MASS. - Jacqueline Fitzpatrick has her 5-year-old son’s COVID-19 vacation appointment booked. She says he has asthma and is immunocompromised.

“I’ve been worried about him this whole time. I mean, if he gets a common cold, he could end up in the ER with complications," Fitzpatrick said. "So I am nervous, but I’m really excited." 

WORCESTER, Mass. — Throughout the pandemic, one of the challenges for the medical community has been finding ways to treat a new disease.

Hope is now emerging as some promising new drugs become available.

Human connection is essential for all of us. In fact, social isolation can be as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and can lead to other serious health problems. COVID-19 restrictions and quarantine measures over the past year and a half have impacted everyone: individuals had to decrease social gatherings, limit visits with loved ones, and adjust to an overall lack of connectivity. Although the drastic changes were difficult for everyone, they were especially hard hitting for older adults, and exacerbated the already existing social isolation crisis they face. 

The Shrewsbury (Mass.) Surgery Center performed its first outpatient spine procedure, the center said Oct. 25. 

UMass Memorial Health neurological surgeon Arno Sungarian, MD, performed the outpatient discectomy, which took less than one hour. 

October 21, 2021 - Hospitals and health systems continue to face an overwhelming amount of cyberattacks, spoofing and phishing incidents, and breaches resulting from unauthorized email access.

BOSTON — Late October and it’s still 70+ degrees in central Massachusetts. At Worcester’s Elm Park, it was a scene out of the ‘Before Times.’ Residents fed ducks, pushed strollers and relaxed on benches. What they didn’t do was don masks.

But across the street at the Price Chopper, the continuing reality. With Worcester entering the second month of an indoor mask mandate, shoppers had no choice but to cover mouths and noses.

Guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics help guide families on how to manage and move on from trauma.

Most people don’t make it through childhood without some degree of trauma. Some people have the resilience to handle this trauma without ongoing effects, but for others it’s more difficult.

U.S. hospital and health system workers have been serving nearly two years on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. To recognize these workers, organizations have offered bonus payments during the public health crisis. It has been part of an ongoing effort to retain and recruit employees as hospitals deal with staff shortages and burnout during surges of the virus.

Becker's reached out to three healthcare leaders to see if these bonuses have boosted retention. 

HOPKINTON, Mass. - Hopkinton High School is the first school in Massachusetts to get state approval to drop the in-school mask mandate and a local pediatrician is weighing in on the decision.

In order to meet the state's threshold for removing masks, at least 80% of all students and staff at the school have to be vaccinated.