Robin is a robot that lives in the pediatric unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. The hospital brought in Robin back in October as a way to provide moral support to pediatric patients — especially those in isolation.

In Worcester, Saint Vincent Hospital is in the process of revising their masking policy to align with the May 11 lifting of the emergency orders. UMass Memorial Health is also anticipating they'll become mask optional once the orders end. UMass Memorial President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said while some high risk departments, like chemotherapy, will continue to wear masks as they did before COVID-19, it's time for most workers, patients and visitors to have the option.

Dr. Tara Kumaraswami, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UMass Memorial Health, says she’s grateful for Healey’s executive order. UMass plans to keep providing medication abortions with mifepristone, though she and her fellow providers had been preparing to switch to a misoprostol-only regimen, if needed. “We’re going to see what plays out in the next couple weeks,” she said. “For the most part, people were ready if needed to switch to misoprostol-only.

Eighteen-year-old Joshua Lillie is on a weight loss journey that's exceeding his expectations. "I couldn't walk 100 feet without being out of breath. Now I can go miles and be fine," Lillie said. That's because for the last three years, the Leicester senior has been part of UMass Memorial Medical Center's Good Fit Teen Weight and Wellness Program. It is a multi-disciplinary program for pediatric patients that addresses the problem of obesity. 

Over the next several days, Fitzpatrick’s health declined. She couldn’t eat or drink and felt nauseated, and fluid accumulated in her legs and back. At the insistence of her partner, Stephanie LaPointe, Fitzpatrick went to UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus.

WORCESTER — A 

Babak Movahedi, chief of transplants at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Massachusetts, said he sees both sides of the argument. He said access to care unquestionably leads to unfairness in who gets saved. “I just don’t see how changing the allocation system would fix that, though,” he said. “I think that’s a much bigger problem and much broader discussion, which is really access to care in general.”

Dr. Richard Ellison, hospital epidemiologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center, said a lot can change in three years. "We're very far advanced," Ellison said. "We don't have patients in the intensive care unit, we're not terrified about running out of equipment, or having enough ventilators." It was a much different situation three years ago, as described by then City Manager Ed Augustus during one of the city's COVID-19 briefings.

“This is actually not a surprise to me what’s happening,” said Richard Ellison, MD, an infectious disease specialist at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. “Pretty much the entire world is saying that Covid has gone away. This remains a very contagious virus.”