Health & Wellness News

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.

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.

The funding comes from the commonwealth’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Children’s enrollment in Medicaid increased by 14% statewide during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released in November 2021. All 67 counties saw increases in children’s enrollment, according to the report, from Harrisburg-based advocacy group Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.

Host families raise the pups for a year before turning them over as fully trained guide dogs.

Lehigh Valley Health Network plans to visit about a dozen schools with the Pfizer vaccine.

Flu shots will be distributed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13.

An appeal by the Wolf administration put a court order to end the mandate on hold.

School districts will establish their own policies in January.

The governor said he will turn over masking decisions to local school officials on Jan. 17.

Kids aged 5-11 can now receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Shots are already being administered across the Lehigh Valley.

More kids in Lehigh Valley can now get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Local health providers are rolling out plans to vaccinate children ages 5 to 11 for COVID-19.

Some insects like mosquitos are thriving later in the season as temperatures reach well into the 70s.

More salt puts people at greater risk for health problems such as high blood pressure, a dietitian says.