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COVID poses challenges in group homes for developmental disabilities
In mid-May Gov. Bill Lee announced that Tennesseans with intellectual and developmental disabilities served by state programs would receive universal COVID-19 testing. The results so far? In six group homes, multiple people have tested positive. Three intermediate care facilities — which typically house individuals with severe or profound disabilities who are also medically fragile — […]
More teens in state custody test positive for COVID
More teens in state custody have tested positive for coronavirus at a Department of Children’s Services youth detention facility in Fayette County. A total of 21 teenage boys have tested positive at the Wilder Youth Development Center in Somerville, Tenn, located about 35 miles from Memphis. The 120-bed facility houses teens, ages 13 to 19, […]
Tennessee hospitals losing $1 billion each month
Tennessee’s hospitals are collectively losing $1 billion each month, for a projected total of about $3.5 billion since the pandemic began, Wendy Long, president and CEO of the Tennessee Hospital Association told lawmakers Wednesday. While federal and state funding and grants have begun to flow to the state’s hospitals, there remains a “significant financial deficit,” […]
Nashville health director authorized distribution of private patient data
At the center of continued controversy over sharing COVID-19 patient information with police is Dr. Michael Caldwell, who stepped into the job as the city’s newest public health director the day after Nashville’s first identified coronavirus case. It was Caldwell who decided to provide lists with the names and addresses of positive COVID-19 individuals in […]
Metro Nashville data share draws controversy with Metro Councilmembers
A conference call between Nashville health officials and council members on Thursday revealed a deep and continuing divide over the city’s practice of sharing names and addresses of COVID-19 positive individuals with law enforcement. In one of the most heated moments of the 40-minute call, Dr. Alex Jahangir — chair of Nashville health department known […]
Administration ends practice of sharing patient information with law enforcement
Gov. Bill Lee’s administration will stop giving daily lists of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 to law enforcement, but the sharing of private patient information continues in Tennessee’s capitol city. The practice of sharing patient information with law enforcement and first responders drew outrage from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the Tennessee Black […]
Opioids and COVID: Caught between two epidemics
Mark Sriedfertg was helping a friend move last week, when he noticed she had disappeared. He found her in the bathroom, blue-lipped and unconscious on the floor. “I didn’t have Narcan,” said Sriedfertg, who, at 58, has been in recovery from opioid addiction for nine months. “I applied ice to her groin and the top […]
Staff, youth test positive for COVID-19 in Fayette County DCS center
One youth and two security staff at a Department of Children’s Services facility in Fayette County have tested positive for COVID-19 and mass testing is being conducted Thursday, the department said in a news release. The three individuals were tested over the weekend after showing symptoms. All three were in the same unit […]
Black Caucus advises Tennesseans to withhold home addresses from public health officials
The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators is advising Tennesseans to withhold their home addresses from public health officials conducting COVID-19 testing. The caucus has urged Gov. Bill Lee to rescind agreements to provide the state’s sheriffs and police chiefs with the names and addresses of every state resident who has tested positive for the […]
Sumner youth center posts all negative COVID results
All children and staff at a Sumner County youth treatment center have tested negative for COVID-19, after mass testing prompted by a staff member who tested positive for the virus, the Department of Children’s Services reported Tuesday. The privately-operated Bledsoe Youth Academy employs 41 staff members who oversee 30 children in state custody at the […]
BCBS posts drop in numbers of insured
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee saw a drop of of 15,743 in commercially-insured members in April, according to data provided by the state’s largest insurer. The loss of coverage for individuals formerly covered through employer-sponsored insurers represents a fraction of the insurer’s 1.5 million customers. But the data is too early to capture the full extent […]
Youth sent out of state by DCS return with COVID
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services sent five teenage boys out of state to a Kalamazoo, Mich. facility for troubled youth. Three of the boys came back to Tennessee positive for COVID-19. The boys, ranging in age from 13 to 18, are among 52 children currently in DCS custody who have tested positive for the […]