COVID-19

Mask wearing protects against more than just COVID-19

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Flu season is nearing its end, but was it ever really here? Sparrow Doctor Paul Entler noticed that this year’s flu season has been significantly less aggressive. “We had one case in the hospital,” he said. “Being vigilant about washing your hands and those masks, I think really prevented portals of entry of viruses that normally would be there.” Safety protocols that have been enforced over the last year have been productive in fighting against the flu and other illness, not just COVID-19.

Arts & Entertainment

Watch Focal Point: Mel Tucker becomes the new football coach, New Hampshire Democratic Primaries, Michigan towns apply for make-overs

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This week on Focal Point, we’re live from a local flower shop to see how people are sharing the love on Valentine’s Day. Over the weekend, the Lansing Women’s Expo celebrated 20 years with more than 300 attendees. The Lansing Pup House celebrates Valentine’s Day with their pets during speed dating for dogs.  In entertainment, the 92nd Oscar’s had a lot of firsts and Justin Bieber returns from a four-year hiatus with a new album. 

This and more on this episode of Focal Point.

Health

Few hospice services for dying children in mid-Michigan

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By YANJIE WANG
Capital News Service
LANSING — When her son Charlie was diagnosed with a terminal brain cancer at 2, Abigail Waller didn’t find any pediatric hospice in her community of East Lansing, or elsewhere in mid-Michigan. Charlie now is 4, and Waller said although he is doing well with medication, it doesn’t change the prognosis that there is no cure. Thanks to Charlie’s case, however, Sparrow Hospital is piloting a collaborative program for its pediatrics department to address the need of hospice care only for children, said Michelle Wiseman, director of Sparrow Hospice and Palliative Care Services. “Big metropolitan cities like Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and Detroit have pediatric hospice, but here in Lansing the problem is we don’t have enough children,” she said. Wiseman said Sparrow takes pediatric hospice case by case, and Charlie is its first patient.