Older U.S. adults should get another covid-19 shot, advisers say
NEW YORK — Older U.S. adults should roll up their sleeves for another covid-19 shot, even if they got a booster in the fall, an influential government advisory panel said Wednesday. The panel voted 11-1 to say Americans 65 and older should get another dose of the updated vaccine that...
Christopher’s Kitchen open at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland
Imagine that it’s 2 a.m. and you are a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle — a caregiver for a child in the hospital. You haven’t eaten all day. “I talked to parents and families who were waiting with their sick children in the hospital, and they were hungry,” Joan “Joni”...
UPMC to lift mask mandate
Health care giant UPMC plans to lift its mask mandate this week, after requiring facial coverings in its facilities for the last two months. The requirement for masks at most UPMC facilities will end on Thursday, said hospital officials. UPMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Donald Yealy said lifting the mask...
A New York City medical school goes tuition-free thanks to a $1 billion giftVideo
NEW YORK — A New York City medical school will be tuition-free for all students from now on thanks to a $1 billion donation from a former professor, the widow of a Wall Street investor. Ruth Gottesman announced the gift and its purpose to students and faculty at Albert Einstein...
Pharmacy information company hack has impact on Western Pa. pharmacies, chains
A cyberattack disrupted operations at a pharmacy information company beginning about two weeks ago, impacting a number of pharmacies around the country. UnitedHealth subsidiary Change Healthcare first reported on its website Feb. 21 that it is “experiencing a cyber security issue.” In updates Friday, the company said it was still...
Federal probe targets organ collection groups for potential fraud
The nonprofit organizations that collect and distribute organs for transplantation in the United States are under federal investigation to determine if they’ve defrauded the government, the Washington Post reported Monday. The probe seeks to determine whether organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, which work alongside hospitals to procure everything from kidneys...
Florida refuses to bar unvaccinated students from school suffering a measles outbreak
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida’s controversial surgeon general is drawing criticism for his handling of an elementary school’s measles outbreak, telling parents of unvaccinated children it is their choice whether their students attend class — a contravention of federal guidelines calling for their mandatory exclusion. Dr. Joseph Ladapo, nationally known...
American Heart Association of Greater Pittsburgh hosts mass CPR training
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey had never learned how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, known as CPR, an emergency procedure to maintain the blood flow to vital organs and to restore normal heart function after sudden cardiac arrest. When he was asked by the American Heart Association of Greater Pittsburgh to join...
From billionaire Mark Cuban to independent store owners, criticism for pharmacy benefit managers is plentiful
At first glance, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban may seem to have little in common with an independent pharmacy owner. But they have one shared adversary: pharmacy benefit managers. They claim the drug price negotiators are putting mom-and-pop drugstores out of business. Pharmacy benefit managers — known as PBMs — are...
Researchers find association between air pollution and Alzheimer’s
ATLANTA — A new study from Emory University researchers has found an association between traffic-related air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Using brain tissue donated by metro Atlanta residents, researchers evaluated their home addresses for air pollution generated by nearby traffic. The study, released Wednesday, does not prove air...
A pacemaker for the brain helped a woman with crippling depression. It may soon be available to more
NEW YORK — Emily Hollenbeck lived with a deep, recurring depression she likened to a black hole, where gravity felt so strong and her limbs so heavy she could barely move. She knew the illness could kill her. Both of her parents had taken their lives. She was willing to...
Bitter pill: Customers lament loss of small-town pharmacies as reimbursement formulas become unsustainable
As Erica Yurt’s husband battled head and neck cancer, she relied on Mainline Pharmacy in Harrison City to get critical prescriptions for him on time. The independent pharmacy also stayed open past closing on a Friday to make sure he got the medications he needed. Now, the Level Green woman...
Carnegie Mellon students sickened from on-campus eatery, officials say
Food safety inspectors from Allegheny County report finding violations in a campus eatery at Carnegie Mellon University after the school said numerous students reported symptoms consistent with a foodborne illness. The Allegheny County Health Department inspected Stack’d Underground in the basement of the Morewood Gardens residence hall on Thursday. Their...
Pitt to launch doctor of chiropractic program
Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and evidence indicates chiropractic care effectively treats pain with less reliance on opioids, some experts say. Those are among the reasons cited by the University of Pittsburgh for establishing a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) program, the first at a research-intensive...
Shaler woman creates Hannahtopia, selling EEG caps called NillyNoggins
Heather Shuker, 49, is a mother who knows fear — she’s felt helpless as she’s watched her daughter, Hannah, battle severe intractable seizures for the past 20 years. Hannah has seen the inside of a hospital more than she’s seen the inside of a high school. Despite doctors telling Shuker...
Penn State dance marathon raises $17 million, beats record by $2 million
Their voices are likely shot, their ankles probably sore and they definitely could use some sleep. But the 700-plus dancers — and thousands more who participated in this year’s Penn State University IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon — know they made history, raising almost $17 million in the fight against childhood cancer,...
3 more measles cases confirmed at South Florida elementary school
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Four students at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston have confirmed cases of measles, the Broward School District announced in a news release Saturday. The first case of measles was confirmed Thursday night. Three more cases of the highly contagious illness have been confirmed since, according...
Shock value: Pirates’ rapid response saved Ernie Withers, inspired him to pay it forward
BRADENTON, Fla. — Ernie Withers stood in left-center field at Pirate City, where he almost died during a spring training workout a year ago, and reflected on how the Pittsburgh Pirates saved his life. And, by doing so, saved his wife. When Withers went into sudden cardiac arrest at the...
Potential covid quarantine guidance change draws mixed reactions
Eleanor Nicholson of Apollo says she isn’t that concerned about covid. “Maybe (it’s) because I’ve never really had it. Nobody in my family has,” she said. Her opinion hasn’t changed with the reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could drop the five-day waiting period for people who...
Study: More people die after smoking drugs than injecting them
NEW YORK — Smoking has surpassed injecting as the most common way of taking drugs in U.S. overdose deaths, a new government study suggests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called its study published Thursday the largest to look at how Americans took the drugs that killed them. CDC...
Lyme disease case counts in U.S. rose by almost 70% in 2022 due to change in how it’s reported
NEW YORK — Lyme disease cases in the U.S. jumped nearly 70% in 2022, which health officials say is not due to a major increase of new infections but instead a change in reporting requirements. Reported cases surpassed 62,000 in 2022, after averaging about 37,000 a year from 2017 through...
Cyberattacks on hospitals are likely to increase, putting lives at risk, experts warn
WASHINGTON — Cybersecurity experts are warning that hospitals around the country are at risk for attacks like the one that is crippling operations at a premier Midwestern children’s hospital, and that the U.S. government is doing too little prevent such breaches. Hospitals in recent years have shifted their use of...
TV Talk: Jon Burnett comforted by viewer support after former KDKA-TV host’s diagnosis revealed
For former KDKA-TV weathercaster and “Evening Magazine” and “Pittsburgh Today Live” host Jon Burnett, it wasn’t a difficult decision to share the story of his suspected CTE diagnosis. However, answering a question about it can prove challenging due to the disease’s effects. Then Burnett’s charming, folksy personality comes through clear...
CDC plans to drop 5-day covid isolation period, report says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans on doing away with the five-day waiting period for people who test positive for covid, according to the Washington Post. Instead of going with a time-based approach, the Post reported that the guidance will be symptom-based — people will no longer need...
Treasury Secretary Yellen visits Pittsburgh, won’t tip hand about review of pending U.S. Steel sale
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday became the latest Biden administration official to visit Pittsburgh, where she toured a hospital and touted the president’s efforts to expand health care access and lower prescription drug costs. Hosted by U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, Yellen toured West Penn Hospital, held a...
