The Columbian

Health Wire

FILE - Kim M. Smith, leader of the Utah Deaf Hospital Rights movement and president of the Utah Association of the Deaf, brushes her hair away from her hearing aid as she poses for a portrait Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, at Alta View Hospital in Sandy, Utah. Millions of Americans may be able to buy hearing aids without a prescription by this fall, under a long-awaited rule finalized Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, that's intended to make the devices more accessible to people with hearing problems. The Food and Drug Administration said the new regulation cuts red tape by creating a new class of hearing aids that don't require a medical exam, a prescription and other specialty services. Instead the devices will be sold online or over-the-counter at pharmacies and other retail stores.

Over-the-counter hearing aids expected this fall in U.S.

August 16, 2022, 8:15am Health

Millions of Americans will be able to buy hearing aids without a prescription later this fall, under a long-awaited rule finalized Tuesday. Read story

U.S. offers more monkeypox vaccine to states and cities

August 15, 2022, 3:54pm Health

U.S. officials said they are able to ship out more monkeypox vaccine doses than previously planned — because of a strategy shift that allows more shots to be drawn from each vial. Read story

Seattle firefighter and EMT Garth Stroyan administers a COVID-19 vaccination for Asya Strounine, 13, at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle on June 10, 2021.

Who is and isn’t getting COVID boosters in Washington — and why that’s causing worry

August 15, 2022, 6:01am Health Free

Filled with action figures, stickers and cartoons, Seattle Children’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic has kept busy for months, accommodating hundreds of immunization appointments per week. But staffers have noticed a glaring hole in their schedule recently: Fewer and fewer people are returning for booster shots. Read story

Lucille Brooks of Pittsford, New York, is among hundreds of people sued by federally licensed nursing homes in Monroe County from 2018 to 2021.

Nursing homes are suing the friends and family of residents to collect debts

August 14, 2022, 6:05am Business

Lucille Brooks was stunned when she picked up the phone before Christmas two years ago and learned a nursing home was suing her. Read story

FILE - Boxes of BinaxNow home COVID-19 tests made by Abbott displayed for sale next to liquid hand soap at a CVS store in Lakewood, Wash., Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. People screening themselves at home for COVID-19 may need to use three rapid tests to accurately detect the virus, according to new U.S. recommendations released Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, that call for a longer testing period. (AP Photo/Ted S.

Why it’s taking people with COVID-19 so long to finally get a negative test

August 14, 2022, 6:02am Health

Health officials recommend that anyone infected with the coronavirus isolate for at least five days. But for many, that timeline is becoming overly optimistic. Read story

Patients and doctors trapped in a gray zone when abortion laws and emergency care mandate conflict

August 14, 2022, 6:00am Health

Each week, Dr. Kim Puterbaugh sees several pregnant patients at a Cleveland hospital who are experiencing complications involving bleeding or infection. The OB-GYN has to make quick decisions about how to treat them, including whether to remove the dead or dying fetus to protect the health and life of the… Read story

Flight nurse Duane Rorie prepares for a flight at North Colorado Medical Center on Aug. 1, 2022, in Greeley, Colorado. Med Evac is celebrating 40 years in Northern Colorado and took members of the media up for a short flight. Med Evac has flown more than 30,000 missions during those 40 years.

Air ambulances were designed for speed, but can now operate as mobile partial ICUs

August 14, 2022, 6:00am Health

When air ambulances first took off in the 1980s, they were mostly about getting patients to a hospital as fast as possible. But now they can operate more like mobile intensive-care units, the crew of a Greeley-based medical helicopter said. Read story