Kayla Yup

Chester's pediatric asthma rate is four times higher than the national average; their infant mortality rate is five times higher.

"We don't have the healthcare infrastructure to sustain the healthcare needs of the community," Motley said.

"As much as we can get healthcare providers to come to this area to provide free services, that is, at this point, our only chance for survival," said Kristin Ball Motley, the health commissioner for the city of Chester.

Chester is a city with stark health disparities.

The "Back to School Bash,” scheduled for today from 10 to 2 at 151 W. Fifth Street in Chester, will provide free physical exams, vaccinations, & lead testing to children.

The hope is that families will meet providers who they can continue to see for follow-up care.

A 4-year-old girl with autism, for example, went without speech or physical therapy services for months after Crozer’s pediatrics practice closed in 2024. It took her almost a year to find a new doctor. Others had to stop ADHD medication, or missed important blood work.

Crozer’s closure left many children without care. A Chester health fair hopes to fill the gap. The “Back to School Bash" on Saturday will provide free physical exams, vaccinations, and lead testing to children in grades K-12.

The closure of Delaware County's largest health system, Crozer Health, has created a "healthcare desert" in Chester.

Many families have encountered significant delays in finding new pediatricians, forcing children to forego needed check-ups and services.

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Joyce slept beside him on a chair for four days. On the last day, she woke to him squeezing her hand. He smiled at her and then shut his eyes.

On Jan. 17, Bladen died at age 78.

Joyce wants her husband to be remembered for being a jokester who could get along with anyone.

When Bladen finished treatment last August, doctors were hopeful.

Two months later, he went to Jefferson for a PET scan to see if he was in remission. His original lump was gone, but the cancer had spread all over.

“It just ravaged his whole body,” Joyce, his wife, said.

“This virus is the closest cousin of HIV,” said Pooja Jain, an HTLV-1 researcher at Drexel, noting that both spread through body fluids and infect a type of white blood cell known as T cells.

However, unlike HIV, which destroys T cells, HTLV-1 causes them to proliferate.

A virus gave a man an aggressive blood cancer. Philadelphia doctors want people to know about it. A Jefferson patient died from a cancer caused by HTLV-1, a little-known virus first discovered in 1979.

A virus gave a man an aggressive blood cancer. Philadelphia doctors want people to know about it.

Read more about this little-known virus first discovered in 1979⬇️

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US children aged 1-19 were 80% more likely to die than children in other high-income countries.

Firearm-related injuries were the leading cause of death, with children in the U.S. facing a 15 times higher chance of dying by a firearm than their counterparts in similar countries.

American kids’ health is in decline, and they’re dying at disproportionate rates, CHOP researcher says Doctors see more kids with chronic conditions, such as depression, sleep apnea, and eating disorders. They're also likelier to die from firearms or car crashes, compared to other nations.

"The data are so profound, they really paint a picture of kids suffering."

My Q&A with CHOP doctor Jeffrey Gerber on his recent study:

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American kids’ health is in decline, and they’re dying at disproportionate rates, CHOP researcher says Doctors see more kids with chronic conditions, such as depression, sleep apnea, and eating disorders. They're also likelier to die from firearms or car crashes, compared to other nations.

American kids' health has been in sharp decline since 2007, a new study found.

US children today are dying at much higher rates than kids in similar countries. They're also far more likely to suffer from a chronic disease than previous generations.

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Hayes recalled caring for a “perfectly healthy” 4-month-old child who, in the span of three days, went from laughing, playing, and being fed at home to being in an intensive care unit with a tube down their throat.

“We always wished that we had some sort of treatment to help prevent this."

The drug is what’s called a monoclonal antibody.

You can think of antibodies as police officers patrolling our body for a specific criminal. Once that target is identified, the antibody “handcuffs” the perp by binding to it. This particular antibody targets RSV.

“In order to see the full benefit of this, we really need all of these young infants to consistently receive the treatment. And unfortunately, we haven’t gotten the numbers there yet,” said Ericka Hayes, CHOP's senior medical director of infection prevention and control

An RSV prevention drug wasn’t received by most infants, CHOP study found A new CHOP study found only one in three eligible patients took Beyfortus when the medication that protects against severe illness from RSV first became available.

Only 35% of infants eligible for the RSV prevention drug received it in the first season after rollout.

Its approval in 2023 came after a chaotic winter in which the highly contagious virus overwhelmed children’s hospitals for weeks.

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An RSV prevention drug wasn’t received by most infants, CHOP study found A new CHOP study found only one in three eligible patients took Beyfortus when the medication that protects against severe illness from RSV first became available.

In the U.S., hundreds of children die from RSV every year, and tens of thousands are hospitalized with severe illness.

Beyfortus has been shown to decrease the likelihood of hospitalization by 80%. Yet only 35% of eligible infants received it:

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