Health & Wellness News

Respiratory disease season is the topic Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of Health is addressing as she stops at local health bureaus across the state. She paid a visit to both the Allentown and Bethlehem Health Bureaus Monday.

Two more companies are pulling potentially lead-tainted pouches of fruit puree from store shelves amid an expanded recall.

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

The American Red Cross is reminding people to use the end of Daylight Saving Time to test smoke alarms. The nonprofit says changing the clocks twice a year can serve as a life-saving reminder.

Cancer Support Community Greater Lehigh Valley is holding a community awareness event Saturday. Cancer patients, their families and caregivers are invited to learn about the resources available to them.

Lehigh County commissioners will likely delay their investigation into potential reforms to the county’s Office of Children and Youth Services. The delay comes after the Greater Lehigh Valley Parents’ Medical Rights Group appeared to take steps toward litigation.

In an audit, Controller Mark Pinsley alleged Lehigh Valley Health Network may be over-diagnosing cases of medical child abuse. The attorney selected to pursue a lawsuit over the matter donated $50,000 to Pinsley's political action committee in October.

For people who need to buy their own health insurance, it’s time to enroll in or renew their Affordable Care Act health plan. A health policy analyst says there are ways to save money in the Obamacare process, but the enrollee must opt into them.

All lot codes and expiration dates of WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches have been voluntarily recalled due to the possibility of elevated lead levels.

Lehigh Valley Health Network is hosting its annual free drive-through flu vaccine clinics this weekend. Dr. Alex Benjamin said now is the time to get the shot as the season ramps up.

After 40 years with the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown, CEO Deb Fries-Jackson is retiring. The Allentown native and former school teacher was instrumental in the merger of the local Girls Club and Boys Club in 2002.

St. Luke's University Health Network is naming part of its St. Luke’s Pediatric Specialty Center off Route 309 for Mike and Jean Grabarits.

Northampton County Prison is now requiring vaccinations for all outside company employees, since, after months of low COVID-19 case numbers, infections in the jail are rising.

Republicans in the House Health Committee are challenging the Pennsylvania health department’s order that requires children to wear face coverings at schools to decrease the spread of COVID-19.

New data released by the state Health Department shows COVID-19 vaccines have managed to protect against illness, hospitalization and death in the vast majority of Pennsylvanians.

State health officials are ramping up efforts to get more people vaccinated in Pennsylvania where just over 50% are fully vaccinated.

The Bethlehem Area School District’s Miller Heights Elementary is operating remotely after a dozen COVID-19 cases affected students in five of its classrooms.

Food insecurity is the lack of regular, reliable access to nutritious food, and it’s a problem in both cities and rural areas.

COVID-19 cases are on the rise at the Northampton County Prison (NCP) where just under half of the jail’s nearly 600 inmates are vaccinated.

Tuesday was the start for Pennsylvania’s K through 12 masking mandate. The order was issued last week by Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, not Gov. Wolf. Sarah Anne Hughes, deputy editor for SpotlightPA, a nonpartisan investigative newsroom which has been covering these issues, recently joined us by phone to discuss the move by the Wolf administration.

Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives is mulling a legislative challenge to the Wolf administration’s latest mask mandate for schools. A group of state senators, meanwhile, is readying a bill to change the state’s constitution to prevent those mandates.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Social isolation is something many older adults have to struggle with, especially during the pandemic. Many senior centers have helped…

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh University is making adjustments to “health and safety measures” as more students test positive for COVID-19. As of Sept. 8, the…

Whitehall-Coplay Superintendent Robert Steckel said they’re “staying the course” with their COVID-19 health and safety plan, but making adjustments for outside mandates such as the Wolf administration’s school masking requirement which went into effect on Sept. 7.