PROVINCETOWN — New data emerged last week on the global outbreak of the monkeypox virus. A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that cases are falling off in […]
Health & Healthcare
HEALTH CARE
Abortion Rights Bill Lacks Cape Cod Access Expansion
The bill protects reproductive health providers from prosecution by other states
Although women’s rights advocates are cheering the passage of a reproductive rights act, the new state law doesn’t do anything to improve the situation on Cape Cod, which has been […]
RECOVERY
Mobile Clinic for Methadone May Come to Wellfleet
A proposal that’s ‘critical to our Outer Cape communities,’ says OCHS
WELLFLEET — Medication-assisted treatment for addiction is going through a decades-long transformation from being almost as stigmatized as the illegal drugs themselves to being recast as a critical component of […]
MOVEMENT
Making a Comeback, the Careful Way
Lessons from an athlete’s slow and steady recovery from Lyme disease
My friend Andy has always been a good athlete. He loves running, skiing, and tennis — and he does them all well. He was also extremely lucky, rarely getting injured. […]
PANDEMIC
Covid Returns, but Not to ICUs
A summer wave of cases is blunted by Paxlovid
PROVINCETOWN — The summer of 2022 has brought a long-awaited but still frustrating event to Cape Cod: a Covid wave that doesn’t include high levels of hospitalization. Case numbers are […]
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Hospital Expansion Could Trigger Abortion Access Review
The Dept. of Public Health could put pressure on Cape Cod Healthcare
HYANNIS — A proposed $137-million expansion of Cape Cod Hospital could potentially be held up or denied by the Mass. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) because the hospital’s parent organization, […]
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Abortion Access Is Unclear on Cape Cod
Nearest clinic with comprehensive care is 110 miles away
HYANNIS — Relying on a June 28 statement from Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC), the Independent reported two weeks ago that abortion services are not available anywhere on Cape Cod. That, […]
HEALTH CARE
Seasonal Urgent Care Clinic Opens in Orleans
Threat to Outer Cape Health Services feared
ORLEANS — Cape Cod Healthcare, the organization that owns both of Cape Cod’s hospitals and most of its medical offices, expanded its territory in the direction of the Outer Cape […]
HEALTH
With Case Counts Growing, Provincetown Gets MPV Vaccines
Large allocation of doses will help protect working people, says Cyr
PROVINCETOWN — Nationwide, the news about monkeypox continues to get worse. Case counts are still doubling every 10 days or so: 42 in Massachusetts, 156 in New York, and 9,647 […]
MPV
Amid Growing Outbreak, a Vaccine Strategy Comes Into View
The still-scarce doses will go to close contacts of monkeypox cases
PROVINCETOWN — The global outbreak of monkeypox has continued to expand. There were 23 cases in Massachusetts, 90 in New York, and 5,780 worldwide as of July 1, according to […]
ADDICTION
Experts Seek Solutions as Opioid Crisis Worsens
Needed: more methadone, testing a toxic drug supply, and supervised injection sites
PROVINCETOWN — Seventy-nine residents of Barnstable County died of opioid overdoses in 2021. That’s three more than in 2020 and marks the second-worst year on record after 2016, when 81 […]
PUBLIC HEALTH
State Leaders Detail Response to Monkeypox
Public awareness and vaccinating exposed people are key strategies
PROVINCETOWN — The official case counts for monkeypox are still low — 13 cases in Massachusetts, 63 in New York as of Tuesday, June 28. But the numbers have been […]
ABORTION RIGHTS
On the Front Lines in Waco, Texas
Truro’s Dr. Nicola Moore has served women’s needs across the nation
TRURO — Every two weeks for the last five years, Dr. Nicola Moore has made the 1,800-mile trip from Massachusetts to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Waco, Texas, where she […]
WOMEN'S HEALTH
Abortion Services Still Missing on Cape Cod
The nearest clinic is more than 90 miles away
WELLFLEET — Ever since the Women’s Health Center in Hyannis closed in 2008, abortion services have not been available anywhere on Cape Cod. The nearest abortion clinics are more than […]
PANDEMIC
Covid-19 Self-Reporting Tool Implemented in 3 Towns
Health agents hope to cover the data gap caused by at-home testing
WELLFLEET — The health agents in Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet have launched an online Covid-19 at-home test reporting tool that they hope can help solve a new gap in tracking […]
