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This Boston Marathon Bombing Survivor Now Helps Amputees Get Prosthetics
After Heather Abbott lost a limb in the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, she had help of an $81 million fund for the victims to pay for multiple prostheses, which are not covered by insurance if they are cosmetic or not deemed medically necessary. Now her foundation is helping other amputees get special prosthetic limbs they can use...
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Want to Try Therapy Without a Therapist? Draw a Card.
Dr. Ebony Butler created My Therapy Cards, which encourage assessing one’s emotions, writing in a journal and many other ways of examining the self and bettering mental health. The cards can be used on your own, in a group of friends, or along with a therapist. Butler says the cards can help people who don’t have access to mental health...
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Meet ‘Vaxx-Man,' the Superhero Doctor Fighting Anti-Vaxx Disinformation
When pediatrician Todd Wolynn started getting attacked on social media for touting the benefits of the HPV vaccine, he felt emboldened. When his communications director, Chad Hermann, had to spend eight straight days removing disinformation from their practice’s social media pages, he felt angry. And if you’re a vocal vaccine critic spreading lies online…you won’t like them when they’re...
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Superhero Doctors Are Fighting Anti-Vaxx Disinformation With Science
Pittsburgh pediatrician Todd Wolynn is the superhero the world needs right now, with coordinated disinformation campaigns undermining trust in public health and proven science. He and communications director Chad Hermann are the founders of Shots Heard Round the World, a nonprofit that mobilizes doctors online to protect vaccine information.
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‘Therapy is Dope!' Removing the Stigma of Mental Health Services for Minority Communities
Therapists Eboni Harris and Eliza Boquin discuss the mission behind their initiative, Melanin & Mental Health, which is trying to expand access to therapy in communities of color by providing a directory of Black therapists and using social media, podcasts and merchandise to normalize mental health conversations.
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Black Women Lack Access to Mental Health Care. ‘My Therapy Cards' Were Created to Help
Only about 30% of Black adults with mental health issues actually receive treatment each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Dr. Ebony Butler created “My Therapy Cards” to help Black women specifically focus on their own mental wellness.
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How Ketamine Infusions Can Help People With Severe Depression
Ketamine is known as the party drug sometimes called Special K. But under a doctor’s guidance, the drug is also helping some people struggling with severe depression. Yusuf Omar of Hashtag Our Stories goes to a clinic to talk to a doctor administering the treatment and a patient who swears by its benefits.
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COVID Bill to Deliver Big Health Insurance Savings for Many
Several million people stand to save hundreds of dollars in health insurance costs, or more, under the Democratic coronavirus relief legislation on track to pass Congress
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Biden Opens ‘Obamacare' Window for Uninsured as COVID Rages
With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, uninsured, low-income Americans are getting a new chance to sign up for subsidized health care benefits
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Biden Signs Two Health Care Orders to ‘Undo The Damage Trump Has Done'
President Joe Biden signed two executive orders on Thursday to improve health care accessibility as the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge, including the reopening of enrollment for the Affordable Care Act between Feb. 15 and March 15.
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Biden to Reopen ‘Obamacare' Enrollment for COVID-19 Relief
Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Joe Biden plans to reopen the HealthCare.gov insurance markets for a special sign-up opportunity geared to people needing coverage in the coronavirus pandemic.
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A Father's Long Journey to Find Hope After Paralysis
Jason Stoffer, a devoted husband and father of three young children, was an avid outdoorsman and adventurer before a car accident left him with a devastating spinal cord injury. Then he found a cutting edge program, called HAL for hybrid assistive limb, that helps spinal cord patients walk with robotics assistance. NBCLX followed Stoffer and his family during his treatment...
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COVID-19 Is Breaking Rural America's Health Care Systems
Small town hospitals and health systems already faced grave challenges before COVID-19 swept the country. Today, they are cracking under the strain of this relentless pandemic. Hospitals are depleting their resources, bleeding money and still facing a losing battle to cope with the incoming wave of COVID-19 patients. The toll on frontline workers in these hospitals is even greater.
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Trump Cuts Health Care Funds to California Over Abortions
The Trump administration said Wednesday it was cutting $200 million in federal healthcare funding to California because the state requires insurance providers to cover abortions.
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Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Henrietta Lacks and the Roots of Black Distrust in the Health System
With the first batches of the COVID-19 vaccine now being distributed in the U.S., a major priority is ensuring that everyone has access to it, especially people of color. Jennifer Gardy, deputy director for the Gates Foundation, joined LX News to discuss the roots of health disparities as well as the history of the Black community’s distrust in the health...
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Demoralized Health Workers Struggle as Virus Numbers Surge
Demoralized doctors and nurses across the U.S. are struggling to cope with record COVID-19 cases, prompting some governors to take new steps to contain the virus
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St. Jude Wants to Remind You That Childhood Cancer Hasn't Stopped for the Pandemic
Stars like Jennifer Aniston and Sofia Vergara are joining St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in its battle against cancer with its Thanks and Giving campaign. Its creator, Marlo Thomas, who is the daughter of St. Jude founder Danny Thomas, stopped by LX News to explain why you should consider giving back in a year that has taken so much.
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Your Safety Net Is Broken
Among the many harsh truths about American society exposed by the coronavirus pandemic is this one: Our social safety net is broken. NBCLX storyteller Cody Broadway looks at how the ripple effect of the broken safety net can be seen in things like an increase in crowdfunding campaigns to cover lost wages and health expenses and a growing strain on...
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Discusses Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Inequities in Health Care
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar revealed several health issues in a powerful new essay where the NBA legend is speaking up how Black people are treated differently in the health care system.
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A Latino Family's COVID-19 Plight: 20 People Infected, a Coma and No Insurance
When 20 members of the Fortuna family were infected with COVID-19 and her uncle fell into a coma, Lizbeth Peña Bonseñor says she felt like “the ground crumbled.” But their problems didn’t end there. The Philadelphia family is one of the millions of Latino families without health insurance. NBC Philadelphia spoke to the Fortunas about how their struggle is...