Health & Wellness News

WLVR's Megan Frank talks with journalists Stephanie Sigafoos and Brittany Sweeney.

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Health care companies across the Lehigh Valley are giving a voice to colorectal cancer patients and their care givers to raise awareness.

About a million Pennsylvanians have medical debt, but a proposal in the Gov. Josh Shapiro's 2024-25 budget could help alleviate those debts. State Rep. Josh Siegel, who represents parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township, is an advocate for the proposal.

More than two dozen residents showed up at a zoning meeting last month to speak against Ripple's plans in Allentown to build so-called medical respite rooms, but none got the chance.

Most of America “springs forward” Sunday, March 10, 2024, for daylight saving time and losing that hour of sleep can do more than leave you tired and cranky the next day. It also could affect your health.

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.

Technology called cold capping helps people retain their hair during chemotherapy. A mother shares her experience using it while fighting cancer.

A ribbon cutting for Lehigh Valley Hospital Macungie was held Friday. The neighborhood hospital is a small scale emergency department.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey got a mention during President Biden's State of the Union address but U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, did not. Politics reporter Tom Shortell provides a post-mortem on the SOTU.

The medication used to treat COVID-19 is widely available, but underused for treatment. Although it’s no longer free through the government, most insurances still cover the drug.

Christie Nicas, a Bethlehem woman who conceived two children through in vitro fertilization, will attend President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address Thursday as a guest of U.S. Rep. Susan Wild.

Families in the Allentown School District will be on the receiving end of new computer monitors. Capital Blue Cross teamed up with other area organizations to get the technology into the hands of those who need it.

Miller-Keystone Blood Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce its newest bloodmobile, Bloodhound I — among four new vehicles planned to be put into service over the next year.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs and Just Born have teamed up with Emily’s Hug Mee Drive to gift 9,000 Peeps plushies to young children undergoing medical treatment in the Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health, introduced two weapon-detecting K-9s on Monday at its Cedar Crest campus. The 18-month-old male Labrador retriever and female Springer Spaniel will visit all LVHN properties in an effort to increase safety.

River Crossing YMCA announced it will manage the pool, at 3900 Jacoby Road, Coopersburg for the 2025 season. The pool will operate May 24 through Sept. 1, and be open noon-8 p.m. for general summer swim memberships.

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley is teaming up with local organizations to help raise funds for those displaced by the Hotel Lafayette fire.

The Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital on Monday received a check in the amount of $114,676 from Spirit Halloween, a national costume retailer, for its Child Life Program. The amount increased the retailer's donation to the program over $1 million since 2012.

Celebrated on the third Friday each March, fourth-year medical students find out where they'll spend the next four years of training.

Democratic VIPs including U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, DNC Chair Ken Martin and former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild attended the town hall at Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Thursday night. The evening came with a rebuke to attendees from the church pastor.

Longtime LVHN CEO Dr. Brian Nester is taking on an expanded role as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Jefferson Health, which acquired LVHN last year.

The memory care facility that serves residents living with Alzheimer's disease held a St. Patrick's Day celebration with a therapy dog, cuddly goats and bagpipers from Bethlehem.

Sen. Nick Miller, D-14th District, was a member of a panel discussion about the home health care crisis. Advocates are urging lawmakers to increase reimbursement fees to home care agencies.

Lehigh Valley native Danielle Meyers, 22, is among 190 million women worldwide with endometriosis, a chronic, incurable tissue abnormality that causes a host of painful internal problems.