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By MADDIE FABIAN

Less than a month after it began enforcing a longstanding policy restricting the use of anesthesia during colonoscopies and other procedures, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is pausing that action after physicians statewide lobbied the insurer...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — Swift River School’s new PFAS6 filtration system seems to be working perfectly, and 190 students and staff members will drink to that.A little more than three years after tests of the school’s tap water revealed elevated levels of the...

By DOMENIC POLI

The Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts has teamed up with a Republican colleague from Florida to sponsor a bill aimed at making it easier for Americans to get medically necessary foods.Jim McGovern and John...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

The slight uptick of influenza B cases countering a decrease in influenza A infections across Baystate Health’s facilities, including at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, is no cause for alarm, according to the health system’s chief of...

By ANITA FRITZ

January is National Blood Donor Month, and beginning Jan. 17, the Baystate Blood Donor Program at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield will be hosting monthly blood drives. Throughout the year, Baystate Franklin invites and encourages people...

By MARY BYRNE

BUCKLAND — In partnering with the University of Washington, Franklin County’s YMCA plans to contribute to a study on the effectiveness of delivering a particular group exercise program remotely versus in person. The program, EnhanceFitness, is an...

By ERIC WELD

Raise your hand if you get enough sleep.If you raised your hand, well done. Because in America, a large percentage of us do not sleep or rest enough, and the resultant detriments to our health are too numerous to count.More than one-third of adults do...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — The state’s Division of Animal Health is warning about an outbreak in Franklin County of a highly contagious, potentially fatal disease that spreads between dogs.Symptoms of canine parvovirus, commonly known as parvo, usually develop after a...

By ANITA FRITZ

Diabetes patients are now seeing better outcomes because of newer drugs, easier glucose monitoring, focusing on a healthy lifestyle, and coordinated approaches working with their health care teams.According to Dr. Cecilia Lozier, chief of the Division...

By EMILEE KLEIN

Before the pandemic, Dr. David Alpern, like many health care workers at the time, didn’t think twice about going to work with a runny nose or cough.But since symptoms of COVID-19 are indistinguishable from the common cold, the retired Cooley Dickinson...

By DOMENIC POLI

Some people choose to live in rural areas for the slower pace of life. Some enjoy being closer to nature and farther away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Still others are capitalizing on the more affordable real estate. Whatever the reason...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Patients would pay no more than $25 for certain name-brand medications to treat some chronic illnesses and face no costs whatsoever for similar generic options under the latest prescription drug legislation set to emerge in the Senate.Senate...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HATFIELD — A part-time behavioral health clinician is expected to soon join police officers on certain calls handled by the Hatfield, Sunderland and Whately police departments.With grant funding received by Sunderland from the state’s Department of...

By JAMES PENTLAND

SPRINGFIELD — A longtime leader in the public health sector with a commitment to equity and community well-being has taken the helm at Tapestry.Mavis Nimoh comes to the regional nonprofit health organization from Rhode Island, where she was executive...

By MARY BYRNE

GREENFIELD — Health inspectors are requesting the assistance of the Board of Health as they deal with ongoing concerns from tenants about rodents at Greenfield Gardens.“It seems like there is some type of tenant request for Health Department needs...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — Most unhealthy habits among youth have been trending downward in the past few years, according to data recently released by the Communities That Care Coalition.The Franklin Regional Council of Governments program surveyed 1,439 eighth,...

By MARY BYRNE

GREENFIELD — Since the start of the year, city dispatchers have diverted 349 calls directly to behavioral health services, bypassing any direct police involvement.In that same time frame — January through September — an additional 292 calls warranted...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — With peak season for respiratory illnesses like the flu and COVID-19 approaching, the Department of Public Health has launched a refreshed dashboard to track trends and provide the public with helpful information focused on COVID-19,...

By BELLA LEVAVI

Franklin County’s public health nurses are encouraging residents to sign up early for the COVID-19 and flu clinics being held in schools, senior centers and town halls throughout October and November.“Sign up right away,” said Megan Tudryn, public...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Aiming to foster more connected communities across Massachusetts and staunch the negative health outcomes that can result from social isolation, service providers and advocacy groups gathered virtually on Thursday as part of their ongoing...