Dr. Joia Mukherjee, the chief medical officer at Partners in Health, said the organization has drastically scaled back its contact tracing workforce amid a sharp decline in COVID-19 infections. CommonWealth Magazine · Contact tracing effort scaled way back On CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast, Mukherjee said Partners in Health has gone from 1,900 employees to […]
Health Care
Posted inOpinion
Systemic racism has very real health impact
AS A COUNTRY, we are waking up daily to the unacceptable and completely avoidable loss of black life. We know some of their names, like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. But many more we sadly only know as numbers and statistics, reported as part of the daily coronavirus public health updates. What they have in […]
Posted inHealth Care
Nursing homes start own Phase 1
LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts, are starting to enter their own Phase 1. The Baker administration is slightly easing visitation restrictions at the state’s long-term care and assisted living facilities, while launching surveillance testing of staff and preparing to discipline nursing homes that have had problems passing infection control […]
Posted inHealth Care
State’s COVID-19 response continues scaling back
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is taking more steps to scale back the state’s response to COVID-19, doing away with the voluntary 14-day quarantine for visitors from seven nearby states and cutting by hundreds of employees the size of the team tracking down infected individuals and their close contacts. Baker said both moves are a response to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Substance use treatment changing at Plymouth prison
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is removing correctional officers and expanding treatment programming at the troubled prison facility in Plymouth used to treat men civilly committed for substance use. The shift in approach follows a lawsuit alleging abusive treatment at the facility and a legislative committee recommending these men no longer be kept there. “By transitioning to […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers push for Chelsea Soldiers’ Home probe
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CITING THE DEATHS of 31 veterans there, Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on Friday called for an independent investigation into the coronavirus outbreak at the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home, one of two long-term care homes that the state runs for veterans. “Given that 31 veteran residents of […]
Posted inHealth Care
COVID-19 crackdown coming for N. End restaurants
FOLLOWING NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS about expanded outdoor dining in Boston’s North End not complying with COVID-19 guidelines, the city’s Licensing Board has decided to crack down with random inspections of new “al fresco” dining locations. It will begin random inspections at the new dining locations set up in an effort kick start the restaurant industry following coronavirus […]
Posted inThe Download
COVID-19 crackdown coming for N. End restaurants
Following numerous complaints about expanded outdoor dining in Boston’s North End not complying with COVID-19 guidelines, the city’s Licensing Board has decided to crack down with random inspections of new “al fresco” dining locations. It will begin random inspections at the new dining locations set up in an effort kick start the restaurant industry following […]
Posted inHealth Care
Walsh is fall guy, but it goes way beyond him
IN HIS 174-PAGE REPORT on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, Mark Pearlstein and his team paint a portrait of a long-term care facility for veterans that was managed poorly, overseen improperly, and largely overlooked by the higher-ups in state government, up to and including Gov. Charlie Baker. Bennett Walsh, the former superintendent, is likely going to […]
Posted inHealth Care
What went wrong at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
THE WORST DECISION made by the staff at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home was to combine some 40 residents of two locked dementia care units – some with COVID-19 and most not – into a single room with a capacity of 25 people. “The decision was a catastrophe,” said a 174-page report written by attorney Mark Pearlstein summarizing his investigation into the […]