— At an unassuming storefront on a busy Brooklyn street, people sign up to use a bathroom outfitted to try to curb an overdose crisis.

Waiting his turn, a man named Robert is frank about why he's there, instead of one of the stairwells, parks, rooftops or porches where he has used heroin in the past.

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A wetter than normal spring produced a lot of mosquito larvae, which are now taking wing to feed on us.

The real health risks are diseases carried by mosquitoes. According to Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen, some of these include encephalitis that causes severe brain infections, dengue fever, West Nile that can cause many severe effects, including severe bleeding, and even liver, kidney and total body failure and death.

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Staff in subacute care at the Keswick Multi-Care Center weren’t sure if an older woman was going to recover after she was sent to them from a local hospital.

Two years later, that same woman was able to move from long-term care into her own apartment. After another year, she is now a regular visiting Keswick Community Health programs every day, taking classes, making art and even participating in a walking club.

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Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wen announced Thursday the expansion of the Telehealth Intervention Program for Seniors.

The program, which originated in New York, has operated out of the Zeta Center for Healthy and Active Aging since April and has 100 people enrolled.

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In their editorial, Dr. Wen and Dr. Shelly Choo focus on the collaboration between the Health Department and the City’s 12 emergency departments to fight the opioid crisis, and highlights specific programs created to facilitate opioid addiction interventions from the ED, including discharging patients with naloxone, connecting patients to peer recovery coaches, and providing access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) from the ED. 

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In July 2017, the Baltimore City Health Department received notice that our five-year grantfrom the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for teen pregnancy prevention would be cut two years short. This was a $3.5 million reduction that would eliminate evidence-based, science-based reproductive health education curriculum for 20,000 middle and high-school students. Despite many requests, we received no explanation for the grant termination.

In her op-ed, Dr. Leana Wen warns of the implications of the proposed "gag rule" - including undermining patients’ rights & violating core values of the healing professions.

"Imagine a world in which we deprive patients seeking help for diabetes of access to treatment, such that the only patients who can access care are those with health insurance from their employers or are wealthy enough to pay out-of-pocket. Imagine that even when patients decide on a course of action best suited for them, clinicians knowingly withhold evidence-based treatment. Reproductive health is a critical part of every woman’s health care. Standard medical care should be based on science, not ideology. The fundamental right to health cannot be a privilege reserved only for those who can afford it."

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First came the rains. Now come the mosquitoes.

Populations of the itch-inducing insects have multiplied across Maryland — in many areas up to three times their normal early summer numbers — because of recent storms and flooding that have given them an abundance of water to breed in.

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First came the rains. Now come the mosquitoes.

Populations of the itch-inducing insects have multiplied across Maryland — in many areas up to three times their normal early summer numbers — because of recent storms and flooding that have given them an abundance of water to breed in

Read the entire story.

The Baltimore City Health Department has declared a Code Red Extreme Heat Alert through Tuesday. It is the first Code Red of the 2018 season.

"Hundreds of people die every year from heat-related illness," Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said. "Heat is a silent killer and a threat to the health of everyone in our city, particularly the young, the elderly and those with chronic diseases. In weather like this, it’s important for everyone to protect against hyperthermia and dehydration."

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