News Coverage

Baltimore unveils Zika preparedness plan (WBAL)

Baltimore City officials Tuesday announced they are taking a citywide approach to combat the spread of Zika virus and other mosquito-borne illnesses. 

The Zika virus is spread by mosquito bites or unprotected sex and is linked to serious birth defects.

“Ensuring that our city is safe from mosquitos and the diseases that they carry is dependent upon the collaboration of residents, community organizations, businesses, and city agencies,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to do their part to help keep our loved ones healthy.”

 Health officials said there have been 5,274 confirmed cases of Zika in the U.S., including 224 locally-transmitted cases in Florida and Texas, through April. There have been 15 cases reported in Baltimore, all of which included individuals who traveled to an area with active Zika transmission and contracted the virus there.

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Trump’s budget makes it official: he’s doing little to nothing about the opioid epidemic (Vox)

Tens of thousands of people will likely die of drug overdoses under President Donald Trump’s watch, as America’s horrific opioid epidemic continues. Yet with his first big policy document — the 2018 budget proposal — Trump is proving that he’ll do little to nothing about the crisis.

If anything, Trump’s proposal could make the opioid epidemic worse. Where the budget does anything of significance regarding the epidemic, it comes through cuts to the office in charge of coordinating drug policy, Medicaid, public health programs, and more. And there is nothing in the budget to balance out the cuts — leaving a crater in the government’s response to a crisis that led to more than 33,000 opioid overdose deaths and more than 52,000 total drug overdose deaths in 2015.

 Read the entire story.

Baltimore braces for spread of mosquito-borne Zika (Baltimore Sun)

As mosquito season nears, the heads of Baltimore's departments of health, housing and public works unveiled efforts Tuesday to help prevent mosquito-borne illnesses, including Zika, which can lead to birth defects.

Led by Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, city officials outlined plans to try and keep Baltimore free of trash, clear storm drains and look for improper grading at the city's public housing complexes that can lead to free-standing water where mosquitoes breed.

There are also efforts to educate residents about how to protect themselves from mosquito bites, the most effective way to prevent the spread of the virus. There is no cure for the disease, though scientists around the world are working on a vaccine. 

Officials urged residents to use mosquito repellent and remove free-standing water from near their homes. A soda cap of water is enough for a mosquito to lay eggs, several said.

Watch the entire segment.

President Trump’s Proposed Federal Budget Harms the Health of Baltimoreans (Center Maryland)

The federal budget proposal released on Tuesday by President Trump cuts life-saving services and will harm the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Baltimoreans. It will particularly affect the following individuals:

Seniors: One hundred thousand Baltimore City residents are over the age of 60, and 1 in 6 of these residents live below the poverty line. Cuts to Medicaid—which covers services that Medicare does not—could leave these seniors without prescription drugs, glasses, and hearing aids. The budget also makes cuts to essential programs like nursing home care and Meals on Wheels, which provides more than 187,000 meals to Baltimore older adults in their homes in each year.

Children: Eighty thousand children in Baltimore depend on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for medical care. By cutting Medicaid, removing the enhanced federal match rate for CHIP, and capping reimbursement for CHIP services, the proposed budget will limit the ability of children to get basic health services such as immunizations and treatment for asthma.

Read entire op-ed.

Funding may halt effective Safe Streets program (WBAL TV 11)

Some in Baltimore want to expand the Safe Streets Program, but, once again, it finds itself up against the wall for funding. Why is that when the program has had clear results?

A fight is breaking out on east Baltimore street, but the guys running to intervene are there to de-escalate it. A woman with a shovel is arguing with a man.

Someone knocks our camera away, but the I-Team still watched the situation brought under control.

"The main thing that we did was really cool everybody down. We actually got the guy to take a ride, just leave," Safe Streets Outreach worker Alex Long said.

Long' s job and that of his co-workers is to step into simmering conflict before violence breaks out.

Watch the entire segment. 

What Baltimore City Is Doing To Prevent Spread Of Zika (CBS)

BALTIMORE (WJZ)  Baltimore City officials have announced what they are doing to prevent the spread of Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses.

Zika, which is spread by mosquito bites and unprotected sex, is linked to microcephaly, a serious birth defect which causes abnormally small heads and severe brain damage.

There have been 15 cases reported in Baltimore City, after the person contracted the virus by traveling to an area with active transmission.

There have been more than 5,000 confirmed cases in the U.S., with 224 locally-transmitted cases in Florida and Texas.

The Baltimore City Health Department has implemented a plan “to help educate city agencies and communities across our city how to prevent and respond to the Zika virus.”

See entire story.

Baltimore pharmacies ready for over-the-counter sales of heroin overdose drug (BBJ)

A new state standing order goes into effect June 1 in Baltimore that will expand access to naloxone, a medication that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. And city pharmacists are preparing for the shift.

The move is another step in the effort to reduce opioid deaths in the state and city. Gov. Larry Hogan has declared Maryland's opioid epidemic a state of emergency, after fatal heroin overdoses nearly doubled between January and September 2016 compared to the previous year, and fentanyl deaths quadrupled. In total, deaths from these two opioid drugs spiked to 1,656. In March, Hogan signed an executive order for $50 million in new funding to go toward addressing the crisis.

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How Public Health Agencies Can Leverage Data to Improve Community Health (Health Tech)

The national push to increase electronic health record adoption by healthcare providers has made data increasingly available to inform public health decisions. Access to both reliable and expedient information shared between partners enables disease surveillance, contact tracing, emergency response, home visits, chronic disease interventions and other core functions. This data adds clarity to existing interventions, automates back-office functions and enables advanced analytics.

Still, much of the focus on healthcare recently has shifted to encompass more than just clinical interactions. As reimbursement models arc toward value-based care, provider organizations are looking at upstream factors to incorporate the social determinants of health into their clinical workflow.

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The dangers of extreme temperature swings, learn more (WBFF)

Baltimore has gone from temperatures near freezing in early May, to temperatures in the 90s.

"When we have multiple days of heat it is especially dangerous because there can be a cumulative effect of heat on the body," Baltimore City Health Department employee Jennifer Martin said.

She cautioned that it is important to give your body up to two weeks to acclimate itself to the warmer temperatures.

"So this week we are experiencing several days of heat in a row so that makes this a good time to get ready for summer," she noted, adding, "Extreme heat can be dangerous because for those who are elderly or have chronic medical condition, the heat can exasperate their medical condition so this is a good time to prepared and get ready for summer heat."

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Bad summer of tick-borne illnesses expected (WBAL)

With summer right around the corner, experts are expressing concerns over the threat of a bad season for tick-borne illnesses.

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