The Rev. Howard M. Jenkins, Jr. was preparing for the launch of Rhode Island’s first mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic for people of color in mid-April when his cell phone started blowing up. Inside his cramped office at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Providence, the pastor was fielding frantic calls about that weekend’s clinic […]
Lynn Arditi
Lynn joined The Public's Radio as health reporter in 2017 after more than three decades as a journalist, including 28 years at The Providence Journal. Her series "A 911 Emergency," a project of the 2019 ProPublica Local Reporting Network, won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award in the radio/podcast category in 2020.
A native of New York City, she graduated from Oberlin College and landed her first journalism job at The Center for Investigative Reporting (now known as Reveal) in Washington, D.C., where she did story development for 60 Minutes. When the T.V. market imploded in 1987, the D.C. office of CIR closed and within a year she moved to Massachusetts to take a reporting job at the former Holyoke Transcript-Telegram, a small daily newspaper.
A year later, she moved to Providence, R.I. to work at The Providence Journal. There, she worked for several years as a bureau reporter covering schools and local issues, before she began covering statewide beats including higher education, the economy, housing and health care. During those years, she also honed her skills in narrative journalism, and served as chairwoman of the newspaper’s writing committee. Her work has been recognized by New England Associated Press News Executives Association and the Society of American Business Editors & Writers.
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Rhode Island to lift nearly all restrictions on businesses, social gatherings, starting Friday
Restaurants and other businesses around the state will be able to remove their plexiglass dividers, dispense with social distancing and operate at full capacity starting Friday. But masking and social distancing requirements will continue for now in other public places including schools, child care facilities and youth sports — where many children remain unvaccinated — […]
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House passes bill to require Rhode Island’s 911 call takers provide proper CPR instructions
The Rhode Island House of Representative on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to mandate that the state’s 911 Emergency Center operators provide CPR instructions and other emergency medical directions to callers in the critical minutes prior to the arrival of first responders. The bill (H-5629) introduced by Rep. Mia A. Ackerman (D-Cumberland), the deputy majority […]
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Beginning Tuesday, fully vaccinated Rhode Islanders can largely ditch masks indoors
Rhode Islanders who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will no longer be required to wear masks or socially distance indoors or outdoors starting on Tuesday, May 18. Gov. Daniel J. McKee and state health officials announced the changes on Friday to align Rhode Island with the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and […]
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R.I. parents can sign up 12 to 15-year-olds for Pfizer vaccine as early as Tuesday
Rhode Island residents will be able to schedule appointments for children as young as 12 to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as early as the end of the day Tuesday. Parents or legal guardians will be required to sign a form to authorize 12 to 15-year-olds to receive the Pfizer vaccine, but they will not […]
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Nearing goal, R.I. shifts to vaccinate 75+ at home
Rhode Island health officials reported Thursday that more than 65% of people 16 and older who live, work or attend school in Rhode Island have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. State health officials say that’s just shy of Governor Daniel J. McKee’s goal of vaccinating 70% of eligible residents by Mother’s […]
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R.I. physicians alarmed by legislation to shift control over emergency medical services
Rhode Island physicians groups are sounding alarms about legislation moving through the General Assembly that they say would strip the authority of the state health director over emergency medical services. The legislation (H-6282 and S-860) would prevent the health director from enacting EMS regulations, protocols and licensing requirements without the approval of a 25-member board […]
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Rhode Island resumes Johnson & Johnson vaccinations
Rhode Island will resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, joining states including Massachusetts, Connecticut in ending a pause that began April 13. The decision to restart the one-shot vaccine for residents 18 and older, announced late Monday, follows the recommendation on Friday by an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and […]
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Lifespan, Care New England seek regulators’ approval to merge
Lifespan and Care New England have filed a formal application with state regulators to combine their hospital systems into one academic medical center with Brown University. The filings were submitted to state health officials late Monday but had not yet been publicly posted, Joseph Wendelken, a Health Department spokesman, said. Rhode Island’s largest and second-largest […]
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Rhode Island to lift restrictions on businesses by Memorial Day weekend
Governor Daniel J. McKee announced Thursday that Rhode Island plans to lift more COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants, gyms and houses of worship next month as the share of residents vaccinated against the coronavirus continues to climb. Rhode Island will incrementally lift all virus-related capacity limits on businesses by the start of Memorial Day weekend on […]
