Officials Break Ground on a New $120 Million Cooper Green Facility
Health care leaders say the current building is more than 50 years old and too expensive to maintain. Read more.
Health Care
Alabama Health Providers Warn of Unusually Early Flu Activity
In recent weeks, outpatient providers across Alabama have reported high levels of influenza-like illness, with kids facing the highest risk of hospitalization. Read more.
New Mental Health Crisis Center Aims to Interrupt Revolving Door of Jail and ER Visits
The new clinic in Jefferson County will offer short-term crisis care to people who might otherwise wait hours at a hospital or wind up in jail. Read more.
Local Health Officials Plan to Increase Monkeypox Vaccinations
The Jefferson County Department of Health is beginning to scale up its immunization efforts against monkeypox, under new guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. By next week, health department officials said it will begin offering intradermal injections of the Jynneos vaccine, a method that was granted emergency use authorization Wednesday by the FDA.
Abortion-Rights Group Navigates ‘Unprecedented’ Legal Territory in Alabama
The Yellowhammer Fund has temporarily stopped funding abortion care for people in Alabama, amid legal concerns for clients and staff. Read more.
Roe Overturned: What You Need to Know About the Supreme Court Abortion Decision
After half a century, Americans’ constitutional right to get an abortion has been overturned by the Supreme Court. The ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – handed down on June 24, 2022 – has far-reaching consequences. The Conversation asked Nicole Huberfeld and Linda C. McClain, health law and constitutional law experts at Boston University, to explain what just happened and what happens next. Read more.
Judge’s Ruling a “Sigh of Relief” for Families of Transgender Youth
A federal judge in Alabama ruled to block part of a law that makes it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to minors on Friday. Families with transgender kids tell WBHM they are cautiously relieved. Read more.
Judge Hears Testimony in Challenge to Alabama’s Ban on Gender-Affirming Care
A group of parents and doctors want the judge to stop the law from going into effect while a lawsuit continues. Read more.
Grant Awarded for Program to Serve Victims of Violence in Hospital
The Jefferson County Department of Health has given a grant of more than $1.1 million to the Offender Alumni Association to start a Hospital-linked Violence Intervention Program. Read more.
Travel nurse salaries are rising due to demand. Some hospitals say it’s price gouging.
Demand for well-paid travel nurses has quadrupled since the pandemic began. Some nurses have even left their hospital jobs to become travel nurses because of the difference in pay, but that has left hospitals struggling even more with staffing issues and rising costs. Read more.