On Monday, we announced the launch of our 14th Virtual Supermarket site at Ruscombe Gardens, a residential center for seniors. Our Virtual Supermarket program provides easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables for those living in Healthy Food Priority Areas across the City. Since the Health Department launched the Virtual Supermarket program in 2010, nearly $600,000 worth of groceries have been purchased, with 43 percent of customers buying more fruits and vegetables. I joined our partners at Shoprite to distribute groceries to the residents and to discuss the importance of this program in helping Baltimoreans make the healthy choice the easy choice.

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The Baltimore City Health Department is active in Annapolis testifying in support of bills that will advance public health in Baltimore City and across Maryland. Members of our team testified in favor of a House bill that will establish a Drug Cost Review Commission, which would be responsible for setting fair rates for high cost prescription drugs in Maryland and increasing transparency in drug pricing. We also voiced our support for a Senate bill that will require state and local correctional facilities to have written policies in place concerning medical care for pregnant inmates.

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As a doctor, it used to be that I treated only adults with chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. But now, I treat teenagers as young as 13 with these conditions. These kids grow up to be adults who will suffer and die from heart disease, the number one killer of men and women in our City. In Baltimore, one-in-three high school children are obese. It’s no coincidence that one-in-four school-aged children drink one or more soda per day. Public health leaders and doctors agree: sugary drinks are a major contributor to childhood obesity. Taking these empty calories out of children’s diets is the single biggest change parents can make.

Two years ago, I fought to protect our residents by supporting legislation in the Baltimore City Council that places warning labels on all sugary drink advertisements, restaurant menus, and stores that sell these drinks. The warning label included important facts about the dangers of sugary drinks and would have leveled the information playing field for consumers. Yet, despite the support of over 2,000 pediatricians, public health leaders, and advocates, the bill failed.

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As an emergency physician, I treated patients before and after the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Before the ACA, I routinely saw dozens of uninsured patients every single day. They were uninsured not because they didn’t want insurance or believed they didn’t need it, but because they couldn’t afford it. I treated Sarah, a 47-year old nurse’s aide, who was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread throughout her body. Had she been insured, her cancer could have been detected earlier, and she might have been cured. Instead, Sarah died six months after her diagnosis, leaving her three young children without their mother.

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