesday what he thought of...
Covid-19 cases among American children jumped 40% in late July
Coronavirus infections among U.S. children grew 40% in the last half of July, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, bringing the total number of child infections to 8.8% of all U.S. cases. The report, which aggregates data from 49 states, comes...
Trump administration begins vaccine pilot program
WASHINGTON — After months of remaining vague about its plans to distribute a covid-19 vaccine, the Trump administration is quietly piloting distribution working groups, CQ Roll Call has learned. The plan, which has not been made public, was confirmed by four state health departments. Federal officials from the Centers for...
Allegheny County Court rules in favor of Jefferson Hills in UPMC case
An Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas recent decision means UPMC cannot build a hospital one mile down the road from an Allegheny Health Network hospital in Jefferson Hills — for now. Judge Joseph James dismissed an appeal of AUUE Inc., an affiliate of UPMC, after the Jefferson Hills Zoning...
