WBFO Health & Wellness Desk
The Health & Wellness New Desk is funded by Highmark BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and KSL Diagnostics.
For a region to thrive, its people need to be healthy; inadequacies in health and wellness have a range of social and economic consequences that affect many members of our community. Health inequality, cancer clusters, and high rates of heart disease and obesity are all part of the fabric of WNY, as much as the world-class research and treatment providers that are becoming a growing part of the region’s economic power. WBFO is committed to providing listeners with incisive reports on all of these issues that affect their lives.
For a region to thrive, its people need to be healthy; inadequacies in health and wellness have a range of social and economic consequences that affect many members of our community. Health inequality, cancer clusters, and high rates of heart disease and obesity are all part of the fabric of WNY, as much as the world-class research and treatment providers that are becoming a growing part of the region’s economic power. WBFO is committed to providing listeners with incisive reports on all of these issues that affect their lives.
Latest from the WBFO Health & Wellness Desk
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Erie County Legislator Howard Johnson noted that more than 45% of people live below the poverty line in Buffalo and Erie County, and more than 12% of Erie County is food insecure.
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Erie County has moved back into the "medium" risk category for COVID-19, down from the "high" risk level it had been, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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The Erie County Department of Health on Wednesday announced more than 10,000 air filtration units have been ordered for every K-12 public and charter classroom in the county.
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Pfizer has selected the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine to be part of an international study of its antiviral drug Paxlovid, and its potential to treat juvenile COVID patients. The oral treatment, which the FDA approved for emergency treatment of adult patients in December 2021, was found to reduce hospitalizations and even fatalities among symptomatic adult COVID patients.
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Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo wants to build 12 private inpatient rooms to support and co-locate care for the hospital's high-risk maternity patients.
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The Erie County Health Department and District Attorney are sending a joint warning to the public about an uptick in fatal opioid overdoses, many of which they suggest involve fentanyl-laced cocaine.
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Laboratory confirmed cases and hospitalizations were increasing in March and April.
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New York State’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, says mass shootings — including the one in Buffalo over the weekend that killed 10 people — racism and the growth of extremist white supremacist theories all have consequences for public health.
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A plethora of emergency mental health and food services have descended on the predominantly Black East Side neighborhood surrounding Tops in the days since the shooting.
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The Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue remains closed as the company – and the community – continue to grapple with the pain of last weekend’s mass shooting. While the community has rallied to provide food and other donations in the interim, the shutdown shines a light on the challenge to acquire healthy food in many East Side neighborhoods.