Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen wants the city’s emergency departments to play a bigger role in addressing residents’ heroin and substance abuse problems. Along with local emergency department leaders, the city’s health department is developing a program that would better connect patients with counselors, specialists and treatment for substance abuse. The project will be backed by Baltimore’s share of a $815,000 federal grant awarded to the state health department for medication-supported substance abuse programs.

The Baltimore City Health Department reported Wednesday that the number of sleep-related infant deaths continues to tick down since it launched a campaign in 2010 to educate mothers about the proper ways to put babies to bed. “Education is the key to changing behavior to prevent these tragic deaths,” said Dr. Leana Wen, city health commissioner. “That means everyone needs to know the ABCs of Safe Sleep -- that babies should be put to sleep alone, on their backs and in cribs, without exposure to secondhand smoke. No exceptions.”

As an ER doctor, I have treated hundreds of patients who were dying of heroin overdose, and I know that it is a disease that claims lives. As a family member of loved ones who struggled with addiction, I have seen that heroin isn't just an individual disease; it's a family disease. As a public health official in Baltimore, where an estimated 19,000 of our residents use heroin, I have witnessed how heroin ties into the very fabric of our city; it's a community disease. Read more of Dr. Leana Wen's Baltimore Sun Op-Ed here.