That’s a 20-degree difference between two neighborhoods, and that can be perilous: 104 people have died from heat-related causes in the last decade. The city does not track deaths by neighborhood.
By Frank Kummer
Month: June 2018
Fentanyl Crack Overdoses 3
Viner said the department’s harm reduction coordinator was doing street outreach in West Philadelphia on Wednesday to encourage crack-cocaine users to take precautions against an overdose, such as not using alone; taking a small “test dose” first; and having naloxone on hand. She said the department was distributing the opioid overdose-reversal medication to those drug users, as well as testing strips they can use to see if their drugs are tainted with fentanyl.
By Joel Wolfram
Fentanyl Crack Overdoses 2
Health Department officials advised healthcare providers to remain vigilant for signs of opioid overdose “even if the drug consumed is reported to be a non-opioid.” Officials are also encouraging clinical toxicology testing to test reported cocaine users for fentanyl as well. So far, clinical toxicology tests for two patients confirmed that fentanyl was the only substance detected, health department officials said, while further tests are pending.
By Max Marin and Christopher Moraff
Fentanyl Crack Overdoses
“Everyone sort of knows, if they read the paper and follow the news, that fentanyl is in all of the heroin now,” said Caroline Johnson, the city’s deputy health commissioner. “Some of the cautions that people are told when they’re using heroin is to take it very slowly, to do a test dose, have naloxone present in case of an overdose. We don’t say those things to cocaine users or crack users.
By Aubrey Whelan
Drug Users in West Philly Experience Overdose Outbreak
Fifteen people in West Philadelphia overdosed on what is thought to be a combination of crack cocaine and the synthetic opioid fentanyl over the weekend, city officials said.
By Aubrey Whelan
Opioid Overdose Crisis Not Just in Kensington
Neighborhoods across the city saw alarming spikes in fatal overdoses, according to data from the Medical Examiner’s Office that show that while the epidemic may be less visible in places like South and West Philadelphia, scores of people there are dying.
By Aubrey Whelan
The Next Big Public Health Idea
Tobacco Retailer Siting Hearings
Philadelphia has twice as many cigarette retailers per capita as any other city, making teenagers far more likely to be lured to smoke, according to Health Commissioner Thomas Farley.
“The major way big tobacco markets cigarettes these days is point-of-sale marketing in stores, and it works,” Farley said. “It gets more kids smoking and more kids addicted.”
Farley said reducing that number is crucial to curbing smoking since most ads for cigarettes are in stores that sell them.
“The rules allow stores to continue to have the permits for as long as they want to, they just simply prevent new stores from opening up in those neighborhoods that have too many stores already,” he explained.
https://kywnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/proposed-bill-aims-dismantle-anti-smoking-regulations
By Pat Loeb
Observing Ramadan Safely and Healthily
Fasting during Ramadan can be deeply meaningful, and the Iftar meal after a day of fasting provides both much-needed nutrition and a chance to gather and celebrate with friends and family. But fasting can also be a challenge to efforts to follow a healthy lifestyle. After fasting all day, many people overdo things in the evening, drinking sugary drinks and eating heavy meals full of fatty and sugary treats. This can leave you feeling tired and sluggish and wondering how you can be gaining weight while fasting daily.
https://beta.phila.gov/2018-06-04-observing-ramadan-safely-and-healthily/
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 