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Dr. Richard Ellison, an infectious disease expert at UMass Memorial Medical Center, said the fungus’ resistance to treatment has increased and they have seen a few cases in Worcester. However, he said it’s typically only seen in someone who has spent a long period of time in the hospital. "Particularly those people who require lung ventilation or have been in the hospital for a long time can pick up this yeast,” Ellison said. “It can get into the hospital environment and be on surfaces and then be picked up by someone."

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.”

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.

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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.

Eighteen-year-old Joshua Lillie is on a weight loss journey that's exceeding his expectations. "I couldn't walk 100 feet without being out of breath. Now I can go miles and be fine," Lillie said. That's because for the last three years, the Leicester senior has been part of UMass Memorial Medical Center's Good Fit Teen Weight and Wellness Program. It is a multi-disciplinary program for pediatric patients that addresses the problem of obesity. 

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.”

“While most of the general population has been out and about, there are certainly people who have been very cautious not going out because they are immunosuppressed, and we want them to be safe coming into a health care environment,” said Dr. Richard Ellison, hospital epidemiologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center, the largest health care provider in Central Massachusetts.

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.