Health
Executive Council to consider request for contract with Vermont mental health hospital
A continuing rise in mental health crises among children and too few inpatient beds to treat them has the Department of Health and Human Services looking to Vermont for help. The department will ask the Executive Council Wednesday to approve a $684,000 contract with Brattleboro Retreat for 10 beds through June 2022. A denial of […]
‘The picture is getting pretty dark’: Hospitals buckle under weight of COVID surge, staff shortages
Catholic Medical Center in Manchester aims to discharge its long-term care patients to a nursing home within five days. Today, it can take more than 14 weeks because an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 patients and too few health care workers have left the state with dangerously few treatment beds. Tying up a single in-patient bed […]
Study: Those eligible for food stamps may not be using program due to lack of state outreach
New Hampshire hasn’t had an outreach plan for its food stamp program in more than four years – and an analysis of recent years shows that people who are eligible may not be using the program, according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. The institute found that outreach could help increase awareness of the […]
Fiscal committee approves funds to address shortage of hospital beds
Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette offered a stark visual Thursday when she asked state fiscal officials for more flexibility spending $90 million in federal aid tackling the state’s hospital bed shortage. Moving a single elder who doesn’t need acute hospital care to a nursing home would allow hospitals to treat as many as […]
Nashua overlooked in ‘Booster Blitz’ campaign, state lawmakers say
Nashua lawmakers are raising concerns that the state’s “Booster Blitz” overlooked New Hampshire’s second largest and most diverse city, even as the city has one of the highest COVID-19 positivity and community transmission rates in the state. The governor’s office said on Wednesday a nearby location was chosen instead to avoid confusion with a pre-existing […]
Sununu, health officials seek approval of nearly $90 million for COVID efforts
This story was updated December 2, 2021 at noon to include new budget information from the state Department of Health and Human Services. The governor and state health officials will ask the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee during a special meeting Thursday to expedite approval to spend nearly $90 million on their newest efforts fighting a […]
State’s supply of free, at-home COVID tests exhausted in less than 24 hours
This story was updated Nov. 30, 2021, at 1 p.m. to include comments from the state Department of Health and Human Services and again at 5:30 p.m. after the state corrected the number of tests available. Last week, Gov. Chris Sununu enthusiastically announced residents would soon have access to 1 million at-home rapid COVID-19 tests […]
Religious exemption requests related to COVID vaccine a growing challenge for employers
Prior to the pandemic, nearly all the religious exemption requests clients brought attorney James Reidy sought a work schedule accommodation for religious holidays and practices. Reidy represents employers, and those with vaccine mandates are coming to him with a new question these days: Given that an employee need only attest that their “sincerely held” religious […]
Federal vaccine mandate for health care workers in 10 states blocked by judge
WASHINGTON – Enforcement of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for millions of health care workers was blocked in 10 states on Monday, after a ruling by a federal judge in Missouri. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp affects the states involved in the lawsuit, which includes New Hampshire. The others are Missouri, Iowa, […]
New COVID omicron variant ‘not a cause for panic,’ Biden says
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden sought to reassure Americans on Monday about the latest COVID-19 variant, describing it as “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.” Biden did not announce any new travel restrictions or other federal actions during his brief remarks from the White House. Instead, he urged Americans to get a […]
Abortion rights advocates sound the alarm about new restrictions, looming threats
In less than a year, the nonprofit Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire has raised and spent over $50,000 helping more than 160 Granite State women pay for abortions they couldn’t afford. The nonprofit’s founder and other abortion rights advocates are sounding the alarm about two threats that go beyond financial barriers: the January start […]
State: Children must have parental consent to be vaccinated
In the last several days, groups opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine have suggested in emails and on social media that children can be vaccinated in New Hampshire even if a parent does not grant permission. Not true, said a top state public health official Tuesday. “We’ve heard a lot of misinformation in some communities and […]