Health & Wellness News

Members of Easton's Blueprint Communities organization announced their first project, a mural at Chubby's honoring South Side's past, present, and future, on Monday afternoon.

Northampton County and Northampton Community College will offer a free workplace safety training later this month aimed at employees of municipal governments, nonprofits and similar organizations.

The funding, through the Livable Landscape program, was unanimously approved at the county council’s June 18 meeting.

Legislators worked to establish penalties for xylazine use and trafficking in an attempt to lessen its presence in Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply. Some say doing so made way for a new, unclassified veterinary tranquilizer to take its place — medetomidine.

Nearly a year after the Biden administration designated xylazine as an "emerging threat" to the United States, Gov. Josh Shapiro classified it as a schedule III drug, making unauthorized possession a crime in Pennsylvania. Experts say the move has partly served to clear the way for new illicit substances to enter the drug market.

Proposed federal budget cuts would impact programs such as the free summer meal program for children in the Allentown School District.

The $2.75 million payment to the federal government resolves allegations that a pharmacy technician stole controlled substances on about 40 occasions and the health network failed to institute proper controls.

Despite not being approved for human consumption, veterinary tranquilizers are infiltrating the illicit drug supply in Pennsylvania. Harm reduction specialists and health care professionals say these overdoses can't be approached solely with naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

A generous donation from a Lehigh Valley native and others funds free swim lessons for children and adults in the River Crossing YMCA's Safety Around Water, or SAW, swim education program.

The bill would limit the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of firefighting foam containing PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, beginning in 2026.

Xylazine, an animal-grade tranquilizer that's not approved for human use, has taken Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply by storm. Known on the streets as "tranq," it accounted for almost 1 in 4 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania by 2023. Last year in Lehigh County, it was a contributing cause of death in 20 of the 112 deadly overdoses, or 17.9 percent of cases.

The funding comes from the commonwealth’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Research shows that minority communities are suffering the most during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A corrections officer at the Lehigh County jail died this week after testing positive for the virus in December. He was the first county employee to die from COVID-related complications.

Local health officials are scrambling to implement the expansion of the state vaccination program’s first phase by recently expanding vaccine eligibility to include millions more throughout the state.

Pennsylvania officials announced Jan. 19 that the state is expanding eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine to include anyone over 65.

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr Rachel Levine is poised to become the first openly transgender federal official. She’s been tapped by the Biden team for the number two spot at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The recent death of a 54-year-old inmate is raising questions about the Lehigh County Jail's ability to protect more than 1,000 staff and inmates.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania is short a million COVID-19 vaccines and state health officials learned there are none left in the federal reserve. The…

Gov. Tom Wolf says he wants to separate “fact from fiction” about the COVID-19 vaccine and to dispel rumors that include the vaccine can give you the virus.

Pennsylvania is still in the process of vaccinating hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers. But other people may soon be able to start getting shots…

WLVR’s Ben Stemrich spoke with Colette Boudreaux, a local Lehigh Valley resident about her experience with COVID-19 long term effects.

As frontline workers continue to get the COVID-19 Vaccine, we are waiting to find out when the general public will get the shot. One thing that you won’t have to wonder, is how you’ll pay for it.

More than 12,500 people have received the first dose of vaccines in the Lehigh Valley. Track these numbers with the new vaccine dashboard.