Sarah Fentem
Health ReporterSarah Fentem reports on sickness and health as part of St. Louis Public Radio’s news team. She previously spent five years reporting for different NPR stations in Indiana, immersing herself deep, deep into an insurance policy beat from which she may never fully recover.
A longtime NPR listener, she grew up hearing WQUB in Quincy, Illinois, which is now owned by STLPR. She lives in South St. Louis, and in her spare time likes to watch old sitcoms, meticulously clean and organize her home and go on outdoor adventures with her husband Elliot. They have a dog named Ginger.
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The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force is calling on older people and pregnant women in the region to get the newly approved RSV vaccine as hospitals fill up with people sick with respiratory illnesses.
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Union nurses at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital walked off the job at 7 a.m. Wednesday. They plan to picket through Friday morning. The 48-hour strike marks the second action the union has called in four months.
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The Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project connects people in states where gender-affirming care for minors has been banned or restricted by referring them to clinics and doctors in states that still offer hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers and other treatments.
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After Northview Village administrators notified employees at the north Kingshighway facility Friday they would not be paid, management shuttled approximately 170 residents to new homes. Employees still have not received their paychecks, and some families are trying to track down their loved ones.
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Scientists at SLU think they can use an existing immunization to test how well people respond to tuberculosis vaccines in development. Scientists are on the hunt for a more effective vaccine to protect people from the bacterial infection, which kills more than 1 million people a year globally.
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Missouri's prescription drug monitoring database went online this week. Health workers will now need to enter patient information into a statewide database when they dispense opioids and other controlled substances.
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While the coronavirus is circulating less widely than in previous years, an uptick in hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients and a number of employees getting sick with the virus, flu and other illnesses led BJC to put the mask requirement in place, system officials said.
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The health insurance company Elevance, known as Anthem in Missouri, is hiring 250 new employees to work at its downtown St. Louis office. City leaders celebrated the news, which comes as other high-profile tenants are leaving the city's core.
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BJC Healthcare has finalized plans to merge with St. Luke's, a Kansas City-based health system that operates 14 hospitals in Kansas and Missouri. The two systems expect to complete the $10 billion deal by Jan. 1.
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Health workers in Illinois are performing about 1,800 more abortions per month on average than before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
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On Jan. 1, those 18 and under who enroll in Missouri's insurance programs for low-income people will not be removed for 12 months.
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Missouri University of Science and Technology professor Mark Towler has patented a glass powder that helps wounds stop bleeding. He's now investigating whether it also can prevent infections.