Sarah Fentem
Health ReporterSarah Fentem reports on sickness and health as part of St. Louis Public Radio’s news team. She previously spent five years reporting for different NPR stations in Indiana, immersing herself deep, deep into an insurance policy beat from which she may never fully recover.
A longtime NPR listener, she grew up hearing WQUB in Quincy, Illinois, which is now owned by STLPR. She lives in South St. Louis, and in her spare time likes to watch old sitcoms, meticulously clean and organize her home and go on outdoor adventures with her husband Elliot. They have a dog named Ginger.
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U.S. Transportation Command Commander Jacqueline Van Ovost is retiring after more than three decades in the military. The pilot was one of relatively few women four-star generals in the U.S. -
A routine flu screening in late summer found the H5N1 virus in a Missouri patient. Unlike the other reported cases, this person did not report being in recent contact with animals. -
Federal regulators have filed an administrative complaint against the St. Louis-based pharmacy benefit manager. Patients and pharmacists say the suit could lead to a change in business practices and more affordable drugs. -
As levels of the coronavirus have increased in Missouri and across the country, the federal government has approved updated vaccines to protect against COVID-19. The virus itself has changed, and along with it, guidelines for how to keep others safe. -
A decades-old Missouri law states life begins at conception, which some IVF patients worry puts the procedure at risk. Fertility lawyer Tim Schlesinger said court cases protect the in vitro fertilization, for now. -
Anthem officials claim Mercy is asking the insurer to pay too much money to cover procedures. Mercy officials said Anthem is putting too many administrative barriers in its contract. If the two sides cannot reach an agreement by the end of the year, Anthem patients won't be able to receive in-network rates at Mercy locations. -
Members of the union representing veterans nursing assistants at the Quincy home want facilities to have the power to hire people themselves. -
For every 100,000 births in Missouri between 2017 and 2021, more than 32 people died because of pregnancy-related complications — an average of 70 deaths annually. -
More than 20 people have caught coronavirus at the state-run facility. They're among three dozen residents and workers at three of the state’s five veterans homes who have caught the virus. -
Two Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri have filed complaints with a state hearing commission, arguing that a new law blocking the clinics from receiving Medicaid reimbursements is unconstitutional. -
Although the smallpox-related virus is surging in other parts of the world, doctors in St. Louis said cases are still low in the region. But they say vaccinations can keep the risk of future spread low. -
The St. Louis facility will offer a place for those in a mental health crisis to drop in and be seen by a professional the same day.
