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A Lifetime of Nursing - Growing VOA Healthcare Services in Rural Colorado

May 14, 2021

A spotlight on Pam Shilts, Regional Clinical Consultant Pam Shilts has been a long-time nursing leader tenaciously shaping the direction of Volunteers of America healthcare services in rural Western Colorado over the better part of 40 years. Her story begins with an early involvement in long-term care for a loved one – her grandfather. In the 1970s, Pam Shilts’ grandfather Raleigh Leroy (Red) Hindman was a resident...

What the COVID-19 Relief Package Means for Health and Health Care

Mar 12, 2021

The $1.9 trillion measure cleared by Congress includes funding for testing and vaccine initiatives and aims to expand the reach of the Affordable Care Act. THE $1.9 TRILLION COVID-19 relief package cleared by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden will provide Americans with $1,400 stimulus payments but also includes a raft of health- and health care-related provisions. The package, dubbed...

C.D.C. Urges Better Masking for Increased Virus Protection

Feb 12, 2021

Massachusetts is offering a shot to anyone who accompanies an older resident to a mass vaccination site. A W.H.O. panel recommends AstraZeneca’s vaccine even in countries where variants have been found. New York’s governor says arenas and stadiums can open this month with spectators, at very limited capacity. The C.D.C. says tight-fit masks or double masking with cloth and surgical masks increases protection. Wearing a...

How We Can Deal with ‘Pandemic Fatigue’

Feb 11, 2021

The first step is to understand that it’s not just about exhaustion or tiredness—or depleting a mental resource The U.S. has tragically surpassed 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, and case numbers and hospitalizations are likewise spiking to record levels around the world. With vaccines now rolling out, there is reason to hope that there is an end in sight. However, by most estimates, widespread vaccinations will not be in place...

Nursing Home Vaccine Stories: One CEO’s Personal Appeal to Reduce Hesitancy

Jan 13, 2021

Just as predicted before the rollout began, vaccine hesitancy among nursing home workers stands as a serious barrier to widespread acceptance in long-term care — and, in turn, fully fostering group immunity among the most vulnerable. Battered by COVID-19 and unwilling to trust the institutions that oversaw the deaths of their patients and colleagues, a significant percentage of frontline caregivers have said no to the coronavirus...

Key committee endorses Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, paving way for clearance by FDA and vaccinations in US to begin

Dec 10, 2020

A committee of leading U.S. vaccine scientists recommended Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the first COVID-19 vaccine for Americans. The endorsement paves the way for a final decision by the FDA and mass vaccinations to begin within days in thousands of front-line heath care workers and nursing home residents. After an eight-hour public hearing, the independent Vaccines and Related Biological...

Government announces distribution of $2.5B to nursing homes for COVID-19 relief funding

Sep 08, 2020

The Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently announced it has distributed almost $2.5 billion of a planned $5 billion distribution to nursing homes to support increased testing, staffing and personal protective equipment (PPE) needs. This includes $135,903,600 to 951 facilities in Ohio. This funding allocation was made through the Health Resources and Services Administration...

Nurse Practitioners Say Expanded Scope of Practice Key for COVID-19

Aug 19, 2020

August 18, 2020 - Relaxed scope of practice restrictions and models enabling expanded telehealth use have been instrumental in helping nurse practitioners meet patient access to care needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus put a lot of pressure on the healthcare industry, namely in ensuring every...

A Health Care Way Forward

May 29, 2020

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and its activation in 2014, there has been a huge amount of debate about what form our health protection system should take. (I am deliberately avoiding the word health insurance.) For many, the answer has been very plain and simple: Do away with insurance companies’ involvement in providing protection for people’s health care needs, and have the “government”...

Training for success: Top US colleges for health sciences

May 27, 2020

Health sciences is a rewarding field to study as it prompts students and researchers to strive for a safer and healthier world. For Northeastern University Professor Andrea Grimes Parker and her colleagues, their research in this discipline of applied science led to the development of fitness trackers that aid vulnerable and marginalised populations. “Existing fitness platforms focus so much on goal setting, data...

The Healthcare Innovation Bubble: Making The Most Of The COVID 19 Crisis

May 25, 2020

In many ways, it is the best of times for those among us who are interested in transforming American health care. With the emergence of COVID19, there is deep, broad recognition of our deeply fractured system of healthcare and public health and the long road ahead to improve on it. The question is no longer whether we should strengthen our healthcare infrastructure but how. For the ﬁrst time, we have broad recognition of both the...

What Will U.S. Health Care Look Like After the Pandemic?

May 01, 2020

Even the most vocal critic of the American health care system cannot watch coverage of the current Covid-19 crisis without appreciating the heroism of each caregiver and patient fighting its most-severe consequences. Hospitals are being built in parks and convention centers, new approaches to sterilizing personal protective equipment (PPE) for reuse are being implemented, and new protocols for placing multiple patients on a single...

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