Dr. Shahzad Khan, a pulmonologist at UMass Memorial Health, said people need to connect air quality with their health and any symptoms they might be feeling. “Any time there is an increase in particulates in the atmosphere and they are inhaled, it can cause a flare-up or exacerbation of health problems,” Khan said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $20 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. for the cost of steps taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. The $20,378,541in Public Assistance grants will reimburse the health care system in Central Massachusetts — headquartered in Worcester and affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School — for various costs incurred dealing with the pandemic between March 2020 and January 2022.

Led by Christopher C. Hemond, MD, neurologist, UMass Memorial Health, the study featured 23 females with relapsing-remitting MS who were offered 8 weeks of MBSR free of charge. After a 12-week observation period, treatment with MBSR was associated with robust (d >.08) improvements across a range of unadjusted PROs, including stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, loneliness, well-being, and interoceptive awareness (all P <.01).

The Worcester Railers Hockey Club in partnership with Fletcher Tilton recognized more than 500 nurses from UMass Memorial Health on Tues., May 23rd in celebration of National Nurses Month.

The Worcester Railers are supporting local caregivers in honor of National Nurses Month. Team members handed out 500 flowers Tuesday to nurses at three UMass Memorial Health campuses in Worcester. They also included a voucher for game tickets for next season and a free car wash from ScrubaDub.

The UMass Memorial Hospital Dermatology Department hosts free skin cancer screening and eye exams on Saturday, May 20, from 8 AM to noon.

Walk-ins are welcome at the Hahnemann Campus at 281 Lincolns St. in Worcester. Take elevator B to the Dermatology Clinic on the 4th Floor. Free parking is available.

In Worcester, UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center is the only hospital-level provider between Boston and Springfield. But it’s located in a region of the state with the highest population growth, which means there are a lot of children under 18, Worcester Medical Director Dr. Michael Hirsh said in an interview.

Three years ago, emergency departments across Massachusetts were inundated with patients infected with COVID-19. In my 30-plus years of working in emergency medicine, I had never seen anything like it. No one had. We cared for patients in tents outside the emergency department. We set up hospitals in convention centers and we all worked together to care for our communities when they needed us most.

Among the Massachusetts health systems announcing an end to mask requirements on May 12 are: Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest health care system; Boston Medical Center, Tufts Medicine; Beth Israel Lahey Health; and UMass Memorial Health, the largest system in central Massachusetts. “If not now, when? Then it’s forever,” said Dr. Shira Doron, Tufts’ chief infection control officer.