One thing clinicians DO know is that the currently circulating COVID-19 variants are highly transmissible. “Meaning it takes less viral particles to get sick,” said Robert Klugman, MD, a professor of medicine and head of employee health at UMass Memorial Health. “So if you’re in a crowded space breathing the same air as other people, chances are someone there may have COVID-19 — and you will get COVID-19.”

Doctors at UMass Memorial Medical Center are trading in their white coats for something a little more fashionable to help raise awareness for cancer.

Local medical professionals, city leaders and cancer survivors are getting ready to strut the catwalk Friday at the first annual Vintage Fashion Show. The fundraiser aims to raise money and awareness for colon cancer and research. Organizers are hoping to raise more than $20,000 for the cancer division, caretakers and patients in the hospital.  

WORCESTER, Mass. - September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Tuesday night, police from across central Massachusetts came together for UMass Memorial's annual “Bright Lights” for pediatric cancer patients.

UMass Memorial Health's boarding practices reduce the length of time kids are hospitalized in the emergency department, allowing them to receive care in their homes, clinics and in psychiatric units as appropriate. To dig deeper into these initiatives, Julia Resnick, director of AHA Strategic Initiatives, chats with two people who are deeply involved with UMass Memorial's highly effective program. Dr. Brian Skehan and is director of Pediatric Emergency Mental Health Services, and Jemima Amankwah is nurse manager of emergency mental health at UMass Memorial Health.

The uptick in cases is playing out similarly in other parts of the state. Dr. Kimi Kobayashi, interim co-president of UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, said that in recent months, before the current uptick, COVID-19 hospitalizations appeared to be close to an all-time low. With the number of mutations the virus has undergone in almost three years, Kobayashi said the virus is continuing the trend of becoming more transmissible.

The latest addition to UMass Memorial Health Marlborough Hospital is something that can be taken – and given – freely.

The Little Free Library by the main entrance will offer a variety of health and wellness books for patients and community members who may not otherwise have access to these materials.

In the interim, hospitals have enacted their own COVID rules, and they vary greatly. UMass Memorial Health, the largest health system in Central Massachusetts, does not require COVID shots. In a statement, spokesperson Debora Spano said that the health system is following the new federal rules, which do not require the shots, but that UMass “strongly encourages our caregivers to get the vaccines.”

Marlborough Hospital Thursday dedicated a new outpost aimed at providing literacy resources to the community.

A man who survived a plane crash in the MetroWest area of Massachusetts is on track to be discharged a week after it happened…

"Never mind that I shouldn't be alive, I shouldn't be able to walk," he said. "But thanks to (the hospital staff), I've got full mobility. I can wiggle my toes. I could dance if I tried. It's incredible."