By Cara Rosner Families with loved ones in nursing homes–unable to visit while getting frustratingly sparse information about them–have found a champion in Mairead Painter. Painter, the state’s long term care ombudsman, who works for…
By Bonnie Phillips Nursing homes inspected for infection-control practices during the pandemic revealed deficiencies, including failure to separate COVID-positive residents from residents who do not have the virus, improper use or no use of personal…
By Peggy McCarthy Melanie Stengel Photo. Weeks into the pandemic, people wait outside the 164 Wilson Food Pantry to receive food. The pantry is part of the Wilson Memorial Church of God in Christ, Stamford….
By Cara Rosner The state has fined six nursing homes for violations that jeopardized residents’ safety, including an incident in which resident with Alzheimer’s was found dead outside a facility in Wallingford. The facilities were…
By Carol Leonetti Dannhauser Stamford Hospital is treating most of its critically ill coronavirus patients with blood plasma from people who have recovered, after stunning turnarounds in several patients who were gravely ill. “We started…
By Steve Hamm Melanie Stengel Photo. A woman waits to enter the testing walk-up site at Chapel and Day streets, run by Dr. Steven Murphy of Greenwich. Leslie Radcliffe looks ahead to the planned reopening…
By Sujata Srinivasan Weeks into staying home from preschool, Betty, 4, threw herself on the floor and had a screaming meltdown. She had had a Zoom meeting with her class earlier that day, and every…
By Cara Rosner As cases of COVID-19 surged throughout Connecticut and the nation, “a perfect storm” of circumstances rendered nursing homes unable to handle the crisis, hastening the virus’ spread and deaths, experts say. “It’s…
By Lisa Backus The state Medical Examining Board disciplined two physicians with $5,000 fines for failing to adequately inform and monitor patients while prescribing opioids or anti-anxiety medications. Dr. Michael Kelly, of Salisbury, was issued…
By Lisa Backus For the past month or so, Leikish Nails has engaged in an elaborate ritual the minute she gets home from her shift at Touchpoints at Manchester, a skilled nursing facility that has…
By Kate Farrish iStock photo The pandemic is exposing health disparities that were generations in the making. Soon after Minerva Cuapio, a 48-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives in New Haven, was laid off from her…
By Lisa Backus 20 hours ago RecommendTweet EmailPrintMore The sleepy town of Colebrook has no traffic lights, no police department, no public sewer or water system and no confirmed cases of COVID-19. “Knock on wood,”…
By Cara Rosner The COVID-19 pandemic will likely result in a “huge paradigm shift” toward in-home dialysis treatments in the future, experts predict. Home “is the safest place for them to be,” said Dr. Holly…
Coping With Pandemic: Are You Lonesome Tonight? By Colleen Shaddox It’s important to practice physical distancing – but not social distancing. People need connection and belonging. There are ways to achieve that online through volunteering…
By Colleen Shaddox Adolescents want and need to be with peers, so the isolation imposed by the pandemic is especially hard for them. Parents are put in the difficult position of enforcing that isolation. Students…
By Colleen Shaddox 11 hours ago RecommendTweet EmailPrintMore The pandemic has many parents trying to do their jobs from home, supervise their children’s education and provide 24-7 care. Creating reasonable expectations can keep parents from…
By Lisa Backus Community health centers that provide medical care to 400,000 low-income patients throughout the state are adapting to the coronavirus pandemic by shifting to telemedicine and reconfiguring the way the staff is offering…
By Carol Leonetti Dannhauser Savo Family Photo. At home in Rome, the Savo family, Paolo, Beniamino, Andrea and Manuela. Joann Rubino brought her cell phone outside to the balcony and swept the camera around for…
By Cara Rosner Social distancing is one way to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but for health care workers who provide care in people’s homes, especially for the elderly, that type of care brings…
By Lisa Backus Melanie Stengel Photo Rev. Robyn Anderson (L) and Rev. Moses Harvill at Cross Center Church in Middletown. They are working together to provide services during this time of social distancing. As an…