At the second annual March for Science, speakers here called for political action using science to inform some of the most pressing public health issues of the day, including the opioid crisis, gun violence, and ongoing funding of research for medical cures. 

Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana S. Wen, MD, gave an impassioned speech calling for more money toward the purchase of naloxone to treat more people who are addicted to opioids. Soon after becoming health commissioner in January 2015, Wen issued a blanket prescription for naloxone to all of Baltimore's residents. That program has saved more than 1700 lives, but there's still not enough of the medication to meet the need.

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With drug overdose deaths ravaging communities across the country, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are planning to introduce legislation Wednesday that would require $10 billion a year in federal funding to combat the opioid crisis. 

Cummings said he and Warren got the idea to fund a massive public health campaign against opioids from Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen and her staff, who pitched the lawmakers on the need for increased funding.

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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.

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Far more people end up in the hospital with injuries from falling in Baltimore than in the rest of the state, leading city officials to launch a campaign Monday to curb the rate of falling among the elderly.

“Falls are a growing public health concern, especially for older adults,” said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen.

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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." 

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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