Health Wire

Director Frank Morrison points in January to 12th Avenue buildings Community House on Broadway would like to make into a youth shelter. Community House received a $5.3 million state grant to help fund the project but is still requesting $2.5 million from the county.

Longview shelter director lost daughter to drugs. Does that mean his plan won’t work?

October 2, 2023, 8:00am Health

Frank Morrison’s 28-year-old daughter Mariah died of a drug overdose last month. Read story

In this undated image provided by Penn Medicine, Katalin Karik? and Drew Weissman pose for a photo at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Karik? and Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and that could be used to develop other shots in the future.

Nobel in medicine goes to 2 scientists whose work enabled creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

October 2, 2023, 7:54am Health

Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that were critical in slowing the pandemic and whose technology could be used in the future to develop shots against other diseases like cancer and lupus. Read story

FILE - The overdose-reversal drug Narcan is displayed during training for employees of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), Dec. 4, 2018, in Philadelphia. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved selling overdose antidote naloxone over-the-counter, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, marking the first time a opioid treatment drug will be available without a prescription.

WA Department of Health now tracking unintentional drug overdoses. Here’s how it works

October 2, 2023, 7:42am Health

A majority of unintentional drug overdose deaths in Thurston County had at least one opportunity for intervention from 2020 to 2022, according to Washington state data. Read story

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, second from right, joins Clark County Councilor Sue Marshall, right, and others during a fentanyl roundtable where treatment, prevention and housing were topics.

Fentanyl driving surge in overdoses among kids in WA’s child welfare system

October 2, 2023, 7:36am Health

The number of overdoses and accidental poisonings among Washington kids in foster care, or who received services from the state child welfare system, increased more than tenfold over the span of four years, a new state report found, another indicator of the deadly spread of fentanyl throughout the state and… Read story

Hep C’s number comes up: Can Biden’s 5-year plan eliminate the longtime scourge?

October 1, 2023, 6:11am Health

Rick Jaenisch went through treatment six times before his hepatitis C was cured in 2017. Each time his doctors recommended a different combination of drugs, his insurer denied the initial request before eventually approving it. This sometimes delayed his care for months, even after he developed end-stage liver disease and… Read story

Seattle boosts first response to drug crisis, still lacks treatment options

Brendan Medbury, hospitality and engagement worker with Evergreen Treatment Services, holds the door for a client Friday morning in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, on Aug. 18, 2023.

October 1, 2023, 6:00am Health

As fatal drug and alcohol overdoses continue to outpace last year’s record-setting 1,001 deaths in King County, Seattle officials spent the summer beefing up the city’s emergency response to drug use and overdoses in public places. Read story

Health Wire

Longview shelter director lost daughter to drugs. Does that mean his plan won’t work?

Nobel in medicine goes to 2 scientists whose work enabled creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

WA Department of Health now tracking unintentional drug overdoses. Here’s how it works

Fentanyl driving surge in overdoses among kids in WA’s child welfare system

Hep C’s number comes up: Can Biden’s 5-year plan eliminate the longtime scourge?

As younger children increasingly die by suicide, better tracking and prevention is sought

Seattle boosts first response to drug crisis, still lacks treatment options

How will rural Americans fare during Medicaid unwinding? Experts fear they’re on their own

California workers who cut countertops are dying of an incurable disease

A decades-long drop in teen births is slowing, and advocates worry a reversal is coming