Health & Wellness News

The World Health organization is changing the name of monkeypox. The current name is thought to be both racist and stigmatizing.

Holiday gatherings threaten to increase the number of COVID cases in the community. A St. Luke's doctor weighs in on what he thinks that will mean for masking in schools after winter break.

The Lown Institute evaluated hospitals across the country. St. Luke’s was ranked third out of more than 300 hospital systems for social responsibility.

In 2022, more than 575 people died of COVID in the Lehigh Valley. It's difficult to predict what 2023 will bring.

Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong discusses the difficulty that parents are having finding infant Tylenol in stores and shares advice for parents worried about their children.

Widespread sickness among children with respiratory illnesses this year is driving up demand for children’s pain relievers and fever reducers, leaving drugstore chains and smaller community pharmacies across the nation in short supply.

A group of people battling breast cancer and survivors came together for a clean makeup class. The classes are offered through Breast Cancer Support Services.

Holiday spirit is soaring, but so is the spread of different illnesses. A Local doctor offer ways to stay holly and jolly over this time of year.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning about possible carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the improper use of portable generators and provided tips to prevent it.

The specimens on display are made up of bodies donated for the purpose – those individuals who agreed, upon their death, that their bodies could be used for educational purposes in the exhibition.

3D-printed casts are now being made by and administered at St. Luke’s University Health Network. The waterproof plastic casts are an alternative to the plaster or fiberglass casts traditionally used.

Grant Wahl, sports reporter, died from aortic aneurysm covering the world cup. A doctor from Lehigh Valley Health Network explains the signs and symptoms of the condition.

Members of Easton's Blueprint Communities organization announced their first project, a mural at Chubby's honoring South Side's past, present, and future, on Monday afternoon.

Northampton County and Northampton Community College will offer a free workplace safety training later this month aimed at employees of municipal governments, nonprofits and similar organizations.

The funding, through the Livable Landscape program, was unanimously approved at the county council’s June 18 meeting.

Legislators worked to establish penalties for xylazine use and trafficking in an attempt to lessen its presence in Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply. Some say doing so made way for a new, unclassified veterinary tranquilizer to take its place — medetomidine.

The tax and spending plan drew praise from Republicans for lowering taxes and funding border security, but Democrats condemned it for slashing Medicaid coverage and raising the deficit.

Nearly a year after the Biden administration designated xylazine as an "emerging threat" to the United States, Gov. Josh Shapiro classified it as a schedule III drug, making unauthorized possession a crime in Pennsylvania. Experts say the move has partly served to clear the way for new illicit substances to enter the drug market.

Proposed federal budget cuts would impact programs such as the free summer meal program for children in the Allentown School District.

The $2.75 million payment to the federal government resolves allegations that a pharmacy technician stole controlled substances on about 40 occasions and the health network failed to institute proper controls.

Despite not being approved for human consumption, veterinary tranquilizers are infiltrating the illicit drug supply in Pennsylvania. Harm reduction specialists and health care professionals say these overdoses can't be approached solely with naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

A generous donation from a Lehigh Valley native and others funds free swim lessons for children and adults in the River Crossing YMCA's Safety Around Water, or SAW, swim education program.

The bill would limit the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of firefighting foam containing PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, beginning in 2026.

Xylazine, an animal-grade tranquilizer that's not approved for human use, has taken Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply by storm. Known on the streets as "tranq," it accounted for almost 1 in 4 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania by 2023. Last year in Lehigh County, it was a contributing cause of death in 20 of the 112 deadly overdoses, or 17.9 percent of cases.