News Coverage

Plan to curb older adults from falling announced in city (AP)

Apr 16th, 2018

Baltimore officials say a plan to curb hospitalizations and emergency department visits related to older adults falling has been announced. 

A Baltimore City Health Department news release says Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen announced the new strategy Monday.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wen

Baltimore Officials Look To Reduce Accidental Falls, Costs (WJZ)

Apr 15th, 2018

Officials in Baltimore are hoping to find ways to reduce number of people injured in accidental falls, and the resulting health costs as well. 

A citywide initiative to be announced Monday is focused on prevention of falls, especially among older residents.

Read the entire story.

March for Science 2018: Passionate advocates push the cause for research across the globe (USA Today)

Apr 14th, 2018

Thousands on the National Mall on Saturday marched past the Environmental Protection Agency and to the U.S. Capitol to advocate for science to play a larger role in society — and stressed how research already ripples through a slew of issues from guns to immigration.

Leana Wen, commissioner of health in Baltimore City, spoke to the crowd about the realities of the opioid epidemic in her urban center today. Society needs to change how it views addiction, she stressed, adding "science shows us addiction is a disease, not a moral failing." 

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

25 ways to make Baltimore better: Suggestions from Aaron Maybin, Leana Wen and more (Baltimore Sun)

Apr 13th, 2018

We asked 25 notable people from the Baltimore area about ways to improve the community. Here’s what they said: 

Take control of your health and help those around you 

Learn to use naloxone or narcan, and carry it in your medicine cabinet and first aid kit. We are in the middle of an opioid epidemic, and in the case of an overdose, this is one medication that will save someone’s life within seconds. Everyday residents who are not medically trained — our neighbors and friends — have saved the lives over 1,600 lives. And, know your numbers. Go to your primary care doctor every year and make sure that you know your blood pressure and cholesterol. Get tested for HIV. HIV does not discriminate — one in 5 don’t know that they have it, so it's important that we all get tested. — Leana Wen, Baltimore Health Commissioner

Read the entire story.

Leana Wen

Hospitalizations from falls 55 percent higher in Baltimore than rest of the state (Baltimore Sun)

Apr 13th, 2018

Baltimore officials will announce a citywide initiative Monday aimed at curbing the number of injuries from falls, a major problem in the city that results in $60 million in hospital costs a year. 

The city’s new strategy will focus on mapping where falls occur using real-time hospital data and targeting fall prevention efforts in hot spots where there are high fall rates. The initiative will also include an educational campaign. The city will work with non-profit organizations to help make seniors’ homes more fall-proof.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wen

In opioid epidemic, some cities strain to afford OD antidote (AP)

Apr 12th, 2018

On a Baltimore street corner, public health workers hand out a life-saving overdose antidote to residents painfully familiar with the ravages of America’s opioid epidemic. But the training wraps up quickly; all the naloxone inhalers are claimed within 20 minutes.

“Every week, we count the doses we have left and make hard decisions about who will receive the medication and who will have to go without,” said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, who issued the city’s innovative blanket prescription for the drug in 2015.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

Baltimore City short on overdose kits (WBAL)

Apr 11th, 2018

The U.S. surgeon general wants more people to learn how to carry and know how to use the drug Naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an overdose. 

"The problem we have is not the policy, it's the price. Between now and July, I only have about 160 kits of Naloxone left to give out, which means that every day, I have to make a decision about who is going to get this Naloxone and who will have to go without," Wen said.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

The Health 202: How a fringe idea to solve the opioid crisis turned mainstream (Washington Post)

Apr 6th, 2018

Jerome Adams urged Americans to consider getting trained to administer naloxone, a drug used broadly by first responders that has proven highly effective in reversing opioid overdoses. 

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen said she is being forced to ration naloxone because the city doesn’t have the finances to buy as much as it needs. 

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

Federal moves to help opioid crisis not enough, experts say (NBCNews.com)

Apr 5th, 2018

Anybody who knows someone at risk of an opioid overdose should always carry naloxone, the anti-overdose drug, Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Thursday. 

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said the plan is a good first step.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

Surgeon General Urges Americans to Carry Drug That Stops Opioid Overdoses (New York Times)

Apr 5th, 2018

The United States Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome M. Adams, issued a national advisory Thursday urging more Americans to keep on hand and learn how to use the drug, naloxone, which can save the lives of people overdosing on opioids. Naloxone has already revived thousands of overdose victims as the opioid epidemic has intensified, but rescue workers have usually been the ones to administer it.

Dr. Leana Wen, the health commissioner in Baltimore, said her city has to ration naloxone because it can’t afford to keep a stockpile on hand. She called on the Trump administration to negotiate directly with the manufacturers of naloxone to make it available at a steeply discounted rate. 

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

Pages