Recent News

HUD to ban smoking in all federally subsidized public housing (Baltimore Sun)

Dec 1st, 2016

Smoking is to be prohibited in federally subsidized public housing nationwide as soon as early next year under a rule announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The rule, which was proposed by the agency last year, bans lit tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars and pipes in all indoor areas — even inside people's apartments — and within 25 feet of all buildings.

The agency is giving local public housing agencies 18 months to implement the policy.

The rule would bring more than 940,000 public housing units in line with the more than 228,000 across the country that have already gone smoke-free under a voluntary HUD policy or local initiatives. The ban does not apply to electronic cigarettes or smokeless alternatives such as snuff or chewing tobacco.

The prohibition is to be written into residents' leases. Repeated violations could lead to eviction.

Cures hits the floor, and bipartisan backers want House to pass it (Politico Pulse)

Dec 1st, 2016

The health care industry is abuzz over Donald Trump's picks of Tom Price for HHS Secretary and Seema Verma for CMS administrator. But first: The vote on 21st Century Cures is finally here.

CURES HITS THE FLOOR TODAY, AND BIPARTISAN BACKERS WANT THE HOUSE TO PASS IT — That includes industry players like Intel, Republican leaders like Sen. Lamar Alexander — and the Obama administration, too.

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— Meanwhile, 11 city health leaders petition Price to invest in public health. "The Republican Party Platform proposes reducing costs by converting Medicaid into block grants," write the letter-signers, which include Baltimore health commissioner Leana Wen and New York City health commissioner Mary Bassett. "This concerns us, as it risks depriving our most vulnerable residents of access to healthcare and adversely affecting health outcomes." Read the letter.

Dr. Leana S. Wen: Fast Tracking Baltimore's Fight Against AIDS (Center Maryland)

Dec 1st, 2016

This week, Baltimore celebrates World AIDS Day, honoring the memories of those lost to HIV/AIDS and recommitting to the fight to eliminate this tragic disease. 

For decades, Baltimore City has been on the frontlines of the nation’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. In our City, there are an estimated 13,000 residents diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

For us, HIV/AIDS is not just a health issue—it is one of justice and equity. It also requires innovative, community-driven approaches to save lives.

More than two decades ago, Baltimore became the first jurisdiction in Maryland—and one of the first in the country—to operate a syringe exchange program as a strategy to prevent HIV and other infections among injection drug users. This strategy has proven remarkably effective, as the percentage of people with HIV from intravenous drug use has plummeted from 63 percent in 1994 to 7 percent in 2014

Safe Streets Using Street Smarts Of Former Felons To Curb Gun Violence (WYPR)

Nov 30th, 2016

Today, a conversation about Safe Streets, a program that uses the street wisdom of former felons and reformed gang members to fight the epidemic of gun violence in some of Baltimore’s most dangerous neighborhoods. The concept was inspired by a similar program in Chicago called Ceasefire. Community outreach workers known as "violence interrupters" patrol neighborhoods, interacting with residents and stepping in to mediate tense conflicts before they escalate to violence. Many of the violence interrupters have criminal records and gang ties, and all of them have credible reputations on the streets, an aspect that proves important when stepping into potentially violent situations. 

Advocates of Safe Streets say the program has dramatically reduced violent crime in the four community sites it’s operating in, McElderry Park, Cherry Hill, Mondawmin, and Park Heights. In 2015, Safe Streets outreach workers mediated nearly 700 conflicts, 80 percent of which were deemed “likely” or “very likely” to have resulted in gun violence.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Issues Statement Following Selection of Congressman Tom Price as Nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services

Nov 29th, 2016

BALTIMORE, MD (November 29, 2016) – Today, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen issued the following statement in response to the selection of Congressman Tom Price as President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services:

The 'uncertain path ahead'

Nov 29th, 2016

Recently, I treated a patient in clinic, a woman in her early 40s. Just two years prior, she was experiencing homelessness and frequented emergency rooms every few weeks. Through the Affordable Care Act, she was able to get health insurance, which in turn helped her get her blood pressure managed and diabetes treated. It also enabled her to obtain treatment for depression and alcoholism.

As a result, she now had a job and a home. She regained custody of her children. Thanks to health insurance, which she called "her rock," she had her life back.

But when I saw her, she was distraught. Crying on the examining table, she told me how worried she was that her insurance could now be in jeopardy — that she could lose everything she worked so hard to achieve.

For my patient, like so many of our residents, the national uncertainty we face is deeply personal. In 2010, 81,000 adults in Baltimore City were without health insurance. That number has been cut in half — meaning that more than 40,000 now have access to life-saving care. Will their coverage now be at risk? Will our neighbors and family members be priced out of the basic right to health?

Frontline Health Leaders Urge Presidential Transition Team to Invest in Public Health

Nov 29th, 2016

TO:  Governor and Vice President-elect Mike Pence  
RE:   Frontline Health Leaders Urge Presidential Transition Team to Invest in Public Health

Why glasses can create a vision for Baltimore

Nov 28th, 2016

Imagine if you are an eight-year old who needs glasses but doesn’t know it. You squint to read the board. Sometimes, if you’re sitting too far back, you can’t see the board at all. Tasks that seem simple to other students, like reading a short story or understanding a map, are frustrating and almost impossible.

According to estimates from the Baltimore City Health Department and Johns Hopkins University, as many as 10,000 elementary and middle school students in Baltimore City lack the glasses they need. Not only do students with vision problems have difficulty focusing and fall behind their peers academically, but also have a greater tendency for hyperactivity, distractibility, and misbehavior.

It is common sense that if children cannot see, they cannot learn. They can go through years of struggle, even being set back in school or labeled as being “troubled”, before they are treated with something as simple as a pair of glasses.

On The Front Lines Of The Overdose Epidemic In Baltimore

Nov 22nd, 2016
As a wave of heroin overdoses strikes West Baltimore, a medical team warns a stricken neighborhood and hands out last-ditch doses of lifesaving medication.
 

WEST BALTIMORE — At the sidewalk’s edge in a vacant lot, the crowd gathered around the card table, to learn how to bring someone back from the dead.

On the table rested a vial of naloxone — the drug that reverses overdoses from heroin and other opioid drugs — screwed into a nostril-shaped inhaler. Daryl Mack of the Baltimore City Health Department had assembled the kit in about 30 seconds in front of the crowd.

The watchers, older black men and women from Baltimore’s Sandtown neighborhood, nodded at Mack’s description of a black person turning ashy gray during an overdose as their breathing stops, and how the drug on the table will call them back from the edge of death.

Read the entire story.

BCHD Celebrates Waxter Senior Center Fitness Center Grand Opening!

Nov 18th, 2016

BCHD Waxter Senior Center Fitness Center Grand Opening

On Thursday, Dr. Wen and BCHD staff joined Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, City Council President Jack Young, Aaron Merki from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and Kathy Brill from the Leonard & Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation to celebrate the grand opening of the Waxter Senior Center Fitness Center.

This 3,000 square foot fitness center will provide Waxter center members and the surrounding community with new fitness equipment and a space for therapeutic services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other health related activities.

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