On Monday, Dr. Wen joined U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and other critical stakeholders from across the state for a roundtable discussion on preparations for the Zika Virus.

During the panel, Dr. Wen shared Baltimore City’s Zika Preparedness Plan to educate the public about Zika and coordinate a citywide response to help prevent the spread of the virus. The first plan of its kind in the state, BCHD is leading the charge to educate city agencies and communities across our city how to prevent and respond to the Zika virus.

As of today, Maryland has had 17 confirmed cases of Zika virus infection. All have been related to travel to areas with ongoing transmission; none have involved local transmission.

BCHD will soon release a Zika Ambassador Program (ZAP) and informational packets which will provide City agencies, community based organizations, neighborhood associations, and individuals with the information they need to be aware of Zika, how to prevent it, and how to educate others.

Through the ZAP, the Health Department will also hold “train the trainer” sessions for individuals from community based organizations to learn about Zika and receive the tools necessary to educate individuals they serve in their community.

In the meantime, to learn more about the Zika Virus, including information for women who are, may become pregnant, and their partners, as well as tips to prevent the potential spread of the virus, please visit: http://health.baltimorecity.gov/zika-virus/

The CDC has additional information including the latest travel guidance, available at: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/

Dr. Wen spoke at the White House on Wednesday at a reception to celebrate Federal and philanthropic partnerships with local communities. The reception, held as part of the first Delivering Outcomes for Communities training for Federal staff across the country, was hosted by the Opportunity Finance Network, The White House Office of Management and Budget, The White Domestic Policy Council, and the Partnership for Public Service. BCHD has been conducting trainings and hosting discussions with these Federal staff over the past month and looks forward to continuing to develop this partnership.

Over the last seven years, the Administration has been working to transform the Federal government into a stronger partner for communities. To spark real change, government innovators and philanthropic partners are working side-by-side with community leaders to build strategies shaped by local needs, ideas and priorities.  This reception will feature government leaders at a variety of agencies supporting community-based Federal initiatives, now present in over 1,800 places and representing $17B in Federal investments.   

On Tuesday, May 31, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Southern Baptist Church (1701 North Chester Street, 21213), the Baltimore City Health Department is hosting a community discussion, “The Sweet Truth: Sugary Drinks, Community Health, and Social Justice.”

We will bring activists, health professionals, and community leaders from throughout the City together for a conversation about the dangers of sugar-sweetened beverages. Sugary drinks are a driving cause of obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay; they are also disproportionally marketed to young people of color, further fueling health disparities.

At this community forum, we will discuss the health impacts of consuming sugary drinks and the concrete policy actions and public health campaigns taking place across the City to reduce sugary drink consumption.

You will also be able to connect with local health and food activists who are passionate about standing up to the beverage industry for the sake of the health of Baltimore's residents.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, Global Policy Solutions
• Laura Flamm, Baltimarket and Food Access Director, Baltimore City Health Department
• Aaron Maybin, Artist and former NFL player
• Akil Patterson, Sugar Free Kids MD

The event will be hosted by the Baltimore City Health Department, Sugar Free Kids, and the Southern Baptist Church.

Please RVSP online!

Don't forget to sign our petition if you have not done so already!

We are proud to welcome Michelle Mendes as BCHD’s new Communications Director. She came to the agency after most recently serving as a member of the communications team at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she supported health advocacy and research projects including those on child nutrition and dental policy. Prior to that, she worked at Ketchum—a global public relations agency—where she worked on federal and local health policy accounts.

Originally from Baltimore County, Michelle received her bachelor's in communication from the University of Maryland, College Park.

We are thrilled to have her join our team!

We are also honored to welcome Mark O'Brien as the Director of Opioid Overdose Prevention and Treatment for the Baltimore City Health Department and Behavioral Health System Baltimore. In this capacity, he is responsible for implementing the Baltimore City Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response Plan and opioid treatment expansion efforts. 

Prior to starting at BCHD and BHSB, Mark was a Senior Criminal Justice Policy Associate and Acting Director of Communications in Legal Action Center's Washington, D.C. office where he advocated to reduce social and legal barriers for people with criminal records and addictions and expand access to substance use disorder treatment. He has also provided reentry and employment support services to people coming home to Baltimore from prison. 

He is a graduate of Towson University and Georgetown University Law Center.

This past Sunday, Dr. Wen delivered the commencement address to the Notre Dame of Maryland University’s (NDMU) Class of 2016.  NDMU President Marylou Yam presided over the ceremony at the Royal Farms Arena where Dr. Wen was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

In her address, Dr. Wen celebrated the students on their fantastic achievement and called on them to answer the call to service and social responsibility in order to best serve their communities.,.

“There is something each of us can do because we are all faced with the power of choice. We can tolerate the rhetoric that we hear or we can choose to call it as it is: that disparities bend the arc of humankind away from justice."

To celebrate Medicine for the Greater Good and to highlight the involvement of clinicians with the community, Dr. Wen and Congressman Elijah Cummings were selected as inaugural keynote speakers for the Greater Good Week at Johns Hopkins Bayview's Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Medicine for Greater Good is a group out of the Asthma and Allergy Division at Johns Hopkins Bayview. Their mission is to partner with communities to improve health and wellness, as well as to provide physician engagement in communities and support systems while enhancing physician understanding of the social determinants of health locally and globally. This program requires medical residents at Bayview to undergo a community outreach project.

As part of the symposium to celebrate Medicine for the Greater Good, Dr. Wen delivered Grand Rounds for the Johns Hopkins Bayview's Internal Medicine Residency Program, where she shared the importance of service outside the walls of the hospital and urged residents to become more involved in their communities.

This week Dr. Wen joined the Medical Education Resources Initiative for Teens (MERIT) Health Leadership Academy to celebrate five years of success, helping transform under-represented students into healthcare leaders of tomorrow who eliminate health disparities in the city.

The event highlighted many of the MERIT’s successes, including:

• 100 percent of MERIT Scholars have been accepted to 4-year universities over the past three years.
•  
• SAT scores have increased an average of 209 points (on a 1600 point scale). This reflects an average SAT point increase of 169 points higher than the national average.
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• MERIT alumni are excelling in college with average GPAs of 3.3/4.0.

Dr. Wen addressed the group, sharing the importance of increasing diversity in the health workforce; empowering more doctors, nurses, health care administrators, researchers, and public health professionals who represent the communities we serve.

After the success of their first five years, MERIT hopes to aggressively expand the program in Baltimore to strengthen and expand partnerships and empower more students to  become future health care professionals.

Thank you for joining us for the Baltimore City Health Department's latest B’More Health Talk!

Our last discussion focused around issues of trauma, mental health, and the development of the new citywide strategy on trauma and emotional well-being.

These twice-monthly virtual town hall meetings are an opportunity for leaders in our community to discuss efforts to reduce health disparities, engage in our city's collaborative strategy, and share the work that organizations are doing.

As always, you can join us by calling 605-562-3180 and using the access code 117-245-291 and tweet-chat live with the hashtag #BMoreHealthTalks.

In the meantime, we hope you will email us at bmoreheard@baltimorecity.gov with suggestions, ideas, or comments for this and future episodes.

You can listen to all of our past Bmore Health Talks on our Soundcloud. 

Employees who don't get enough physical activity may be risking your company's health bottom line. Physical inactivity increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. These chronic conditions lower productivity, raise health care costs, and, in the case of obesity, increase the likelihood of workplace injuries by nearly 50%.

The benefits of regular physical activity include: 

• Feeling happier, less stressed, and mentally sharper.
• Experiencing fewer sick days-people who exercise 5 or more days a week have 435 fewer sick days.
• Being more productive-people say they're 15% more productive on days they are physically active than on days when they aren't.

We encourage each division to incorporate a few these activities to get your staff moving this month:

• Walking meetings: Build physical activity into your everyday meetings by walking instead of sitting.
• Stretch breaks: Encourage employees to stand up and stretch every 60 minutes.
• Move It Monday: Research shows that starting a habit on Monday can be seen as a fresh start and has significant cultural meaning. Click here for activities to implement this coming Monday.

In addition, we began a department-wide challenge where teams compete to cut out the most sugar-sweetened beverages for this month. Let us know about your team’s struggles and triumphs and we will feature you in our next newsletter! Email Cagla.Buyukkoc@baltimorecity.gov with your story.

Mental Health America and its affiliates across the country have led the observance of May as Mental Health Month since 1949. This year’s theme is- Life with a Mental Illness- and will call on individuals to share what life with a mental illness feels like for them in words, pictures, and video by tagging their social media posts with #mentalillnessfeelslike (or submitting to MHA anonymously). Join the conversation and let’s end the stigma for folks living with mental illness or disorder.

Join us as Baltimore City portrays 12 dynamic men who have influenced and shaped the world as we know it today. Every month there are free workshops to honor 12 African American men who changed the world.  

The next event will be in honor of Michael Jackson June 8th at 10 am the Waxter Center for Senior Citizens (100 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201).

Lunch with be provided with registration for seniors 60+, all others contribute $5.00 per meal. Project taking care of Mom and Dad will provide caregiver assistance information. 

Baltimore City’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program is commemorating WEAAD by hosting a speaker’s forum on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.  The event will be held from 10:00am-2:00pm at Senior Network, 5828 York Road, Baltimore MD 21212.  There will be speakers, information and vendors all are invited to attend this free event.

Did you know that every day 10,000 people turn 65 in the US alone?  That trend is going to continue for nearly the next 20 years.  Our demographics are shifting, and we will soon have more elder people in the US than ever before.  At the same time that the population is growing, we know that a startling number of elders face abusive conditions.  Every year an estimated 5 million, or 1 in 10, older Americans are victims of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation. And that’s only part of the picture: Experts believe that for every case of elder abuse or neglect reported, as many as 23.5 cases go unreported.

WEAAD serves as a call-to-action for individuals, organizations, and communities to raise awareness about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations (UN) launched the first World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) on June 15, 2006 in an effort to unite communities around the world in raising awareness about elder abuse. WEAAD is in support of the UN’s International Plan of Action acknowledging the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue.

Show the world you care about ending elder abuse and neglect by wearing something purple on June 15, 2016.