Recent News

Baltimore's success a model for region on heroin (Cincinati Enquirer)

Oct 16th, 2016

The surest way to achieve success is to model those who are already successful. That's why lawmakers and public health officials in Ohio and Kentucky should be paying close attention to how Baltimore is dealing with the problem of heroin and other illicit drugs.

In the Enquirer's series, "Lessons from Baltimore," reporter Terry DeMio details how that city, which has a heavily addicted population, is battling the opioid epidemic with a great degree of success. This editorial board has applauded the ongoing efforts and collaborations among regional health agencies to combat this deadly scourge, but we've also been clear that greater investment needs to be made in treatment and prevention. Admittedly, there are political and economic differences that make a direct comparison between Baltimore and Greater Cincinnati difficult, but nonetheless there are takeaways our region could learn from.

Addressing trauma in Baltimore (Baltimore Sun)

Oct 16th, 2016

When I first came to Baltimore, I had a series of "listening tours." One of the most poignant experiences was with a group of youth — some no more than 8 years old. I asked them to share the single biggest issue on their minds. Their answers shocked and saddened me; the biggest problem these children saw was mental health.

They didn't say those words, but what they spoke about was trauma — trauma of watching people they loved being shot and killed; trauma of not knowing whether they would have a bed to sleep in or dinner that night; trauma of being the only person in the household who gets up in the morning because everyone else is addicted to drugs.

B'More for Healthy Babies Celebrates 7 Successful Years!

Oct 14th, 2016

Baltimore City Health Department employees, elected officials, city representatives, and families from across Baltimore City came together on Thursday evening at the National Aquarium to celebrate seven years of success in reducing infant mortality rates at an event honoring the B'more for Healthy Babies initiative.

Last week, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Dr. Wen, and community partners celebrated the lowest recorded infant mortality rate in the city – a 38 percent reduction since B’More for Healthy Babies began.

Dr. Wen Speaks on Future of Health at Consumer Reports 80th Anniversary Celebration

Oct 14th, 2016

On Thursday, Dr. Wen spoke on a panel for Consumer Reports’ 80th Anniversary event with Julia Angwin, Senior Reporter at ProPublica, Michel Nischan, chef and food activist, and moderator Wendy Bounds, Executive Director, Content for Consumer Reports about the future of healthcare.On Thursday, Dr. Wen travelled to New York City to speak on a panel for Consumer Reports’ 80th Anniversary event.

BCHD Hosts Community Celebration for ReCAST Grant

Oct 14th, 2016

Earlier this week, Health Commission Dr. Leana Wen, U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) representative Melodye Watson, and BCHD Youth Health and Wellness Coordinator Andy Masters joined dozens of community members in the Penn-North to discuss how a newly awarded five-year, $5 million ReCAST grant will help change the way we view our communities and how others view Baltimore.

Dr. Wen Speaks on Leading Ladies Panel at WOW Conference

Oct 14th, 2016

Last Saturday, Dr. Leana Wen spent the afternoon at Notre Dame of Maryland University with Redonda Miller, President of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, Chief Melissa Hyatt: Special Operations and Development Devision of the Baltimore Police Department, and moderator Denis Koch, WJT-TV News Anchor, speaking on the Women of the World (WOW) Baltimore Leading Ladies Panel.

B'more for Healthy Babies Celebrates Seven Years of Success

Oct 13th, 2016

BALTIMORE, MD (October 13, 2016)– Health officials, city representatives, and families from across Baltimore City joined together today to celebrate seven years of success in reducing infant mortality rates at an event honoring the B'more for Healthy Babies (BHB) initiative.

Going to the street to arm anti-heroin 'first responders' (Cincinati Enquirer)

Oct 13th, 2016

The third in a four-part series.

BALTIMORE - The streets are barren in this East Baltimore neighborhood, save for one active stretch that abuts a few boarded up, brick buildings.

This is a hub of open drug sales. A car pulls up, a hand comes out, there's a trade-off, a bag of something for cash.

A crushed box of the heroin overdose reversal drug naloxone is stuffed under a cracked cement step outside a building.

Someone overdosed here, says Nathan Fields, a Baltimore opioid overdose response prevention trainer. Someone tried to reverse the overdose with naloxone.

Just feet from the drug hand-offs and small social circles, the Behavioral Health System of Baltimore crew sets up a table and piles on naloxone kits.

Five things Baltimore can teach us about fighting heroin (Cincinati Enquirer)

Oct 12th, 2016

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Dr. Wen Cincinati Enquirer Video "Five things Baltimore can teach us about fighting heroin"

Lessons from Baltimore: The first in a four-part series.

BALTIMORE - This city is under an official public health emergency, and overdoses and drug use are the reasons. An epidemiologist has calculated 19,000 or 3 percent of its residents are addicted to heroin – important because here, officials just guess. Officials fight the epidemic with a multi-pronged, science-based approach that has specialists across the nation watching – and hoping.

33-year-old doctor leads Baltimore's anti-heroin war (Cincinati Enquirer)

Oct 12th, 2016

The second in a four-part series.

BALTIMORE - Dr. Leana Wen is famous among addiction experts across the nation for taking the helm against heroin.

"Nobody wants to be an addict," she says flatly.

The Baltimore health commissioner has an estimated 19,000 residents addicted to heroin in her city of 620,000. This city knows its numbers, figured by an epidemiologist, so that it can better understand and react to the heroin threat.

She's known nationally for her efforts to fight the heroin crisis in her city. "You need a commitment from public health leadership to prioritize this," said Daniel Raymond, policy director for the national Harm Reduction Coalition in New York City.

Wen, 33, who was appointed Baltimore health commissioner in January 2015, says that anyone who sees addiction as a moral failing is wrong. "Science is clear that addiction is a brain disease," she said.

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