Health & Wellness News

Patient advocates protested Wednesday outside Lehigh Valley Health Network's Cedar Crest Campus.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Marian Jarlenski, associate professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh, said the project will evaluate…

BETHLEHEM TWP, Pa. - The past year and a half has changed the way many people work out. Gyms are now offering more virtual classes and some fitness…

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - People around the region are still cleaning up from flooding after last week’s severe storms. Joe Kozacheck, co-owner and president of…

Breakthrough coronavirus cases occur when a fully vaccinated person contracts COVID-19. Though these cases are rare, health experts say some are to be expected.