Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said trying to give people better access to primary care is still essential.
“It is too early to determine the impact [of urgent care] on Philadelphia’s health system or the health of residents,” Farley said, “but they are not a substitute for an ongoing relationship with a strong primary care provider.”
By Michaela Winberg
Now, that is changing. After years of preparation, city officials will soon release the first report quantifying the street-level pollution in each and every Philadelphia neighborhood. The report is scheduled for public release later this winter or in early spring.
“People want to know what the air quality is like in their neighborhood; that’s a very reasonable request. Up until now, we have not been able to tell them that,” said Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley.
By Catalina Jaramillo
But James Garrow, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Health Department, says the city has had the EPA data for months and compared it to its own data from a monitor in Point Breeze.
He says the city doesn’t concur with the group’s dire warnings.
“Yes, there was benzene in the air found in the study, but we never felt that it was a threat to human health there in South Philly,” Garrow said.
By Mark Abrams
“This is rising,” Health Department spokesperson Jim Garrow told Billy Penn. “We think that people are calling 911, administering naloxone and then the person is revived. Their life is saved. And they don’t want to wait for the ambulance.”
https://billypenn.com/2020/01/28/when-philly-paramedics-arrive-many-overdose-victims-have-vanished/
By Max Marin
Inquirer
Philadelphia’s Air Management Services, under the health department, operates 10 monitors around the city measuring ambient levels of air pollutants including benzene. The monitor closest to the plant, at 24th and Ritner Streets, never detected benzene amounts that would raise a public health alarm in the years prior to the fire, said James Garrow, a health department spokesman.
By Andrew Maykuth
NBC News
James Garrow, a spokesman for Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health, said in a statement that “it is a well-known fact that refineries emit benzene during operation.” He said that a city-run air monitor a half mile from where the refinery’s highest benzene emissions were recorded didn’t record excessive benzene emissions after the disaster and that any “responsible bidder” would seek out such information.
By Corbin Hiar, E&E News and Lisa Riordan Seville
WHYY
Garrow said the city did not disclose the information to the public because testing at a city air-monitoring station at 24th and Ritner streets did not show such high levels.
“Within the community, we never found levels of benzene high enough to indicate a threat to human health,” he said.
By Catalina Jaramillo
WHYY 2
James Garrow, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Public Health, told WHYY that the EPA informed the city that PES was exceeding the limit last May. According to the EPA’s rule, the action level is not an enforceable limit. But it gives refineries surpassing the limit 45 days to submit a report analysing the possible causes and establishing ways to fix them.
By Catalina Jaramillo
Environmental advocates say the air sensors pick up only some refinery emissions, and much depends upon the direction that the wind is blowing. The city’s Public Health Department is reluctant to draw conclusions based on short-term data, and says it keeps watch on emissions over the entire region.
“It’s difficult to say if it’s better or not because that term is so variable, and right now we’re tracking that type of thing over an entire year,” said James Garrow, spokesperson for the city’s Air Management Services, which regulates air emissions.
By Andrew Maykuth
The reporter found the records on a public data tool built by the health department in October, shortly after the hepatitis records were posted. Minutes after being notified by The Inquirer of the exposed records, the department deleted them. As such, “there was no risk to confidentiality,” said Jim Garrow, health department spokesperson.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/health-hepatitis-opioid-data-breach-20191220.html
By Nat Lash
City health centers do allow minors as young as 14 to consent for vaccines, said James Garrow, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. The school nurses, however, said that students have already been turned away from health centers on the “field trips.”
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-school-nurses-medical-vaccination-20191122.html
By Kristen Graham
When the site was initially rolled out in 2011, some media outlets reported it targeted the age bracket of 11 to 19 years old, which some parents felt was too young a start. The city acknowledges it can’t actually age-verify who used the service — but remains nonplussed about it.
“It’s possible that younger folks may have received the condoms,” Garrow told Billy Penn. “And honestly, we were never opposed to that happening.”
https://billypenn.com/2019/10/31/philly-gives-out-750000-free-condoms-a-year/
By Max Marin
“The Health Department and L&I are responsible for following up on complaints they receive through the 311 system, many of which — including complaints against this shopping center — are anonymous,” Garrow said. “If there are no violations found during the inspection, L&I will mark the complaint as unfounded, and the Health Department will post a clean health inspection report.”
By Meir Rinde
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 