As the leader of more than 17,000 caregivers at the largest healthcare provider and largest employer in Central Massachusetts, Dr. Eric Dickson has a wide-spreading domain. Still, the vast size of UMass Memorial Health has not make the system immune to the financial and staffing challenges impacting every aspect of health care.

COVID numbers at UMass Memorial have dropped significantly – 29 COVID patients are currently in UMass Memorial hospitals, including four in the intensive care unit as of last Wednesday, according to state public health data.

Robin is a robot that lives in the pediatric unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. The hospital brought in Robin back in October as a way to provide moral support to pediatric patients — especially those in isolation.

In Worcester, Saint Vincent Hospital is in the process of revising their masking policy to align with the May 11 lifting of the emergency orders. UMass Memorial Health is also anticipating they'll become mask optional once the orders end. UMass Memorial President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said while some high risk departments, like chemotherapy, will continue to wear masks as they did before COVID-19, it's time for most workers, patients and visitors to have the option.

Dr. Tara Kumaraswami, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UMass Memorial Health, says she’s grateful for Healey’s executive order. UMass plans to keep providing medication abortions with mifepristone, though she and her fellow providers had been preparing to switch to a misoprostol-only regimen, if needed. “We’re going to see what plays out in the next couple weeks,” she said. “For the most part, people were ready if needed to switch to misoprostol-only.

A factor that has become increasingly important to consider when evaluating allergy season is the impact of global warming. “With global warming, we’re actually seeing a longer pollen season now,” said Stephen Krinzman, associate professor of medicine and director of allergy services at UMass Memorial Medical Center. “And also with the increased carbon dioxide levels in the air, the increased carbon dioxide feeds the plants, which actually increases the intensity of the pollens.”

Over the next several days, Fitzpatrick’s health declined. She couldn’t eat or drink and felt nauseated, and fluid accumulated in her legs and back. At the insistence of her partner, Stephanie LaPointe, Fitzpatrick went to UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus.

Dawn DeLuca has been able to cope with her condition. She has continued to work as a registered nurse in the Critical Care Unit at UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, Leominster Campus, even as her cancer progressed from stage 2 to stage 4 in 2020, with metastatic tumors in her pelvis.

Babak Movahedi, chief of transplants at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Massachusetts, said he sees both sides of the argument. He said access to care unquestionably leads to unfairness in who gets saved. “I just don’t see how changing the allocation system would fix that, though,” he said. “I think that’s a much bigger problem and much broader discussion, which is really access to care in general.”