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How Fair Haven swung back into action on COVID tests
Paul Bass, New Haven Independent, Jan. 5
As COVID-19 surged across New Haven and the rest of Connecticut, leaders at Fair Haven Community Health Care knew they had to turn to the community for help when hundreds of people needing tests were turned away. As a result, they teamed up with organizers to help deliver at-home tests across the community.
Home births rise in Connecticut as pandemic prompts women to seek alternatives to hospitals
Harriet Jones, Connecticut Health I-Team, Dec. 28
Many women are seeking home births to avoid COVID-19. Although the overall number of births in Connecticut declined in 2020, there was a 29% increase in home births over the previous year.
Why an HBCU med school decided to put CARES Act money into students’ pockets
Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio/Kaiser Health News, Jan. 4
To support future Black doctors, dentists, and public health researchers, Meharry Medical College gave nearly one-third of its federal CARES funding directly to students. Black doctors are more likely to rely on student loans to advance their career, and this rare move was intended as an investment in the needed diversity of the field.
Why your local library might be hiring a social worker
Darian Benson, NPR, Jan. 3
Libraries have historically been a safe place that people turn to in their community. Increasingly, more libraries have been finding ways to partner with social services, including offering training on the overdose antidote naloxone, hosting vaccination clinics, or assisting with health insurance enrollment.
How medicine erased Black women from a ‘white man’s disease’
Eric Boodman, STAT News, Dec. 21
An inflammatory disease known as ankylosing spondylitis has been historically characterized as a “white young man’s disease” and has been missed in many patients that don’t fit those demographics. Although the disease is rare in Black people, genetic studies excluded Black patients from the research. To combat this erasure, one Black woman sought to unite and make visible other Black women whose experiences had gone unseen.