FREE: From UCare via Facebook, VERBATIM: “lease join us this Thursday for a free health clinic at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul. No registration is required. Here are some free health services provided: Free Flu Shot. Blood Pressure Check. Dental Screening. Health Coaching.” DETAILS: https://fluence-media.co/4biCzuW (SPONSORED: UCare)
POLL: Via NAMI, VERBATIM: “The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) today released its second annual poll measuring employees’ and managers’ sentiments about mental health at work . . . More than half of respondents feel comfortable discussing mental health with a close friend at work (81%) or their manager (57%), and just over half of the workforce (51%) believes their company’s C-suite leadership cares about them. However, only two in five (39%) respondents feel comfortable sharing with HR, and less than three in ten (28%) would share with senior leadership. This highlights the persistent stigma surrounding workplace mental health discussions.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4blp11W
DELAYED CARE: Via Cleveland.com, VERBATIM: “More than one-third of employees with chronic health conditions — including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and asthma —have skipped medical appointments or delayed getting care to avoid missing work in the past year, according to a new national poll by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation. One in four employees who have chronic conditions themselves or help family members with theirs don’t have any paid leave (12%) or have run out of paid leave in the past year (14%) because they were trying to take care of their or their family’s chronic conditions, the poll found.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41hteze
HEALTHCARE: Via NPR, VERBATIM: “Government regulation of health care prices used to be heresy for most Republicans. GOP leaders fiercely opposed the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which included government limits on patients' costs. More recently, the party fought legislation signed by former President Joe Biden to cap prescription drug prices. But as Trump begins his second term, many of the voters who sent him back to the White House welcome more robust government action to rein in a health care system many Americans perceive as out of control, polls show.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Xh6z4P
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3KsuDrZ
SCHOOLS: From Emily Haugen via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “Nationwide, more than 23,000 cardiac arrests happen to children outside the hospital every year. A Plymouth senator wants to boost Minnesota childrens’ chance of survival with a new bill. The American Heart Association shared on its website that bystander CPR can triple the chance of survival in cardiac arrests. Sen. Bonnie Westlin (DFL-Plymouth) brought a bill to the Minnesota Committee on Education Policy on Monday. It would require school districts to have emergency response plans for cardiac arrests in place by the 2026 school year.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4h3nfDI
FLU SHOTS: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “A Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for March to select the strains to be included in next season’s flu shot has been canceled, a panel member said Wednesday. Federal health officials notified members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the cancellation in an email Wednesday afternoon, said committee member Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia . . . The cancellation comes as the United States is in the midst of a particularly severe flu season.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41yYf2H
MORE: The Minnesota Department of Health reports more than 6,000 influenza hospitalizations so far this season. REPORT: https://fluence-media.co/2I2qlda
MEDICAID: Via ABC News, VERBATIM: “House Republicans signaled they’re going full steam ahead on significant changes to Medicaid, despite pressure from Democrats and even some moderates in their party. The suggested overhauls to the program, which provides health care for lower-income Americans and those with disabilities, are part of an effort to slash federal spending and hit the House GOP’s goal of cutting $2 trillion over a decade from the federal budget.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3EWFP3f
MORE: From Pauleen Le via WCCO-TV, VERBATIM: “Democratic Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith is speaking on Thursday against the Republican-backed plan that could cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending over the next decade, possibly impacting Medicaid. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are concerned about potential cuts to the program which supports millions of low-income people and individuals with disabilities across the country. The Minnesota Department of Human Services says 1.3 million Minnesotans are on Medicaid, and department leaders say the potential impacts are still unclear.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3QCCdWA
MORE: Via Morning Consult, VERBATIM: “Yesterday the president reiterated that Republicans will not cut Medicaid benefits to pay for an extension of the party’s 2017 tax cuts, and our data helps explain why: Recipients of the program helped carry the president to his first popular-vote victory last November. Data from Morning Consult’s Audience platform shows 49% of Medicaid recipients who voted in 2024 backed Trump, compared with 47% who supported Harris. (By comparison, our data from 2021 shows Biden won the group by 19 percentage points in 2020.)” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4kk5PFL
ACCESS: Via Senator Amy Klobuchar, VERBATIM: “U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) reintroduced their bipartisan legislation to increase the number of doctors working in rural and medically underserved areas. The Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act would reauthorize the Conrad 30 programs, which allows international doctors who have completed their residency training in the U.S. to remain in the country under the condition that they practice in areas experiencing physician shortages.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41kyO3T
ESSENTIA HEALTH NURSES ARE A VALUED PART OF OUR PATIENT CARE: Acute care nurses in the Duluth area earn $100,000 on average, working just four days a week. In fact, 94% of these nurses choose to work part-time because Essentia Health offers full benefits starting at 24 hours a week. Our nurses overwhelmingly choose to remain at Essentia Health, bucking national turnover trends. To join our team at Essentia Health, search for openings HERE: https://fluence-media.co/3D5rO2s (SPONSORED: Essentia Health)
MEASLES: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday appeared to downplay the seriousness of the West Texas measles outbreak that has killed a school-age child. The child’s death, the first from the disease in a decade in the United States, was confirmed by Katherine Wells, director of public health at the health department in Lubbock, Texas. The child had not been vaccinated against the measles. The outbreak has so far infected at least 124 people — mostly children — in rural West Texas.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4h9aVCg
RESEARCH: Via NPR, VERBATIM: “The Trump administration has partially lifted a hold that had frozen ability of the National Institutes of Health to review new grant applications for research into diseases ranging from heart disease and COVID to Alzheimer's and allergies. The freeze occurred because the Trump administration had blocked the NIH from posting any new notices in the Federal Register, which is required before many federal meetings can be held. The stoppage forced the agency to cancel meetings to review thousands of grant applications.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3QCDVqY
FRESH15: The latest season of Fresh15 includes interviews with new Minnesota House members. So far, five new members have shared their goals, background and fun facts before they take office in a historic session this January.
Rep.-Elect Kari Rehauer
Rep.-Elect Wayne Johnson
Rep. Elect Julie Greene
Rep. Elect Keith Allen
Rep. Elect Peter Johnson
Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
TUMORS: From Colette Gallagher via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered a new role that a specific protein plays in regulating cell resistance and fighting tumors in certain types of cancer, offering hope for improved cancer therapies and patient outcomes.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41jZDox
MAYO: From Joel Streed via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “Mayo Clinic has again received the No. 1 ranking in Newsweek's list of the ‘World's Best Hospitals.’ This is the seventh straight year Mayo Clinic has received the top ranking.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3F7MY0u
MORE: Via Newsweek, the list. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/41hCYt9
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
STARCHES: From Cornell University via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “It's common knowledge that sugar causes cavities, but new Cornell University research provides evidence that -- depending on your genetic makeup -- starches could also be a contributing factor. The study, published in Microorganisms, explores the response of the oral microbiome to starch, finding that the number of copies of a particular gene, AMY1, in combination with starch, alters the complex composition of bacteria that play a role in oral health.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3F0Q1rt
Copyright © 2025 Fluence Media, All rights reserved.
You signed up or are media / a public official interested in health care news from Fluence Media.
Our mailing address is:
Fluence Media
PO Box 270031
Minneapolis, MN 55427