Health

Itchy eyes and scratchy throat? Welcome to Western Washington’s tree pollen allergy season

This week's batch of warm, dry weather also meant the trees just dropped a fat load of pollen, creating distress for allergy sufferers. Saturday's rain should bring temporary relief, but pollen counts are expected to be high again next week.
Tags: Health, Local News, Northwest, Science, Weather

Podcast: U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Medicare for All and how to pay for it

In the podcast interview, Seattle's Democratic congresswoman explains her single-payer health-care legislation and answers questions on other controversies, including the 2020 presidential race and calls to break up Amazon and other tech giants.
Tags: Health, Amazon, News, Local Politics, Seattle, Local News, Pramila Jayapal, Nation & World Politics

LA County health officials ID 2nd measles case involving LAX Passenger

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County health officials said Wednesday they have confirmed another case of measles involving a passenger who arrived aboard a flight at Los Angeles International Airport. The newest case was a passenger on United Airlines flight 240 that arrived at the airport on March 5 and may have been in the area of Gate 76A at Terminal 7 between 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The person also visited an Enterprise Rent-A-Car location at 1719 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica the following day s...
Tags: Health, News, Sport, Public Health, Soccer, Local News, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Lax, Santa Monica, Los Angeles International Airport, Department of Public Health, Los Angeles Los Angeles County, LA County, Wilshire Blvd, China Eastern

Amid overdose crisis and lawsuits, Washington lawmakers propose taxes on opioid distributors

Washington lawmakers are proposing to hike taxes on companies that warehouse and distribute opioids, some of which have gotten a preferential tax rate for decades.
Tags: Health, News, Washington, Local Politics, Local News

Seattle VA hospital on Beacon Hill expands with a showcase building housing researchers and mental health services

This is the first major expansion since 1985 for the Seattle VA hospital, which is part of a Puget Sound Healthcare network that now serves more than 100,000 veterans
Tags: Health, News, Local News, Beacon Hill, Seattle VA, Puget Sound Healthcare

Investigation can’t find source of food-borne illness outbreak at Beaumont baby shower

Too many kinds of food were prepared by too many different people for health officials to determine what exactly is to blame for 33 people getting sick after a baby shower in Beaumont in January. The Riverside County Department of Public Health reached that conclusion after analyzing information from 27 people who attended the shower — 18 who said they got sick and nine who remained well — about what they ate. Additionally, the environmental health agencies in San Bernardino and Los Angeles coun...
Tags: Health, Restaurants, Los Angeles, Sport, Soccer, Glendale, Local News, Riverside County, Porto, San Bernardino, Beaumont, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, Cole, Yucaipa, Barbara Cole

Permanent daylight saving time clears another hurdle, passing Washington state Senate

The state Senate has approved a measure to get Washington off the time-changing seesaw and adopt daylight saving time year-round. The House passed a similar bill on Saturday.
Tags: Health, Wellness, Outdoors, News, Washington, Life, Senate, Lifestyle, House, Local Politics, Local News, Eastside

Ferguson continues fight against companies profiting from opioids with lawsuit against distributors

"We've seen the data and it is shocking," Attorney General Bob Ferguson said, announcing a lawsuit against the three largest opioid distributors in Washington.
Tags: Health, News, Nation, Local Politics, Ferguson, Local News, Northwest, Bob Ferguson

Providence St. Joseph announces co-ownership deal with Cedars-Sinai at Tarzana hospital

Cedars-Sinai healthcare will join the current owner of Tarzana hospital Providence St. Joseph Health to form the Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, the two healthcare organizations announced Tuesday. In the joint venture, Providence will hold controlling interest of the longstanding San Fernando Valley Hospital and the center will retain its Catholic identity, officials said. Cedars-Sinai is investing in the center for an undisclosed amount as Providence redevelops its Tarzana campu...
Tags: Health, Business, News, Los Angeles, Sport, Soccer, Healthcare, Local News, West Hollywood, Providence, San Bernardino, Healthgrades, Tarzana, San Fernando Valley, Providence Health Services, Cedars Sinai

Calling all angels: Inspired by their own experience, siblings launch nonprofit to support families battling melanoma

Tyler and Tricia Halstead grew up quickly, in a home centered around a mother who spent her last decade dying of melanoma. “We did not have what you would call a normal childhood,” said Tricia, 27, now an attorney living in Huntington Beach. “But our mom made it as normal as possible by developing a support group to take care of us when she couldn’t.” Her parents, Travis and Cindy Halstead, called the posse their “angel network.” Siblings Tricia and Tyler Halstead in Huntington Beach, CA, on F...
Tags: Health, News, Los Angeles, Sport, Soccer, Newcastle, Jesus, Local News, Orange, University Of Illinois, Huntington Beach, Los Angeles County, La Mirada, Cindy, Tyler, Travis

Lack of funding, legal battle in Pennsylvania could impact Seattle’s safe-injection site plan

Seattle and King County also need to find a stable source of funding for safe-injection sites.
Tags: Health, News, Pennsylvania, Seattle, Local News, King County, Project Homeless

Seattle Children’s and Microsoft find new insights into how smoking during pregnancy harms a baby

Analyzing CDC data on 20 million babies, scientists from Seattle Children's and Microsoft pinpointed how much the risk of sudden infant death increases with every cigarette smoked during pregnancy. The Microsoft data team hopes to use its computing power to help address more of the world's confounding problems.
Tags: Health, Science, News, Microsoft, Cdc, Seattle, Local News, Seattle Children 's

How a straight shooter is trying to change Washington state’s vaccine-exemption law

Amid a measles outbreak in his home county, state Rep. Paul Harris says he felt compelled to act to limit exemptions to the MMR vaccine. It's odd, he thinks, that more in his GOP caucus don't support his proposal given that, in his estimation, all are probably vaccinated themselves.
Tags: Health, News, Washington, Gop, Local Politics, Local News, Northwest, Paul Harris

State public health-care plan clears Washington House

The proposal would create a state insurance option that would be offered at a discounted rate to some. It would also require officials to plan expanded state subsidies for private insurance, including for part of the middle class.
Tags: Health, Business, News, Local Politics, Local News, Northwest, Washington House

Senior Living: Families facing early Alzheimer’s disease are not alone

By David W. Hart, Ph.D. Contributing writer One of the questions that I receive most frequently goes something like this: why are there so many more people being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias today compared to two or three generations ago? The simple answer is that more of us are living longer today than ever before and age is the number one risk factor for developing dementia. In fact, about 40 percent of individuals over the age of 80 have some form of cognitive ...
Tags: Health, Los Angeles, Sport, Soccer, United States, Local News, Pacific Coast Highway, Hart, Santa Clarita, South Bay, Torrance, Redondo, Senior Living, Top Stories LADN, Top Stories OCR, Top Stories PE

Feds pull Medicaid money at Washington’s Rainier School, citing health and safety failures

This is the latest in a series of crises facing the state's social-services system. This decertification of the Pierce County facility for developmentally-disabled people could cost Washington roughly $12 million in annual funding, according to state officials.
Tags: Health, News, Washington, Local Politics, Local News, Medicaid, Northwest, Pierce County, Rainier School

Another cost of the Washington measles outbreak: The 800 students kept out of school

If measles is diagnosed in a school, anyone -- student or teacher -- who does not have proof of vaccination has to be kept out of school. Students are struggling to keep up at home, parents are juggling child care and teachers have to shift duties.
Tags: Health, News, Education, Washington, Local Politics, Local News

HIV is reported cured in a second patient, a milestone in the global AIDS epidemic

Scientists have long tried to duplicate the procedure that led to the first long-term remission 12 years ago for Seattle-born Timothy Ray Brown.
Tags: Health, News, Seattle, Local News, Nation & World

Patient attacked 3 Western State Hospital nurses in 6 months, lawsuit says

The lawsuit says the patient had a history of “sexually assaulting and targeting female staff” and that the hospital knew and didn’t address it appropriately
Tags: Health, News, Local News, Northwest, Western State Hospital

Measles outbreak in Pacific Northwest about half of U.S. cases

The number of cases in Vancouver, Washington, is 68 — more than 40 percent of the number reported nationwide since Jan. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.
Tags: Health, News, Local Politics, Local News, Pacific Northwest, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, Northwest, Vancouver Washington

Life for a child with a rare disease is a grueling roller coaster ride: A mom explains

Three years ago, I wrote about my daughter Sarah being diagnosed with a connective tissue disease known as hyper-mobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, one of 13 variations of this rare condition. Sarah Rightmire works on school work while waiting for a doctor, Feb. 25, 2019. (Photo by Karen Kelso) Sarah Rightmire tries to distract herself while doing a GI motility test at CHOC, June 7, 2018. (Photo by Karen Kelso) Sound The gallery will resume in seconds Sarah Righmtire falls aslee...
Tags: Health, Facebook, News, Obamacare, California, Sport, Soccer, Ariana Grande, Newcastle, Local News, Orange County, Baltimore, Ducks, Sarah, Southern California, Anaheim

CDC director, federal health officials stress importance of measles vaccinations

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Seattle that vaccines do not cause autism and that everyone should embrace vaccinations.
Tags: Health, News, Cdc, Nation, Seattle, Local News, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, Northwest, Robert Redfield

Pramila Jayapal to introduce Medicare-for-all bill that would overhaul nation’s health-care system

The legislation would expand not just who's covered by Medicare but also the services Medicare covers.
Tags: Health, News, Local Politics, Medicare, Local News, Pramila Jayapal, Nation & World, Nation & World Politics

Ferguson to sue Trump administration over new abortion regulations

The new rule, released Friday, would bar organizations that receive federal Title X money from referring patients to abortion providers.
Tags: Health, News, Local Politics, Ferguson, Local News, Trump, Nation & World Politics

Washington state considers staying on Pacific Daylight Time forever

When you switch your clock forward by one hour at the beginning of daylight saving time in two weeks, know this: it could be among the last times. Washington state lawmakers are considering several proposals to adopt year-round Pacific Daylight Time, ending the twice-a-year switch between it and Pacific Standard Time. It’s not a new […]
Tags: Health, Wellness, News, Washington, Life, Environment, Nation, Local News, Northwest, Eastside, Nation & World, Nation & World Politics, Pacific Daylight Time

Washington considers staying on Pacific Daylight Time forever

When you switch your clock forward by one hour at the beginning of Daylight Savings Time two weeks from now, know this: it could be among the last times. Washington state lawmakers in both the House and Senate are considering several proposals  that could mean the permanent adoption of year-round Pacific Daylight Time, ending the […]
Tags: Health, Wellness, News, Washington, Senate, House, Local News, Eastside, Daylight Savings Time

Cost of Washington’s measles outbreak tops $1 million; expected to climb higher

Clark County, where the measles outbreak is centered, has dedicated 40 to 50 public-health employees to the response while the state Department of Health has assigned 166 staffers.
Tags: Health, News, Washington, Local News, Northwest, Clark County, state Department of Health

UW Medicine mistakenly exposed information on nearly 1 million patients

The files contain patients' names, medical record numbers, a description of the information shared and a description of who it was shared with, UW Medicine said in a news release.
Tags: Health, News, Education, Local News, Northwest, UW Medicine

With her new leg, 4-year-old Radhika is up and walking

Back in India, Radhika Ennis was badly burned on both her legs before she turned 2. It left her unable to walk. Now with the love of her new parents and the help of experts at Seattle Children's, she has the confidence to take off running.
Tags: Health, Photography, News, India, Local News, Northwest, Seattle Children, Radhika, Radhika Ennis

To save on surgery, out-of-state patients travel to Washington’s Longview

A year and a half ago, Anita Graves’ doctor told her her right knee needed to be replaced. However, rather than undergoing the procedure near her home in Omaha, Neb., where the surgery would cost about $50,000, Graves saved $13,000 by having it at the Pacific Surgical Center in Longview. “It was a miracle, because […]
Tags: Travel, Health, Wellness, Business, News, Washington, Nation, Local News, Northwest, Local Business, Omaha Neb, Longview, Nation & World, Anita Graves, Pacific Surgical Center