Recent News

A health commissioner's perspective: The ACA safeguards life (The Hill)

Jan 12th, 2017

The start of the 115th Congress has focused on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Legislators speak about repealing a policy, about political strategies. 

For me, as a doctor, as Baltimore City’s doctor, it’s about my patients and their lives.

Eight years ago, before the ACA, I treated a 36-year old man, a father of two toddlers. He stopped taking his seizure medications because insurance companies wouldn’t cover him. He had a choice: pay thousands of dollars a month, out of pocket, or ensure that his family had rent and food. As many others would have done, he chose his family, and let his medications lapse.

By the time he was brought to the ER, he had suffered a grand mal seizure. He was unconscious and continually seizing. We gave him medications. We put a breathing tube in. We did everything we could, but he never came out of the coma, and he died.

I think about him and his family when I hear discussions of the ACA. I think about the 40,000 people in my city who would be uninsured if not for the ACA. My patients tell me that they’re scared.

Read the entire story.

The Opioid Epidemic—from the headlines to hope (WHYY)

Jan 10th, 2017

The news can sound dire. Opioid addiction is ruining families and taking lives at an ever increasing rate. In this roundtable discussion, Dr.

Some Maryland grocery stores will start accepting SNAP for online orders (Technical.ly Baltimore)

Jan 9th, 2017

Online grocery shopping brings convenience. But if it’s available to everyone, it’s also seen as one way to help people in food deserts get access to fresh food.

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Maryland’s inclusion earned praise from Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen.

“Unfortunately, 1 in 4 Baltimore City residents live in an area identified as a food desert,” she said. “This pilot will break down barriers and bring groceries to people, saving them time and money.”

Read the entire story.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Issues Statement in Response to SNAP Pilot Program

Jan 6th, 2017

BALTIMORE, Md. (January 6, 2017)—Today, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen issued the following statement in response to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s selection of three grocers in Maryland for a program designed to allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to purchase their groceries online.  

Health Commissioner Dr. Wen Declares Code Blue Alert in Baltimore Beginning Friday Night through the Weekend

Jan 6th, 2017

BALTIMORE, MD (January 6, 2017) — With temperatures predicted to fall into the teens with wind chill this weekend, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen today issued a Code Blue declaration for Baltimore City beginning Friday evening, January 6th through the morning of Monday, January 9th.

Commissioners Corner: New Year Resolutions in Public Health

Jan 6th, 2017

The start of a new year is the time for resolutions to improve health and wellbeing. Like the many who will focus on creating a healthier lifestyles—whether it is trying to eat better, adding some steps to your pedometer, or finally getting back to the gym—we at BCHD resolve to continue working every day to make Baltimore a healthier city for all residents.

As opioid epidemic worsens, the cost of waking up from an overdose soars (CNBC)

Jan 4th, 2017

Taylor Kay was driving on Interstate 290, heading east near Chicago, when a car veered across lanes of traffic into the highway median.

"I thought, 'Something is wrong,'" the 26-year-old said. "So I get out of my car, and I see he's overdosing, with a needle still in his arm."

Kay recognized what was happening to the driver because it could have happened to her. She had used heroin for six years, until she was 24, and she herself has overdosed. She knew what to do.

"I go to my car and I get my Narcan, because I always have it with me," Kay said, referring to the brand name of the drug naloxone, which quickly reverses opioid overdoses. "Once I put the Narcan in him, it took about 20 seconds. … I was so scared that this kid was going to die."

He didn't; he woke up, Kay said. She called 911, and the paramedics who arrived later told her the driver had taken fentanyl — a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine.

Read the entire story.

The State Continues to Battle Increasing Drug Abuse Problem (WJZ)

Jan 3rd, 2017

More than 1200 people died from drug overdoses statewide last year. A number the state already shattered with close to 1500 back in September.

Maryland has seen it’s fair share of deadly wrecks and homicides in 2016, but officials say drug overdoses are now killing far more Americans than both — concerns that continue to grow in Baltimore City.

“This is something that affects each and every one of us,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen.

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To Baltimore City,  where health officials say there will be right around 500 overdose deaths for 2016. Numbers that are beyond alarming.

“There are more people in Baltimore City who die from overdose than die from homicides,” said Dr. Wen.

Health officials say there are more than 21,000 people who use heroin in Baltimore, and many more who have addictions to other substances. While the total continues to surge, Health Commissioner Wen says so does the use of a drug called fentanyl.

Read the entire story.

Report: Fentanyl overdoses nearly quadrupled in 2016 vs. 2015 (WBFF)

Jan 3rd, 2017

Maryland’s deadly addiction to opioids is getting worse according to recent statistics released by the State of Maryland.

Preliminary numbers from the first eight months of 2016 show the rate in which people are dying from heroin and fentanyl overdoses. Heroin overdoses have nearly doubled compared to 2015 figures and fentanyl overdoses have almost quadrupled.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen says, “There are more people here in Baltimore who die from overdoses than die from homicide and the numbers are increasing."

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Maryland overdose deaths continue steep climb (Washington Post)

Jan 3rd, 2017

Drug-overdose deaths surged to new levels in Maryland during the first nine months of 2016, far surpassing the total for all of the previous year as fatalities related to heroin and fentanyl use increased sharply.

The state health department reported Thursday that the number of overdose deaths for January through September climbed to 1,468, a 62 percent jump compared with the same period in 2015, and the sixth straight year that the figure has risen.

The total for the first three quarters of 2016 exceeded the overall sum for the previous year by nearly 17 percent.

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Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen said in a statement Thursday that long-term treatment tends to be underfunded.

“Addiction is a disease . . . and must be addressed as any other chronic disease,” she said. “We must both save a life today with acute treatments, like the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone, while also ensuring access to evidence-based treatment.”

The rise in fatal overdoses this year has extended beyond opioids. Fatal overdoses related to cocaine not mixed with other drugs jumped 76 percent to 69, while alcohol-only deaths increased more than 36 percent to 30. The figures for both years represent data from January through September.

Read the entire story.

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