Recent News

Commissioner's Corner: Baltimore is a Welcoming City & Saving Lives with Naloxone

Feb 3rd, 2017

Earlier this week, Mayor Pugh reassured our residents that Baltimore is and will remain a welcoming city for immigrants. I want to both thank and stand with her in supporting our residents.

For Baltimore's health commissioner, talk of policy change in D.C. brings 'great stress' (Baltimore Business Journal)

Jan 30th, 2017

Baltimore's health department could face drastic funding cuts under policy overhauls in Washington, D.C., proposals that has the city's health chief Dr.

Commissioner's Corner: Where a Person Lives Should Not Dictate If They Live

Jan 27th, 2017

At BCHD, we believe that where a person lives should not dictate if and for how long a person lives. We also understand that overall health in our communities is determined by much more than the care we receive in a healthcare setting, which is why we must safeguard the health of the environment in which we live.

Meet the 33-Year-Old Genius Solving Baltimore's Opioid Crisis (Mother Jones)

Jan 25th, 2017

Wen, Baltimore's 33-year-old health commissioner, has always been a few steps—a few years, really—ahead of the curve. The daughter of Chinese dissidents, Wen grew up in inner-city Los Angeles, where she saw classmates and neighbors suffer from gun violence and drug addiction. At 18, she graduated summa cum laude from California State University. Then came medical school and residency, a Rhodes Scholarship, and work as a professor and emergency room physician at the George Washington University hospital. All the while, Wen made a name for herself as a patient advocate, giving several TED talks and penning a book, When Doctors Don't Listen.

Her boundless energy is needed in Baltimore. The city of 600,000 has one of the highest overdose rates of any city, with 393 fatal overdoses in 2015. During her tenure, Wen has re-vamped the way the city responds to clusters of overdose calls and made it easier for drug users and their families and friends to access naloxone, the overdose reversal drug. On the city's overdose prevention campaign, DontDie.org, she demonstrates how to use it. Last spring, she testified before Congress and spoke on a panel with President Obama about the city's approach to addressing the crisis.

Despite the whirlwind job—Wen works "all the hours," as her assistant told The Atlantic's Olga Khazan—the commissioner takes the long view when it comes to the drug epidemic making the headlines. Substance abuse and addiction aren't new to Baltimore, she argues, and are at the root of seemingly unrelated problems that the city has faced for years. Shortly after the death of Freddie Gray, she wrote a pointed Washington Post op-ed about how the beleaguered city's high arrest and incarceration rates and seemingly intractable poverty draw back to the need for substance abuse and mental health treatment. "Other reforms will not be successful unless these core issues are resolved," she wrote.

Read the entire story.

Md. legislation would rein in prescription drug costs (Baltimore Sun)

Jan 23rd, 2017

Health care spending is skyrocketing in this country. While many national conversations have focused on what will happen to the Affordable Care Act under President Donald Trump's administration, there is another threat to health that cannot be forgotten: the high cost of prescription drugs.

In fact, prescription drugs are one of the most significant drivers of health care costs. Although drug companies' innovation is essential to developing lifesaving drugs, no lives can be saved if people cannot afford medications in the first place.

One out of every four Americans says that paying for their prescription drugs is difficult, according to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The share of people facing difficulties is even greater among those with low incomes, who take several medications or who are less healthy. Many forgo medications to pay for rent, food and other necessities.

Read the entire story.

Commissioner's Corner: Hosting Director Michael Botticelli of the White House ONDCP

Jan 20th, 2017

This week, the Baltimore City Health Department had the honor of hosting Director Michael Botticelli of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

During the visit, we discussed the tireless frontline efforts we have taken in the city to overcome the opioid overdose epidemic, remove stigma around substance use disorder, and improve access to drug treatment. We met with members of the Work Group on Drug Treatment Access and Neighborhood Relations and visited our Needle Exchange Program to allow our guests to witness the great work we are doing in our communities.

National Drug Policy Director Visits Baltimore City Health Department

Jan 18th, 2017

ONDCP Director Botticelli and Dr. Leana Wen Press Conference

Director Botticelli highlights Baltimore as a national model for addressing the opioid epidemic  

On Tuesday morning, Dr. Wen welcomed Director Michael Botticelli of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to discuss efforts to address the opioid crisis, rise in overdose deaths, and strategies to improve access to treatment for substance use disorder.

In response to the national opioid overdose epidemic, the Obama Administration has taken tremendous action to support evidence-based prevention, expand access to treatment, and promote recovery support services. Last month, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which provides $1 billion in new funding that President Obama requested to combat the epidemic, primarily by increasing access to substance use disorder treatment.

Nation's drug czar highlights Baltimore's efforts at curbing drug addiction (Baltimore Sun)

Jan 18th, 2017

Just days from the end of his tenure as the nation's drug czar, Michael Botticelli visited Baltimore's health department on Tuesday to highlight the efforts of local officials to combat the nation's opioid epidemic and warn against a scaling back of health insurance coverage for addiction treatment.

Millions of people have gained access to addiction treatment through insurance provided under the federal Affordable Care Act, he said. That's now under threat from the GOP-led Congress and the incoming administration of Donald Trump, which have pledged to repeal the law known as Obamacare.

As fatal overdoses continue to climb in Maryland and across much of the country, Botticelli said more treatment is needed, not less.

Read the entire story.

Drug czar concerned for opioid treatment if ACA is repealed (WBALTV 11)

Jan 18th, 2017

The nation's outgoing drug czar fears more people will die because they can't afford opioid treatment if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

 

Michael Botticelli visited Baltimore on Tuesday to talk about the Obama administration's efforts on the opioid epidemic and how a looming repeal of the Affordable Care Act could impact treatment.

The recent explosion in heroin addiction and death across the United States has happened under Botticelli's leadership. He spent Tuesday in Baltimore, where, in 2016, opioid overdose deaths outnumbered homicides.

"I think, quite honestly, we have tried to respond to the evolving nature of this epidemic at every step along the way," Botticelli said.

Read the entire story. 

Trauma & Mental Health: BCHD Convenes Community-based Meeting

Jan 13th, 2017

BCHD Hosts Trauma and Mental Health Citywide Meeting

On Wednesday morning, over 120 residents and representatives from community-based organizations, foundations, businesses, nonprofits, and service providers assembled to discuss trauma and mental health in Baltimore City. We convened the first in a series of meetings to better understand how the community defines and experiences trauma in order for the department to build better policies and programs that emphasize and lift up the work already happening in the community. As a result, we will build a citywide plan to address trauma in our communities.

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