Tag: public health

Close to Home Report

Release

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health and Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University released the first report to detail health measures at the neighborhood level in Philadelphia. While other reports show health indicators for cities and counties across the nation, Close to Home: The Health of Philadelphia’s Neighborhoods is the first project to do something similar for Philadelphia’s 46 neighborhoods. The report shows that while national ranking reports find Philadelphia lagging other large cities in health, these poor health indicators are not evenly found within Philadelphia. Just a few miles in the city can change a person’s life expectancy by nearly twenty years. The report can be found on the Health Department’s website, and in a specially designed website.

https://mailchi.mp/phila.gov/health-department-releases-first-ever-report-on-the-health-of-philadelphias-46-neighborhoods

WHYY

The big takeaway: Residents in low-income zip codes aren’t as healthy as residents of wealthier ones. They don’t live as long and have higher rates of diabetes, cancer, and asthma.

“It’s pretty dramatic,” said Raynard Washington, chief epidemiologist with Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health, which authored the study with help from researchers at Drexel University.

https://whyy.org/articles/philly-health-gap-varies-by-neighborhood-health-department-finds/

By Aaron Moselle

CBS3

“The Close to Home report puts into stark relief something that we’ve known for a while: there are too many neighborhoods in Philadelphia that make good health difficult to achieve,” Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said.

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/08/02/philadelphia-health-department-releases-first-of-its-kind-report-on-health-of-city-neighborhoods/

By Staff

PhillyVoice

These facts spurred the Philadelphia Department of Health and Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University to compile a report — the first ever — to outline the health of Philadelphia on the neighborhood level, dubbed “Close to Home: The Health of Philadelphia’s Neighborhoods.” These findings provide key insights into community health and serve as a helpful tool in monitoring and improving health.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-health-department-neighborhood-ranking/

By Bailey King

KYW

Philadelphia’s health significantly lags behind other major cities, according to its Close to Home report, which evaluated each of city’s 46 neighborhoods.

“Neighborhoods in Center City of course were at the top of the list, and then other neighborhoods in areas like Kensington and parts of North Philly like Nicetown and Tioga, outcomes were not as good,” explained Dr. Raynard Washington with Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health.

https://kywnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/report-your-health-varies-depending-where-you-live-philadelphia

By Justin Udo

Technically Philly

Washington said a large portion of time was dedicated to drawing neighborhood boundaries in order to evaluate the data.

“A lot of this was really the recognition that people think [of Philadelphia] in terms of neighborhoods,” Washington said. “So having our health reporting be able to align with neighborhoods makes sense.”

https://technical.ly/philly/2019/08/05/drexel-department-public-health-interactive-report-philadelphia-neighborhoods/

By Michaela Althouse

Brotherly Love Report

Release

PHILADELPHIA–The City of Philadelphia has issued a brand-new report, Brotherly Love: Health of Black Men and Boys in Philadelphia. This first-ever report is intended to highlight the unique challenges faced by Black men in Philadelphia today and lay the groundwork for actionable steps we all can take to improve their health outcomes.

https://mailchi.mp/phila.gov/press-release-health-department-and-office-of-black-male-engagement-announce-first-ever-report-on-health-of-black-men-and-boys-in-philadelphia

WHYY

The full report, Brotherly Love: Health of Black Men and Boys in Philadelphia, is available for download. City epidemiologist Raynard Washington said the statistics are meant to serve as a kind of blueprint to direct resources.

“Black men represent 20 percent of the population in Philadelphia — that’s a large proportion, a large share of the population,” Washington said. “So really thinking about how do we ensure that there is a complete wraparound [of] both services as well as supports and opportunity for them is important.”

https://whyy.org/articles/new-report-grades-the-health-of-black-males-in-philadelphia/

By Jad Sleiman

Inquirer

“The first step to solving any problem is drawing attention to it,” said Thomas Farley, city health commissioner. “The Brotherly Love report shows that, while Philadelphia has many initiatives to promote health, African American men are still not as healthy as other demographic groups and not as healthy as they could be.”

https://www.philly.com/health/black-men-life-expectancy-philly-20190314.html

By Rita Giordano

Philly Voice

A new report released Thursday by Philadelphia health officials shines a direct spotlight on the challenges faced by the city’s black men and boys.

The inaugural report, dubbed “Brotherly Love: Health of Black Men and Boys in Philadelphia,” revealed a mixture of positive and negative health findings.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/life-expectancy-philly-black-men-racial-demographic-health-challenges/

By Jon Kopp

Philly Tribune

“Black men and boys have been experiencing disparate health outcomes for quite some time and in many areas we are seeing some improvements, “ said Dr. Raynard Washington, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s chief epidemiologist.

“In some ways, things are improving for Black men and boys, but there is still a gap between their health outcomes and others.”

 

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said in a news release, “The first step to solving any problem is drawing attention to it.

https://www.phillytrib.com/news/health/report-life-expectancy-for-black-men-is-lower-than-any/article_c99d33c3-a53b-5006-975d-d6e6ec7bce99.html

By Ayana Jones

Philadelphia Sun

The City of Philadelphia has issued a brand-new report, “Brotherly Love: Health of Black Men and Boys in Philadelphia.” This first-ever report is intended to highlight the unique challenges faced by Black men in Philadelphia today and lay the groundwork for actionable steps we all can take to improve their health outcomes.

https://www.philasun.com/health/philadelphia-issues-first-ever-report-on-the-health-outcomes-of-black-men-and-boys/

Community Health Needs Assessments

Raynard Washington, chief epidemiologist at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, which leads the collaborative, said only a handful of communities across the country have taken such an approach, but the most obvious benefit is the reduction of duplicate efforts, costs and other burdens for those involved, including the communities.

“In most cases, health systems do not serve communities in isolation. As such, developing priorities and strategies to address community needs should not occur in isolation,” he said. “Our hope is that a collaborative assessment of priorities for improving the health and well-being of communities will result in further collaboration on implementing strategies to address those priorities.”

https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/news/20190308/hospitals-team-up-seek-input-on-communities-health-needs

By Jenny Wagner

Alleged South Philly Rapist

NBC10 1

The city’s health department also would not comment on Williams’ status, but said in a statement that “all the victims who have come forward are being offered the appropriate counseling and medical care.”

“We urge anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault to seek the proper medical care,” a spokesman for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health said in an emailed statement.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/HIV-South-Philadelphia-Sexual-Assault-Rape-Suspect-Safien-Williams-City-Worker-506515821.html

By Alicia Lozano

NBC10 2

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health did not comment on the Williams case, but said in a statement that “all the victims who have come forward are being offered the appropriate counseling and medical care.”

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Philadelphia-Mayor-Jim-Kenney-Confirms-South-Philadelphia-Serial-Rape-Suspect-Safien-Williams-Has-HIV-506550111.html

By Alicia Lozano

Health of the City Media Coverage

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.”

http://www.philly.com/health/opioid-overdose-health-of-the-city-poverty-racial-disparities-philadelphia-20190104.html

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.

http://aldianews.com/articles/politics/state-and-local/philadelphia-life-expectancy-declines-due-opioid-crisis-violence

By David Maas

2018 Health of the City Report Issued

Today, Philadelphia Department of Public Health released the second Health of the City annual report, which describes the landscape of health for Philadelphia residents. Many health indicators are improving, but some indicators – particularly those related to opioid use and unhealthy behaviors – are troubling. Among the grimmest findings was that drug overdoses and homicides have caused a decline in life expectancy in Philadelphia. The latest data on teen health has good news though: cigarette use, drinking, sweetened beverage use, teen birth rates, and new cases of sexually-transmitted diseases have all continued to drop.

https://mailchi.mp/phila.gov/health-department-releases-2018-health-of-the-city-report

Philadelphia’s Public Health Lab


Philadelphia has had a public health lab since 1894, when the City created the Division of Pathology, Bacteriology, and Disinfection, working right in City Hall.  In those early days of the new science of bacteriology, the lab focused on two main killers of the day, diphtheria and tuberculosis, and it produced antitoxin for diphtheria.  Ever since then, our lab has been providing crucial information to public health staff on what invading species are circulating in the city and how we can keep them at bay.

https://www.phila.gov/2018-11-16-philadelphias-public-health-lab-heroes-protecting-the-publics-health/

Access to Care Report

Press Release

PHILADELPHIA — This morning, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, with the support of the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, released a report on the state of primary medical care in Philadelphia, Staying Healthy: Access to Primary Care in Philadelphia. This report found that while the total number of primary care providers in the city continues to rise, some neighborhoods–the Northeast and Southwest Philadelphia–have a significantly lower supply of primary care providers than other parts of the city.

https://mailchi.mp/phila.gov/new-health-department-report-shows-lack-of-access-to-primary-care-providers-plaguing-some-neighborhoods

KYW

In a city with more than 30 hospitals and five medical schools, it might seem that proximity to basic health care would not be a problem.

But the new report finds that parts of the Northeast and Southwest are officially “primary care shortage areas,” with one provider for every 3,500 people, far below the citywide average of one per 1,200 people.

https://kywnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/philadelphia-health-department-report-shows-problem-citys-health-care-system

By Pat Loeb

Inquirer

Currently, there is a six-month wait for a doctor’s appointment, said Joan Bland, the clinic’s director and a nurse. For a walk-in, there is at least a half-hour wait to see a health-care provider, she said. The clinic is adding patient exam rooms in the basement, and has hired more nurse-practitioners to help with the patient load.

The clinic is in an area rich with diversity. There are 12 interpreters on staff for patients who speak Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Hindi, and Urdu, among other languages. Six staff members, who all speak at least two languages, help patients set up insurance, Bland said.

http://www2.philly.com/philly/health/philadelphia-health-primary-health-care-desert-20181023.html

By Mari Schaefer

WHYY

If the place had the feeling of bursting at the seams, it’s because it is – Health Center 10 is by far the busiest of the eight primary care health centers run by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. It sees 67,000 patient visits a year, and new patients add their names to a long waiting list for appointments. City clinics treat patients regardless of insurance status — making them the only option for many families. On Tuesday, the sound of a construction crew hammering away in the basement reverberated through the building – an effort to expand the number of exam rooms spaces.

https://whyy.org/articles/health-care-by-zip-code-some-philly-neighborhoods-are-primary-care-deserts/

By Nina Feldman

Philly Tribune

The study released on Tuesday by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health indicates that while the total number of primary care providers in the city continues to rise, some neighborhoods — the Northeast and Southwest Philadelphia — have a significantly lower supply of primary care providers than other parts of the city.

This shortage means that these areas, commonly low-income and with high proportions of racial and ethnic minorities, are forced to wait longer to see their primary care providers for routine appointments. For residents who utilize Medicaid as their health insurance, this report finds that many providers who accept Medicaid as insurance nonetheless do not make appointments available for Medicaid patients.

http://www.phillytrib.com/report-finds-that-some-neighborhoods-lack-access-to-primary-care/article_71528c1a-a172-57e2-879e-fb7ed7fe258d.html

By staff