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State Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, left, confers with Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and other members during Monday’s floor session about a bill allowing residents to receive Medicaid funds for providing care for elderly and disabled family members. The bill introduced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy passed unanimously. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Senate OKs Medicaid funds for home care of elderly, disabled

Bill also allows state to seek extension of COVID-era funds for other residents needing daily care

A chart shows the number and type of Alaska residents receiving Medicaid coverage based on either 2022 Alaska Medicaid Claims data (yellow) or 2021 U.S. Census data (orange). More than 260,000 residents are currently enrolled, about 30,000 more than 2020, due to a federal provision that kept states from removing people during the COVID-19 pandemic. That provision ended April 1 and Alaska officials are scheduled review eligibility of all residents enrolled during the next 12 months. (Alaska Division of Public Assistance)

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Medicaid eligibility for all enrollees under review

Coverage for more than 260,000 Alaskans to be checked during next year as COVID-19 protection ends

A nurse prepares a syringe of a COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., July 19, 2022. U.S. health officials are proposing a simplified approach to COVID-19 vaccinations, which would allow most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus. The new system unveiled Monday, Jan. 23, 2023 would make COVID-19 inoculations more like the annual flu shot. Americans would no longer have to keep track of how many shots they’ve received or how many months it’s been since their last booster. (AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis)

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U.S. proposes once-a-year COVID shots for most Americans

The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in.

A donor gives blood at the Blood Bank of Alaska’s Juneau center. The BBA recently issued a news release asking for donations to coincide with National Blood Donor Month.(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

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‘There is an urgency’: Blood Bank of Alaska puts out call for donors

The request comes amid National Blood Donor Month.

This photo provided by Amy Watson of Portland, Ore., shows her during an iron infusion in December 2022. Watson, approaching 50, says she has “never had any kind of recovery” from COVID-19. She has had severe migraines, plus digestive, nerve and foot problems. Recently she developed severe anemia. (Amy Watson)

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Long COVID: Could mono virus or fat cells be playing roles?

Scientists are still trying to figure out why some people get long COVID.

Wildflower Court, which has been forced to scale back its long-term nursing care to about 75% of capacity due to staffing and other difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, is being acquired by Bartlett Regional Hospital, officials at both facilities said Thursday. (Dana Zigmund / Juneau Empire file photo)

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Bartlett to acquire Wildflower Court

Long-term facility recently forced to reduce capacity; officials hope merger also helps hospice gap

A chart shows non-genital syphilis cases in Alaska have risen about 1,340% between 2017 and 2021, reflecting an enormous increase in cases nationwide. But Alaska is among the states with the highest rates of increase, with the third-highest rates of syphilis and chlamydia in 2020, the most recent year state-by-state comparisons are available. (Alaska Department of Health)

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Syphilis cases still skyrocketing statewide

1,340% increase between 2017 and 2021 largely due to state’s relative youth and health care access

SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium opened a new physical rehabilitation clinic at the old Armory Log Cabin on Crest Street in the Mendenhall Valley. The new location replaced the old facility previously located in the basement portion of the Ethel Lund Medical Center. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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SEARHC opens new physical rehabilitation clinic

The new location at the Armory Log Cabin replaces the old clinic at Ethel Lund Medical Center

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire A totem pole stands outside Hospice and Home Care of Juneau, which is shutting down Wednesday after providing services for about 20 years due to lack of staff. The closure will affect 17 home health and two hospice patients, with program and city officials in discussions with Bartlett Regional Hospital and SEARHC about taking over services for such patients.

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Hospice and Home Care of Juneau closing Wednesday

Program halting due to shortage and high cost of staff. Officials hope BRH, SEARHC can offer care.

High school students run at sunset as they practice for the track and field season Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Shawnee, Kan. New research hints that even simple exercise just might help fend off memory problems. While physical activity helps keep healthy brains fit, it's not clear how much it helps once memory starts to slide. (AP Photo / Charlie Riedel)

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Even simple exercise may help aging brain, study hints

Doctors have long advised physical activity to help keep a healthy brain fit.

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. The spread of monkeypox in the U.S. in 2022 could represent the dawn of a new sexually transmitted disease, or it could yet be contained. Or it might be too early to tell. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP, File)

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Alaska reports 1st case of monkeypox

Anchorage resident had contact with someone who recently traveled outside of the state.

Donated blood is prepared for storage and eventual transport at the Blood Bank of Alaska's Juneau location. There is a statewide shortage of donated blood. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

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Blood Bank of Alaska says there’s a critical need for blood

Blood Bank of Alaska is currently in urgent need of all blood types

This combination image shows Ethel Lund Visionaries in Healthcare Scholarship recipients Delainey Steffe, Michael David Del Cesar, Gloria Eyon, Chariety Moler and Trinity Jackson. The scholarship offers funds to Southeast Alaska Native students pursuing studies in the health care field. (Courtesy Photos / Healing Hand Foundation)

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Scholarship to help Southeast Alaska Native students help others

7 students earn Ethel Lund Visionaries in Healthcare Scholarships.

Alaska Seaplanes assistant chief pilot Pat Ford helps Stuart Woodbury into one of the company’s aircraft during an event celebrating Seaplanes’ expansion of service to Wrangell on May 26, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

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Alaska Seaplanes Wrangells up a new route

The new route will streamline traveling for health care in the Southeast, SEARHC officials say.

Shawen Bueckers, left, meets the girl who she donated bone marrow to, Amelia Bellmore, at a Be the Match event at Brigham Young University in 2022. (Screenshot)

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Child cancer survivor meets woman who saved her life

A bone marrow transplant from a woman hundreds of miles away helped this Juneau child survive.

A Juneau resident receives a flu shot while getting a booster shot for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at Centennial Hall on Oct. 2, 2021. More than 1,300 Juneau residents received booster shots at the clinic and about half of those people also received a flu shot. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

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Experts urge flu shots ASAP

Jabs keep infections down and free up health care resources

This photo shows Bartlett Regional Hospital, which was among the 20 facilities for which the state activated crisis standards of care on Saturday. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

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State activates crisis standards of care for 20 health care facilities, including Bartlett Regional Hospital

Surging COVID cases, strained resources in some hospitals cited as reason.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Airlift Northwest flight nurse Diana Paul shows off some of the improved patient care features of the medevac organization’s new Learjet 45XR aircraft, recently arrived in Juneau for service around the Southeast, on Sept. 30, 2021.

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Aid aloft: Medevac organization gets new aircraft

It’s not the cheapest way to travel but it may save your life.

Bartlett Regional Hospital

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Hospital announces vaccine policy, resumes inpatient elective surgeries

The inpatient elective surgeries may be suspended if case counts continue to rise.

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the virus that causes COVID-19. Monoclonal antibodies may be a good treatment option for some people who test positive for the illness, according to state health officials. However, vaccination remains the best tool for limiting spread of COVID-19 and limiting hospitalizations. (NIAID-RML via AP, File)

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Answering questions about antibody COVID treatment

Health officials say vaccination remains best option but treatment may help some.