Metro Creative
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A long predicted shortage across the continuum of nursing and direct care workers has come home to roost in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Shortages are rippling across the country fueled in part, experts say, by pandemic trauma and burnout.
The issue is critical in Western Pennsylvania.
In a region characterized by a rapidly graying population and a shrinking workforce, help wanted signs are popping up at private home care agencies, personal care homes, assisted living and nursing homes, community hospitals and sprawling academic and tertiary care hospitals.
Previous anniversaries of Cubs first league game By JohnW53 on May 7, 2021, 4:43am CDT +
The Cubs are scheduled to host the Pirates today, May 7 the
150th anniversary of their first league game, also played at home: their National Association debut, a victory over the Cleveland Forest Citys.
After 3 innings at the Union Grounds, the White Stockings, as they were known then, led, 14-1. But they barely hung on to win, 14-12.
I described that game in detail in a previous post.
Then I wondered how the Cubs had fared on other significant anniversaries of that historic win.
Here is what I found:
Nurses at Excela Westmoreland Hospital will have a cool Nurses’ Week.
They’ll be receiving $5 gift cards from Cold Stone Creamery as part of a corporate outreach program honoring nurses who have been on the front lines during the pandemic.
“A little cup of ice cream was the least we could do,” said Sara Schmillen, vice president of marketing for Kahala Brands, parent company of Cold Stone.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we activated our online ordering platform, where customers checking out could donate $1 or a creation to front-line workers,” she said. “Then, we had to find a way to give it out to the community.”
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U.S. health advisers on Friday urged resuming covid-19 vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot, saying its benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clots in line with Europe’s rollout.
Federal health officials uncovered 15 vaccine recipients who developed a highly unusual kind of blood clot, out of nearly 8 million people given the J&J shot. All were women, most under age 50. Three died, and seven remain hospitalized.
“I think it’s important to note that all three vaccines are safe and effective,” said Dr. Graham Snyder, UPMC’s medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology. “What they’ve identified is 15 cases of clots associated with the vaccine. Given the number of doses already administered, that still makes this a very rare occurrence.”
Tribune-Review
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Some coronavirus vaccine appointments at Excela Health’s North Huntingdon clinic have been going unfilled, causing concern that demand is dropping while new positive cases rise.
An increase in supply allowed the health system to streamline its registry, making it easier for anyone interested in getting the vaccine to make an appointment at excelahealth.org, said Dr. Carol Fox, Excela’s chief medical officer. Officials are administering Moderna vaccines at the clinic to anyone 18 and older.
“For new, first doses, I think the demand has slowed down and I don’t know if it’s vaccine hesitancy,” Fox said, or whether it is general concerns about safety after distribution of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine was paused this week because of a blood clot issue in a minuscule percentage of patients.