Stories
Vaccine Exemption Debate Sparks Memories For Mainers Who Survived Polio
In less than two weeks, Mainers will cast their votes on a referendum that seeks to repeal a new law that removes religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccines. Rates of non-medical exemptions continue to rise in Maine, and they are currently more than double the national average. But whether successful or not, the repeal effort…
Read MoreIf you happened to swing by the New Golden Gate Seafood restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown this week, you might’ve been confronted with the worst sound you can possibly hear in the restaurant business: silence. On a recent weeknight, not a single customer was in sight. The only movement in the dining room came from the lobsters crawling…
Read MoreWhere New Hampshire Democrats And The 2020 Candidates Stand On Drug Crisis Policies
New Hampshire is among the states hardest hit by the drug overdose crisis. So perhaps it’s no surprise that a majority of voters who plan to vote in the Democratic presidential primary support even the most controversial measures to keep people who use drugs alive and guide them to treatment rather than jail. Take decriminalization.…
Read MoreScattered around a couple dozen homes in Redding, Connecticut, researchers placed black plastic rodent-sized shelters. “They’re usually used to hold rodenticide for rats,” says Kirby Stafford, an entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station. But for this experiment, each of the structures housed rodent food laced not with poison but with a Lyme disease vaccine – for…
Read MoreIn homes in which a family member has autism, day-to-day tasks can be challenging. One family is now trying to solve some of those issues, by pairing up with engineering students from the University of Connecticut. In the autism community, there’s a saying: If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with…
Read MoreWhile Others Wait, One Teen In Boston Is Granted Medical Deferred Action
Months after federal immigration officials reinstated deferred action for medical cases, a family in Boston who feared they’d be removed from the U.S. — even as their son continued to need life-saving treatments — now has clarity. Originally from Honduras, the Sanchez family came to Boston three years ago seeking proper health care for their…
Read MoreEMS Crews Brought Patients To The Hospital With Misplaced Breathing Tubes. None Of Them Survived.
In the summer of 2018, Dr. Nick Asselin was doing research on cardiac arrests in Rhode Island when he made a horrifying discovery. Hospital records showed patients had been arriving by ambulance with misplaced breathing tubes, sending air into their stomachs instead of their lungs, essentially suffocating them. At first, he said, there were four…
Read More‘Worse For Care’: When Elder Homes Stumble, Frail Vermonters Get Hurt
Marilyn Kelly’s health declined quickly during her eight months at an eldercare home. The 78-year-old entered Our House Too in Rutland a spirited woman who could cast a fishing rod. She soon began taking falls, and her visiting daughters often found their mother slumped in a stupor. They blamed her dementia at first. Then they…
Read MoreAfter Bradley B-17 Crash, Lasting Impact of PFAS Firefighting Foam Remains A Question
Christopher Albani was at home when he heard the call that a B-17 crashed at Bradley International Airport, killing seven people. He’s a firefighter, one of several who responded to the Oct. 2 crash. Albani was put on a hose line, dumping firefighting foam onto burning wreckage. “So in that moment, being exposed to it,…
Read MoreKids in foster care are often coping with the aftermath of abuse or neglect, along with the added trauma of being removed from their home. They’re grappling with this past, while living in the shadow of an uncertain future. The Public’s Radio is telling their stories in our series, Living In Limbo: Foster Families And…
Read More