Author

JoNel Aleccia

JoNel Aleccia is a Senior Correspondent focused on aging and end-of-life issues on the KHN enterprise team. Previously she was a health reporter for more than a decade, covering regional and national news at outlets including The Seattle Times, NBCNews.com, TODAY.com and MSNBC.com.

Health

‘I Couldn’t Let Her Be Alone’: A Peaceful Death Amid the COVID Scourge

JoNel Aleccia Jul 6, 2020

Patti Breed-Rabitoy had coped with lung and kidney disease for years but remained a vital, bubbly presence in the lives of her husband, Dan Rabitoy, and three grown children. Photo courtesy of Elishia Breed. LOS ANGELES, CA - As her…

Health

Born Into A Pandemic: Virus Complicates Births For Moms And Babies

JoNel Aleccia Apr 24, 2020

Mallory Pease with baby Alivia and her older daughter, Emma Jean. Pease was worried about passing on the coronavirus to Alivia after getting home from the hospital. Photo courtesy of the Pease family. MARSHALL, MI - Mallory Pease’s…

Health

Desperate Scramble As COVID-19 Families Vie For Plasma Therapy

JoNel Aleccia Apr 15, 2020

In the past two weeks, blood centers across the U.S. have accelerated efforts to collect COVID-19 convalescent plasma on the theory it contains protective antibodies that can transfer immunity from a patient who had the disease…

Health

‘You Pray That You Got The Drug.’ Ailing Couple Gambles On Trial For COVID-19 Cure

JoNel Aleccia Apr 6, 2020

Josie and George Taylor stand on the porch of their home in Everett, Washington, on March 24. They are two of the first people in the U.S. to recover from novel coronavirus infections after joining a clinical trial for the antiviral drug…

Health

Blood Centers Will Collect Plasma From COVID-19 Survivors In Bid For Treatment

JoNel Aleccia Apr 1, 2020

Under guidelines released Tuesday by the AABB, an international nonprofit agency focused on transfusion medicine and cellular therapies, dozens of community blood centers nationwide could become a key source for the century-old treatment…

Health

Sheltered At Home, Families Broach End-Of-Life Planning

JoNel Aleccia Mar 31, 2020

Barbara Dreyfuss, pictured in a family photo from the 1980s, died March 1, 2020, after contracting COVID-19 at a Seattle-area nursing home. Her earlier decision to document her final wishes aided her family in her treatment. Photo courtesy…

Health

Funeral Homes, Families Ponder Deaths In The Age Of COVID-19

JoNel Aleccia Mar 19, 2020

Funeral homes — already well-versed in ways to prevent disease — are implementing even stricter protocols to handle bodies infected with the novel coronavirus. File photo. MARYLAND - As COVID-19 cases spread across the nation,…

Health

How Intrepid Lab Sleuths Ramped Up Tests As Coronavirus Closed In

JoNel Aleccia Mar 16, 2020

Dr. Keith Jerome (left), director of the UW Medicine Virology laboratory in Seattle, and Dr. Alex Greninger, assistant director of the lab, quickly ramped up a test to detect the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. As of March 11, their lab…

Health

Nursing Home Outbreak Spotlights Coronavirus Risk In Elder Care Facilities

JoNel Aleccia Mar 4, 2020

KIRKLAND, WA - An outbreak of coronavirus disease in a nursing home near Seattle is prompting urgent calls for precautionary tactics at America’s elder care facilities, where residents are at heightened risk of serious complications…

Health

Investigation Finds Scores of Organs, Mostly Kidneys, Trashed Each Year, Many More Become Delayed…

JoNel Aleccia Feb 11, 2020

In a nation where nearly 113,000 people are waiting for transplants, scores of organs — mostly kidneys — are discarded after they don’t reach their destination in time. When a human heart was left behind by mistake on a Southwest Airlines…

Health

Creator Of Brain Exam That Trump Aced Demands New Training For Testers

JoNel Aleccia Jul 29, 2019

US President Donald Trump with White House Physicians following his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Whitehouse Photo. WASHINGTON - Last year, Dr. Ronny Jackson, then the White…