Health & Wellness News

Our daily list of useful information, chosen to inform and enhance your day, includes news you can use and then some!

The Lehigh Valley will host a marathon for the first time since the pandemic started. Registration will open this month for the St. Luke’s D&L RaceFest.

Lehigh Valley Health Network was victimized in a cybersecurity attack last month. The network said it refused to pay a ransom. Now, patient information and photos have been posted on the dark web, according to LVHN.

Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced $52.5 million in grants intended to prevent suicide. Named for Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox, the suicide prevention grant program is now in its second year. Its goal is to fund community-based organizations that work with veterans and their families. Last year, the VA gave awards to three groups in Pennsylvania, including more than $530,000 to St. Luke’s Penn Foundation in Carbon County. Eighty recipients won awards nationwide in the program’s first year. Grant applications are due by May 19 with awards expected to be announced in September. Selected organizations will receive funding for 2024. More information on how to apply is available at mentalhealth.va.gov.

Drug shortages seem to be a big issue in the wake of the pandemic. Children's pain medication and other prescriptions have been hard to get in the past few months because of supply chain issues.

The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 8, would remove out-of-pocket costs and require 100% coverage for preventative breast cancer screenings and genetic testing. Proponents say it would be the first of its kind in the nation.

Starting Monday, March 6, Lehigh Valley Health Network will no longer require coronavirus face masks for the public inside hospitals and health care facilities in areas not associated with patient care.

Musician James Casey talks to a Lehigh Valley company about his fight with colon cancer. He is using his platform to tell others about the importance of getting screened.

Toastique, whose founder is a Lehigh Valley native, is finally coming to Bethlehem.

Many school nurses say the pandemic made them feel burned out, stressed out, and exhausted. Now, some are working to catch up on work that didn't get done during that time.

Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, missed votes in Congress this week as a result of her condition. Her office's communications director made the announcement on social media.

Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s hospital just expanded its inpatient pediatric unit from 30 beds to 50. The expansion comes on the heels of a severe respiratory season.

About 37% of ticks in Pennsylvania are the kind that carry Lyme disease, according to the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania at East Stroudsburg University.

No masks will be required at the region’s Catholic schools this fall according to word from the Diocese of Allentown in a letter sent to parents on June 30

Summer travel is picking up as more people get vaccinated. The American Automobile Association (AAA) expects travel to hit pre-pandemic levels over the next few months.

Summer’s here and meteorologists forecast the Lehigh Valley may experience another heat wave in the coming days. Temperatures may push 90 degrees.

The Pennsylvania Dept of Aging says the isolation during the pandemic has made seniors more vulnerable to forms of financial abuse so the agency has launched a task force to look into these crimes.

On June 24, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended its federal eviction moratorium through July 31. U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-Lehigh/Monroe) says there are federal dollars available for Lehigh Valley residents who need rental assistance.

Pennsylvania House Republicans voted to prohibit schools and universities from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for students — and to strip the state health secretary from being able to order certain emergency public health measures in the future.

During Pride Month the Mayo Clinic is informing the LGBTQ community that it’s important to let their healthcare provider know who they are. This information is critical, they say.

Latino leaders from across the state said Thursday the 2021 Pennsylvania Latino Convention will take place in Reading this fall.

Some people in the LGBTQ community have had questions about whether it’s safe for them to get the COVID-19 vaccine, even if they are on other medications.

As the pandemic battered healthcare workers on the frontline, a group of retired nurses from Lehigh Valley Health Network jumped in to lend a hand.

The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate voted June 10 to end Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 disaster declaration. The resolution passed the house on June 8, and now goes back to that chamber for a final concurrence vote.