PROVINCETOWN — Jeff Schaffer’s goal is to get rid of the stigma that surrounds sexual health. “Studies have shown that when people aren’t shamed for seeking sexual health services, they […]
Health & Healthcare
BREAST CANCER
Insurance Rules Mean Free Screenings Elude Many Women
A $250K grant may help OCHS purchase 3D imaging equipment
WELLFLEET — Dense breast tissue — which about 50 percent of all women and 40 percent of women over age 40 have, according to the National Cancer Institute — can […]
HEALTH CARE
Mental Health Program May Become a Three-Town Effort
Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet consider a combined program
PROVINCETOWN — The boards of health of Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet will meet jointly in December to hear about the health-care needs of the three towns and to consider a […]
PUBLIC HEALTH
Monkeypox Testing Data: Slow and Incomplete
Progress of outbreak is hard to judge because state won't release the numbers
PROVINCETOWN — For more than two years now, the state Dept. of Public Health (DPH) has been publishing highly detailed information on Covid, including key indicators that help to assess […]
HEALTH CARE
New Mental Health Law Aims to Expand Access to Treatment
Rules apply to insurance companies, which have evaded parity laws for years
PROVINCETOWN — The mental health bill that became state law on Aug. 10 includes a dizzying array of provisions. There are titles that improve mental health access in schools and […]
TREATMENT
Mobile Methadone Clinic Gets Green Light in Wellfleet
One hurdle remains: getting a DEA license to operate
WELLFLEET — The first mobile methadone clinic on Cape Cod won the approval of the Wellfleet Zoning Board of Appeals and could arrive as soon as September at the parking […]
MEDICINE
Monkeypox Spikes Nationwide as Provincetown Gets Vaccine
Thousands of doses may be reducing virus transmission here
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 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 […]
