-
‘It Doesn’t Feel Worth It’: Covid Is Pushing New York’s EMTs to the Brink
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. In his 17 years as an emergency medical provider, Anthony Almojera thought he had seen it all. “Shootings, stabbings, people on fire, you name it,” he said. Then came covid-19. Before the pandemic, Almojera said it was normal to respond to one or two cardiac arrests calls a week; now he’s grown used to several each shift. One day last spring, responders took more than 6,500 calls — more than any day in his department’s history, including 9/11. An emergency medical services lieutenant and union leader with the New York City Fi...
Kaiser Health News
-
‘It Doesn’t Feel Worth It’: Covid Is Pushing New York’s EMTs to the Brink
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. In his 17 years as an emergency medical provider, Anthony Almojera thought he had seen it all. “Shootings, stabbings, people on fire, you name it,” he said. Then came covid-19. Before the pandemic, Almojera said it was normal to respond to one or two cardiac arrests calls a week; now he’s grown used to several each shift. One day last spring, responders took more than 6,500 calls — more than any day in his department’s history, including 9/11. An emergency medical services lieutenant and union leader with the New York City Fi...
California Healthline
-
Companies Pan for Marketing Gold in Vaccines
This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free. For a decade, Jennifer Crow has taken care of her elderly parents, who have multiple sclerosis. After her father had a stroke in December, the family got serious in its conversations with a retirement community — and learned that one service it offered was covid-19 vaccination. “They mentioned it like it was an amenity, like ‘We have a swimming pool and a vaccination program,’” said Crow, a librarian in southern Maryland. “It was definitely appealing to me.” Vaccines, she felt, would help ease her concerns about whether a congreg...
Kaiser Health News
-
‘I Wanted to Go in There and Help’: Nursing Schools See Enrollment Bump Amid Pandemic
This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free. Last December, Mirande Gross graduated from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, with a bachelor’s degree in communications. But Gross has changed her mind and is heading back to school in May for a one-year accelerated nursing degree program. The pandemic that has sickened more than 27 million people in the United States and killed nearly 500,000 helped convince her she wanted to become a nurse. “I was excited about working during the pandemic,” Gross, 22, said. “It didn’t scare me away.” Enrollment in baccalaureate n...
Kaiser Health News
-
‘I Wanted to Go in There and Help’: Nursing Schools See Enrollment Bump Amid Pandemic
This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free. Last December, Mirande Gross graduated from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, with a bachelor’s degree in communications. But Gross has changed her mind and is heading back to school in May for a one-year accelerated nursing degree program. The pandemic that has sickened more than 27 million people in the United States and killed nearly 500,000 helped convince her she wanted to become a nurse. “I was excited about working during the pandemic,” Gross, 22, said. “It didn’t scare me away.” Enrollment in baccalaureate n...
California Healthline
-
Companies Pan for Marketing Gold in Vaccines
This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free. For a decade, Jennifer Crow has taken care of her elderly parents, who have multiple sclerosis. After her father had a stroke in December, the family got serious in its conversations with a retirement community — and learned that one service it offered was covid-19 vaccination. “They mentioned it like it was an amenity, like ‘We have a swimming pool and a vaccination program,’” said Crow, a librarian in southern Maryland. “It was definitely appealing to me.” Vaccines, she felt, would help ease her concerns about whether a congreg...
California Healthline
-
Bay Area Cities Go to War Over Gas Stoves in Homes and Restaurants
This story also ran on U.S. News & World Report. It can be republished for free. San Francisco restaurant owners, already simmering over covid-19 restrictions, are ready to boil over because of a city ban on natural gas stoves in new buildings that takes effect in June. The ban, which also affects other gas appliances, is part of a statewide campaign aimed at reducing climate change-feeding carbon emissions as well as health hazards from indoor gas exposure. A similar ban went into effect in Berkeley in 2020; Oakland and San Jose recently passed similar measures, and other California cities ar...
Kaiser Health News
-
Rural Hospital Remains Entrenched in Covid ‘War’ Even Amid Vaccine Rollout
Editor’s note: KHN wrote about St. James Parish Hospital in April, when it was experiencing its first surge of covid-19 patients. Ten months later, we checked in to see how the hospital and its staff were faring. This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. The “heroes work here” sign in front of St. James Parish Hospital has been long gone, along with open intensive care unit beds in the state of Louisiana. Staffers at the rural hospital spent hours each day in January calling larger hospitals in search of the elusive beds for covid-19 patients. They leveraged personal...
Kaiser Health News
-
Rural Hospital Remains Entrenched in Covid ‘War’ Even Amid Vaccine Rollout
Editor’s note: KHN wrote about St. James Parish Hospital in April, when it was experiencing its first surge of covid-19 patients. Ten months later, we checked in to see how the hospital and its staff were faring. This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. The “heroes work here” sign in front of St. James Parish Hospital has been long gone, along with open intensive care unit beds in the state of Louisiana. Staffers at the rural hospital spent hours each day in January calling larger hospitals in search of the elusive beds for covid-19 patients. They leveraged personal...
California Healthline
-
Vaccines Go Mobile to Keep Seniors From Slipping Through the Cracks
This story also ran on The Mercury News. It can be republished for free. ANTIOCH, Calif. — A mobile “strike team” is bringing vaccines to some of Northern California’s most vulnerable residents along with a message: This is how you avoid dying from covid-19. So far, that message has been met with both nervous acceptance and outbursts of joy from a population that has been ravaged by the disease. One 68-year-old pastor, who lives in a racially diverse, low-income senior housing complex, rolled down his sleeve after his shot and said he wants to live to see 70 — just to spite the government. The...
Kaiser Health News
- More