Search Results

Keyword search: health

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN and EMILEE KLEIN

With two cases of bird flu having been confirmed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, local health officials are issuing advisories and at least one Franklin County farm is taking measures to protect its poultry.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

GREENFIELD — Board of Health member Ahmad Esfahani resigned last week after he claims the Health Department hesitated to put a proposed policy regulating minors’ cellphone through the public engagement process.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

GREENFIELD — During the Board of Health’s first meeting since it dissolved in August due to lack of staffing, health officials suspended Country Mart’s tobacco license for 30 days and fined the business $5,000 after it accumulated four flavored tobacco sales violations within 36 months.

By CHRIS LARABEE

GREENFIELD — In a region where housing comes at a premium, increasing the diversity of homes and public backing of zoning changes may be the key to unlocking development and growth.

By ALEXA LEWIS

It may seem like everyone knows someone stuck in bed with a stomach bug this winter.

By CHRIS LARABEE

Just over a month since Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) benefits were cut by a minimum of 50%, local businesses and advocates for the initiative are hopeful that it will be restored, as farmers, vendors and stores are seeing the effects of reduced benefits.

As 2025 gets underway, many people will make at least one resolution, and many of those resolutions involve living a healthier lifestyle.“The new year is a time for many to reflect on their lives and resolve, or commit, to making a positive change in...

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

To Julia Demillones Moore, knowledge about periods is power. Moore, who goes by “Julia Moon Beam” online, is a menstrual cycle educator and a pelvic steam practitioner from Turners Falls. Through her two businesses, Wise Gal Period Mentor and Moon...

By CHRIS LARABEE

GREENFIELD — With the support of a five-year, $7 million grant, three of Baystate Health’s hospitals are launching a substance use disorder treatment program, which will be based at Baystate Franklin Medical Center.The $7 million grant, awarded by the...

By GREG VINE

ATHOL — The Board of Health has recommended that funds coming to the town from the nationwide opioid settlement be directed to the North Quabbin Recovery Center.These funds can be used for services designed to assist residents who are trying to...

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

ASHFIELD — Fines for violating tobacco sales regulations are set to increase, along with other minor changes the Board of Health is preparing to make to Ashfield’s bylaws. Most of the changes are minor, board members said during a Dec. 17 meeting...

By DOMENIC POLI

ATHOL — Walgreens has announced it will permanently close its location at 1640 South Main St. at 3 p.m. on Jan. 27.A sign posted on the front door states customers’ prescription records are available at all Walgreens locations, including the one at...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — Health New England has awarded grants to three local nonprofits that work to advance youth health and well-being in western Massachusetts. Just Roots farm is receiving $3,000 to fund its Food Access for Youth & Families Program while...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — Jeremy Goldsher has had “a lot and also not very much” going on in the past 12 months.The co-founder of Greenspace CoWork has been on dialysis for a year after being diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, a result of the genetic...

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

MONTAGUE — Customers won’t find nicotine pouches on the shelves of any Montague stores after March 1, 2025, following a Wednesday night decision by the Board of Health to revise the town’s existing tobacco sales restrictions.Moving forward, nicotine...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

State officials are preparing for the rollout of expanded maternal health care services in 2025, stemming from a new law and recommendations they issued last year.Public health officials said the bevy of reforms were fueled by the controversial...

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Gov. Maura Healey signed the Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community (SAPHE 2.0) bill in late November on the coattails of a $4 billion economic development bond bill. Now roughly four years in the making, local health officials say...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, joined by a cohort of Massachusetts health leaders, has declared he will vote against confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary, saying Americans need a leader who...

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

GREENFIELD — The regional human services organization Behavioral Health Network Inc. has begun a new 16-bed addiction and mental health rehabilitation program for women at its Kenwood Street location.“Recovery is never a one-size-fits-all approach,”...

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

MONTAGUE — Local and state officials gathered alongside health care workers on Monday afternoon to celebrate the return of a community health center to town.The first community health center in western Massachusetts was founded in 1997 in Turners...

By ZICHANG LIU

BOSTON — A day ahead of World Pancreatic Cancer Day, which fell on Nov. 21, lawmakers and advocates gathered to bring hope to a promising bill aimed at improving survival rates and treatments for pancreatic cancer patients.Pancreatic cancer ranks as...