Health and Wellness

About 200 people have been laid off at Pfizer’s facility in Portage, the company confirmed. The laid-off employees were notified last week, according to MLive. A lower demand than what the company expected for its COVID-19 products was stated as the culprit. The product Comirnaty is Pfizer’s vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in people 12 years and older. Paxlovid, meanwhile, is …

Sturgis municipal officials have completed the sale of Sturgis Hospital. Completion of the transaction allowed Sturgis Hospital Inc. to finalize terms of its acquisition by Asker Corp., including a management agreement and financial support of the hospital. That agreement will be in place until the acquisition is approved by the Michigan Attorney General’s office. The agreement included a $3 million …

Pride Care Ambulance is no longer serving Cass County. Brian Queen, director of Cass County Medical Control Authority, said Pride Care has permanently discontinued emergency and non-emergency ambulance service operations. The measure went into effect last Friday morning. For now, Queen said 911 services will be covered by a group of local EMS agencies working together to avoid a disruption …

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency (BHSJ CHA) is lifting the No Contact Health Advisory for the St. Joseph River from the Broadway Street Bridge to Withers Road Bridge. Residents can again utilize the St. Joseph River for recreational activities. Officials of the Three Rivers Wastewater Treatment Plant had notified the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency (CHA), that approximately 20,000 …

Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Department’s Environmental Health Division has reported the first positive detection of West Nile Virus in Kalamazoo County and the second in Michigan this year. The positive detection came from a mosquito pool, or group of female mosquitoes of the same species, within Kleinstuck Nature Preserve. The results demonstrate why mosquito surveillance is so important …

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency is lifting the No Contact Health Advisory. Residents can again utilize the St. Joseph River for recreational activities. Officials of the Three Rivers Wastewater Treatment Plant had notified the health department that approximately 500,000 gallons of untreated waste water was discharged into the St. Joseph River between Friday, July 7th at 9:30 p.m. until …

Today, officials of the Three Rivers Wastewater Treatment Plant notified the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency (BHSJ CHA), that approximately 500,000 gallons of untreated wastewater was discharged into the St. Joseph River starting Friday July 7, 2023 at approximately 9:30 p.m.  The discharge area is located near the Broadway Street Bridge due to a force main break. Persons are advised to …

With the end of the COVID public-health emergency this week, the Three Rivers Health Department is no longer offering in-person COVID testing. Anyone still wishing to test is encouraged to use any of the self-testing kiosks. One is located outside at Covered Bridge Healthcare in Centreville, the others are outside the health departments in Sturgis and Three Rivers. There is …

County health officers don’t need approval from elected officials to issue orders, the Michigan Court of Appeals said in a precedent-setting decision related to protests over COVID-19 school mask mandates. Mask orders were controversial when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration changed course and left key decisions to local health departments. The result: blistering criticism and tense confrontations at county board meetings in some …

White Pigeon Township Library wishes to remind the public that it is still distributing COVID-19 home tests free of charge. Anyone interested in a kit is welcome to stop by the library. The kits are available to anyone, whether they are a White Pigeon resident or library-card holder. In an unrelated statement, director Perri Saunders said the library is planning Camp …