“It is worth warning people at nightclubs who might use cocaine recreationally about the possibility of fentanyl contamination,” opioids program manager Kendra Viner of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health told BuzzFeed News. But overall, only about 2% of seized cocaine vials in Philadelphia are contaminated by fentanyl.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/cocaine-meth-overdose-wave
By Dan Vergano
Guidelines such as those written by the CDC and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health hope to reduce the availability of prescription opioids as one solution to combat the epidemic. Instead of opioid medication for pain management, these guidelines recommend that providers offer non-pharmacological treatment such as physical and behavioral therapies. Unfortunately, most people cannot access these treatments or are unaware how they can help — both concerns that likely contributed to the opioid crisis in the first place.
http://www.philly.com/opinion/commentary/opioid-crisis-chronic-pain-insurance-coverage-20190111.html
By Amy Janke
CBSPhilly:
On Tuesday, the medical examiner’s office said Justice died of blunt impact injury to the head.
The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made at this time.
Inquirer:
The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday said the death of 38-year-old Drew Justice, who died Saturday after being punched once in an altercation with another dog walker in a South Philly park, was a homicide.
By Tommy Rowan
WHYY:
The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Justice died of “blunt impact trauma” to the head.
https://whyy.org/articles/suspect-in-death-of-south-philly-dog-walker-held-on-manslaughter-charge/
By Bobby Allyn
Fox29:
Justice was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Justice’s death a homicide due to blunt impact trauma.
http://www.fox29.com/news/suspect-charged-in-fatal-punch-at-dog-park-in-south-philadelphia
Inquirer:
“What surprised me the most was the impact of the opioid crisis on our overall vital statistics,” Health Commissioner Tom Farley said Thursday. “To see life expectancy going in the wrong direction has not occurred in this country for a long time.”
By Aubrey Whelan
Philly Magazine:
The just-released Health of the City report found that drug overdose deaths among Philadelphia residents increased nearly four-fold in recent years, with those deaths making a resounding mark on the city’s overall life expectancy — specifically on the rate of premature deaths (those that occur before age 75).
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/01/04/life-expectancy-overdose-epidemic/
By Claire Sasko
WHYY:
Raynard Washington, chief epidemiologist for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, said that disparity can be attributed primarily to poverty and social factors.
“Really underlying much of this is the social determinants of health — where people live, the environment in which they live in, their ability to be able to pay their bills, and acquire healthy food at affordable rates,” he said.
https://whyy.org/articles/biggest-health-problems-in-philadelphia-opioids-hiv-poverty/
By Alan Yu
Al Dia:
Amid a “nearly 4-fold” increase in drug overdose deaths in recent years, and a 14 percent uptick in homicides over the previous year, Philadelphia’s life expectancy declined in 2017, a report released last week by the city’s Department of Public Health found.
By David Maas
Interviewed by Vincent Thompson
In December 2016, Mayor Kenney promised to add money to the city’s Lead and Healthy Homes Program. Was that promise kept?
The mayor added $900,000 in fiscal year 2018. Almost half, or $425,000, was used to remediate lead hazards in homes owned by people who didn’t qualify for a federal grant. Health officials also used the new money to hire 11 staffers and to purchase XRF guns (handheld X-ray fluorescent devices that detect lead paint) and vehicles for inspectors. Kenney renewed the $900,000 for this fiscal year. The city also received new federal dollars. Just this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Philadelphia $4.1 million to help repair or remove lead paint in 240 homes with low-income families with children.
By Barbara Laker, Dylan Purcell and Wendy Ruderman
Even before the year is officially over, health officials are declaring 2018 to be a landmark in Philadelphia’s opioid crisis, marking the first time in at least five years that overdose deaths will have declined. More people sought treatment. More doses of Narcan, the lifesaving overdose reversal spray, were handed out in the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.
In short, “all the key numbers are moving in the right direction,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said last week.
http://www.philly.com/health/opioid-crisis-addiction-philadelphia-overdose-death-toll–20181224.html
By Aubrey Whelan
“While we haven’t seen the report yet, we are extremely concerned about the recent increase in teen use of electronic cigarettes,” said Cheryl Bettigole, director of chronic disease prevention for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. “It has become increasingly clear in recent years that e-cigarettes are dangerous to teens, and that e-cig use appears to make it more likely that a teen will go on to smoke combustible cigarettes.”
http://www.philly.com/health/juul-vaping-teen-increase-20181217.html
By Mari Schaefer
“The fact that kids aren’t smoking cigarettes is deceptive,” said Cheryl Bettigole, director of chronic disease prevention for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. “Total tobacco use is up.”
City data shows youth cigar use (including cigarillos) doubled from 2011 to 2015.Among black teens specifically, it nearly tripled. On the other hand, white teens were nearly twice as likely to have used a vaping product.
http://www.philly.com/health/tobacco-smoking-cigarettes-cigar-ecigarettes-20181217.html
By Aneri Pattani
Allison Herens, with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, said she started carrying Narcan when she was hired to be the city’s first harm-reduction coordinator. She attended a training on how to use it, then picked it up from a pharmacy. The next day, while riding SEPTA, she said she saw a man overdosing and administered the Narcan, saving his life.
“What most people don’t know about that story is I only actually had the medication because I went to a second pharmacy the day I went to get it,” said Herens. “The first pharmacy not only gave me pushback about using my insurance, but didn’t have it in stock.”
https://whyy.org/articles/we-want-to-have-the-naloxone-ready-philly-pennsylvania-hand-out-free-kits/
By Nina Feldman
In Philadelphia and in Delaware County and across the state public health workers are busy getting Naloxone into people’s hands for free.
The medication can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose if given in time.
Meg Carter of the Philadelphia Health Department said, “The more people that carry Naloxone and understand what it does and why it is important and can help.”
https://6abc.com/free-narcan-available-starting-thursday-in-the-delaware-valley/4893106/
By John Rawlins
Meg Carter has this to say about why she believes it changes and saves lives.
“If a person’s overdosing, you don’t know what part of their journey they’re in. So they may not be ready for treatment yet but maybe tomorrow they will be. So if you are saving a person’s life and tomorrow they are ready to enter treatment, any life saved is a life saved,” Carter says.
By staff
At the Walgreens in the shadow of the SEPTA El stop at Kensington and Allegheny Avenues, the city Health Department’s harm reduction coordinator, Allison Herens, recalled the day after she decided to start carrying Naloxone, she was put to the test.
While taking SEPTA, she saw a man across the platform was overdosing.
“Using training I had literally just gotten, and the Naloxone in my bag, I was able to save his life,” she explained.
By Steve Tawa
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 