Health & Wellness News

Join Megan Frank at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. every Friday for Insights with LehighValleyNews.com on WLVR. This week, she's joined by Bethlehem reporter Will Oliver and Digital News Content Producer Makenzie Christman.

Northampton County Council voted 5-4 Thursday to provide free pads and tampons in every county-owned restroom equipped with running water, including men's rooms.

A Lehigh Valley woman thanks her German stem cell donor in-person nearly a decade and a pandemic after the transplant. St. Luke's University Health network helped connect the two.

Among the winners are projects to repaint the basketball court at Building 21; build several community gardens; and plant trees.

Northampton Community College has a new center dedicated to those going into the health care field. The school now offers cardiac sonography and respiratory care training, a state-of-the-art simulation center, and a center for interdisciplinary health sciences workforce development.

Four years into his massage therapy career, Jared Skinner set out to master a relatively "new" technique to the practice — rolfing. It's a 10-step practice on a weekly basis that aims to relieve the body naturally of pain for upwards of five to 10 years. Only 2,000 body workers professionally practice it worldwide.

Good Shepherd Rehabilitation is introducing groundbreaking robotic exoskeleton technology in the Lehigh Valley. The device helps people who may have suffered a spinal chord injury, stroke, or other paralyzing conditions walk.

The River Crossing YMCA in the Lehigh Valley is enrolling people for free programs this fall. The programs include health and wellness classes for veterans, those needing mental health assistance, those struggling with diabetes, and 7th grade students.

For Overdose Awareness Day, Easton will host a march from the free bridge to the amphitheater where community advocates will be recognized for their efforts, followed by an evening event where authorities and experts will share their thoughts and experiences concerning overdoses.

This time of year can be hectic for families sending kids back to the classroom. A culinary medicine specialist has some quick, easy ways to add nutrients into meal time.

A bike repair station donated by the Whitehall Area Rotary Club was dedicated at the Ironton Rail Trail pavilion on Monday.

The court is optimized to offer a brief but effective workout experience if needed. Users can exercise for 45 seconds, follow that with 15 seconds of rest and be through each zone around the seven-minute mark.

The city of Allentown is addressing the issue of period poverty. They launched an initiative to see how great the need is for menstrual products among those who live there.

The federal government's pandemic-era prohibition against kicking people off Medicaid is ending, meaning that hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania face losing free health insurance. Many people who stand to lose Medicaid coverage have no idea that the changes are coming.

Lehigh University and St. Luke's University Health Network are working together to create a biomaterial that would help regenerate cartilage. The project is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The 10th annual Lehigh Valley Winter Classic on Saturday was a fundraiser for Special Hockey of Lehigh Valley.

Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium and thorium in soil and rocks.

LVHN will be one of the first hospitals in Pennsylvania to treat prostate cancer with noninvasive robotic technology. The procedure is said to be more accurate and lowers the risk of side effects.

The tripledemic rages on, but there are ways to lower your risk of infection. A health care administrator talks about what the industry and the public learned from the pandemic about preventing illness.

Medical experts say recent legislation could help reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths in Pennsylvania.

County Executive Lamont McClure previously said he intended to pursue a no-bid contract with New Jersey-based Integrity Health.

Lehigh County will be funding free walk-in mental health services administered by KidsPeace.

Denise Snyder founded St. Luke’s Nurses Honor Guard for those dedicated to the profession.

Grants of up to $400,000 that focus on addiction treatment services for communities that were hard-hit by the opioid epidemic will be awarded later this year.