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Homeless service providers in Massachusetts are scrambling to make sure they have enough space to shelter people and provide protection against the coronavirus as winter approaches. Ntyshall Moore is one of those people. She said she's been homeless in Boston since she checked out of the state foster care system when she was 18. (Jolicoeur, 10/16)

Advocates and officials with NOLA Public Schools say there are likely thousands of youth in the city who are like [Destiny] Hodges was, homeless students who have become more vulnerable since the pandemic has further strained fiscal resources, made couch-surfing more dangerous and made it difficult to connect with people who can help. They're asking Congress for $2.8 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding to help homeless youth age 22 and under attending local schools, living in shelters and crashing with friends or distant family. (Hasselle, 10/17)

In an election year where soaring health care costs are on voters’ minds, a new collaboration aims to help rural cardiac patients avoid a potentially unnecessary — and costly — trip to the emergency department. The $1.2 million program, slated to begin in mountainous Wilkes County early next year, will bring doctors and nurses to the scene of medical emergencies through telehealth. The doctors and nurses — most of them experts in emergency medicine — will help first responders evaluate patients with chest pain to decide the most appropriate next step, be it a hospital visit or a trip to a county health department for further tests. (Engel-Smith, 10/19)

The number of cases of dementia in the United States is rising as baby boomers age, raising questions for boomers themselves and also for their families, caregivers and society. Dementia, which is not technically a disease but a term for impaired ability to think, remember or make decisions, is one of the most feared impairments of old age. Incidence increases dramatically as people move into their 90s. About 5 percent of those 71 to 79 have dementia, and about 37 percent of those about 90 live with it. (Archbald-Pannone, 10/18)

Ignoring generations of parents who’ve warned that knuckle cracking is bad for you, between 20 and 54 percent of Americans continue to engage in this annoying nervous habit. Many have been reassured by repeated clinical reports over the decades that there is no strong evidence that knuckle cracking causes arthritis. A 2018 Harvard Medical School blog went so far as to pronounce the practice “harmless.” “Harmless” is overstating it, however, argue experts who have studied the fine print of the research. Even as there’s no strong link to arthritis — specifically osteoarthritis, the degeneration of the cartilage cushioning the ends of bones — cracking knuckles, they conclude, may still harm your hands. (Ellison, 10/17)

Geraldine Davis, 77, laughs when asked about how long she has been getting an annual mammogram. “Forever, forever,” she said. She nearly considered stopping after she got into her 70s but decided to ask her doctor, who convinced her to keep with it. “And that next mammogram something showed up,” she said, in July 2018. Hers was caught very early and she only had to have the tiny tumor and some lymph nodes removed. But many women like her are not as fortunate. (Corwin, 10/16)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Vetting TikTok Mom’s Advice For Dealing With Debt Collectors 

TikTok mom Shaunna Burns used to be a debt collector, so she knows a few things about what’s legal and what’s not when a company contacts you to settle a debt. We fact-checked her advice with a legal expert: Jenifer Bosco, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. Bosco said most of Burns’ advice totally checks out. A recent report from ProPublica shows that debt collectors have thrived during the pandemic; they’re out in force to get people to pay up. But we have rights. Scroll down for some consumer protection resources. (Weissmann, 10/19)

The scenes from spring break earlier this year make college presidents shudder now: Partygoers on the beach in Florida barely inches from their maskless, sweating companions. Jammed lines at Walt Disney World. Students flying back to campus on still-packed flights before state and campus shutdowns kicked in. Not again. ... FSU and dozens of other colleges and universities nationwide aren’t taking any chances with spring break in 2021, even though it will have been a year since the pandemic set in. They have rearranged their calendars to wipe out the annual ritual entirely to keep students from their uninhibited and unsupervised sunny sojourns. (Shah, 10/18)

When school closed suddenly in March, Boston students not only lost the daily connection to teachers and learning, but dental services that the city’s most vulnerable children depend on for critical care. That has left nearly 4,000 Boston public school students without an opportunity to see a dentist or hygienist in school this academic year, practitioners say, a significant concern given the strong correlation between poor oral health and learning loss and the risk of chronic illnesses. (Irons, 10/18)

Like all of the students at her Bronx high school, Kaitlyn Tineo had to contend with the social awkwardness and technology glitches that were common during the early days of remote learning. But Kaitlyn, a 15-year-old sophomore, had a compounding challenge: She stutters. On the first day of school, she emailed five of her teachers. “It takes a bit for me to say what I want to say,” she wrote, “so please have some patience with me.” (Marder, 10/15)