State passes 6,000 deaths

February 15, 2022

West Virginia passed another bleak milestone Monday, surpassing 6,000 COVID-19 deaths in the state. Justice read an additional 31 victims at the start of Monday’s briefing, bringing the toll to date to 6,023. “It rips my heart out in so many ways and I just hate it,” Justice said. “It is an absolutely horrible choice to not get your booster shot.” In some positive news, however, new cases and hospitalizations are trending downward, signaling an end to the recent omicron surge that took West Virginia to record highs for patients hospitalized, in ICUs and on ...

Rockefeller Institute first in the U.S. to enroll patient in stroke trial

February 11, 2022

BY WVU MEDICINE The WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute was the first institution in the United States to enroll a patient in the Route92 Medical Inc. SUMMIT MAX clinical trial. SUMMIT MAX is a randomized, controlled, multicenter trial to evaluate the performance of its next generation Monopoint™ Reperfusion System versus currently available aspiration catheter technology. The trial’s first patient was enrolled at Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand, followed shortly by a patient at the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. “We are happy to become the first U.S. ...

Legislators pass bills dealing with state Rainy Day Fund and Board of Sanitarians

February 9, 2022

MORGANTOWN – The House and Senate churned through a series of mostly off-the-radar bills on Wednesday; the bill that generated just about the most debate was one to eliminate the Board of Sanitarians. HB 3036 is the sanitarians bill. It's three sentences long and ends the board June 30, ...

WVU Medicine’s cardio-oncology program receives international recognition as Gold Center of Excellence

February 5, 2022

MORGANTOWN – WVU Medicine has gained international recognition for its pioneering program in a relatively new and little known field: cardio-oncology. The Heart and Vascular Institute's cardio-oncology program has been named a Gold Center of Excellence – the highest possible ...

Health Dept. urges vaccinations, boosters

February 5, 2022

KINGWOOD — COVID cases are beginning to decline in Preston County as the delta variant transitions to omicron — but staffing and equipment problems caused by the virus still exist. Dr. Fred Conley, Preston County health officer, said Preston Memorial Hospital ran out of ventilators and ...

About 40 children braved the weather for their free checkups

February 5, 2022

If it’s the first Friday in February and snowing (or sleeting or both), it must be Give Kids a Smile! at Monongalia County Health Department. However, the bad weather did not deter parents from taking their children to MCHD Dentistry, the health department’s full service dental office, ...