As we enter the New Year, I am thankful to continue my service to the City of Baltimore with the support of an exceptional team and under the leadership of Mayor Catherine Pugh. Every day, I feel fortunate to have a job I love and to work with people who understand how health is integrally tied to social justice and the future of our communities.

We’ve made numerous public health advancements. Baltimore City launched one of the most aggressive overdose prevention programs in the country, including my issuing a blanket prescription for the antidote, naloxone, to every resident in our city. This determined approach has resulted in more than 1,500 lives being saved by our fellow Baltimoreans—by our neighbors, family, and friends. Our outreach teams are on the streets every day to train residents on how we can all save a life.

We are starting a Stabilization Center, a first-of-its-kind 24/7 crisis center, so that we can treat addiction as the disease that it is. And we are working with our partners at Behavioral Health Systems Baltimore, the Police Department, the State’s Attorney’s Office, and others to implement programs like Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, to change the narrative so that individuals afflicted with the disease of addiction will be offered medical treatment instead of incarceration.

We are making progress on our Healthy Baltimore 2020 citywide strategy, with the ambitious goal to cut disparities by half in the next 10 years. This strategy includes caring for those who are our most vulnerable neighbors. I’m proud of our work to uphold our duty to protect our residents by providing comprehensive HIV, STD, hepatitis, and tuberculosis services in our two clinics, and to prevent and prepare for outbreaks like measlesEbola, and Zika. I’m also proud of our innovative work in launching a strategy to prevent falls in older adults,in expanding virtual supermarkets and healthy corners to reduce food deserts, in starting new programs such as the civic innovation project TECHealt, and in continuing to treat violence as a public health issue.

While we’ve made great progress, many challenges remain in 2018. The opioid epidemic continues to escalate, and we continue to press for urgently needed resources to help communities like ours that are the hardest hit. Our core services are as important as ever, and we remain focused on our Code Blue and other emergency preparedness and response work. Chronic diseases continue to be the major killer of Baltimoreans, and we redouble our efforts this year through the Billion Step Challenge.  I’m thankful for Mayor Pugh’s commitment to health and wellness in her own life, and her steadfast leadership of this Challenge.

My team and I are prepared to meet these and other challenges. Baltimore has never taken a back seat in pursuing positive health outcomes for all of our residents, through evidence-based work and with the principles of diversity, inclusion, and justice. Our extraordinary employees do a great deal with very little, and with your help, we will continue to fight to level the playing field of inequality and deliver vital health services to protect our residents.

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