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City Agency Partnership Leads to Successful Crackdowns on Illegal Cigarette Sales

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:14:31 -0400

Thanks to a new partnership between the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) and NYC Department of Finance made possible by the NYC Community Transformation Grant, NYC is cracking down on the sale of cigarettes that have been illegally trafficked into NYC to evade NYC’s high cigarette prices. For example, a pack of cigarettes purchased for about $4 in Virginia can be trafficked to NYC and sold for $8—much less than a pack of cigarettes subject to taxes—providing substantial profits and still undercutting legitimate retailers. Using data provided by a number of City and State agencies, including NYC Departments of Finance, Consumer Affairs and City Planning, New York City Housing Authority, New York Police Department, and New York State Departments of Taxation and Finance and Liquor Authority, a map was developed to show the factors related to illegal cigarette sales. With these mapped data, law enforcement officials can better curb the sale of trafficked cigarettes and remove the product from the stores and communities targeted by illegal cigarette traffickers. NYC DOHMH recently went out into the field with enforcement officers from the NYC Sherriff’s office to see how it is done. The result of one successful inspection—and the officers who made it—are shown above. The officers identified a secret drawer, known as a “trap,” under a corner store’s coffee making area. Such traps are common in stores where illegal cigarettes are sold.

Above: Traps, or secret hiding places where illegal cigarettes can be stashed, are common in some corner stores in NYC. Identifying them is one of the goals of the Community Transormation Grant anti-illegal tobacco collaboration. Department of Finance Officers who helped make the inspection are pictured with Sheriff Edgar Domenech, who heads up the collaboration.

NYC GOV: Mayor Bloomberg Opens All of the City's Beaches After Extensive Post Sandy Restoration Work

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:55:47 -0400

NYC GOV: Mayor Bloomberg Opens All of the City's Beaches After Extensive Post Sandy Restoration Work:

nycgov:

Today Mayor Bloomberg and NYC Parks Commissioner Veronica White opened all 14 miles of NYC beaches for the 2013 season. The 8 public beaches: Coney Island/Brighton, Manhattan, Rockaway, Orchard, Midland, Wolfe’s Pond, Cedar Grove, South Beaches- were all badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy and…

Ten Hospitals Learn About Ten Steps and Other Ways to Support Breastfeeding

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:55 -0400

With funding from the NYC Community Transformation Grant, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is helping hospitals support and promote breastfeeding through the NYC Breastfeeding Hospital Collaborative (NYC BHC). Breastfeeding exclusively for at least the first six months of life helps supports a baby’s health and reduces their risk of diabetes and respiratory and ear infections. NYC BHC held its first one and a half day learning session in September 2012, where over 50 staff from 10 hospitals came together to learn from experts about ways to improve hospital policy and practices to support breastfeeding by using the World Health Organization’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding as a guide. Attendees left the meeting with an action plan to guide their work, with a specific focus on ways to train staff, educate mothers, improve hospital policy, and strengthen data collection and analysis.

Bronx Organization Shows Bodega Owners are Responsive to Customers

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:20:00 -0400

In many NYC communities, residents have little access to healthy food. Many residents end up turning to small corner stores to meet their shopping needs; but these stores do not always carry a variety of healthy options. The Partnership for a Healthier Bronx at Institute for Family Health, in partnership with NYC DOHMH’s Shop Healthy NYC, is addressing this issue with their Adopt a Shop initiative—a project that works with store owners and food distributors to increase their healthy food options. With NYC Community Transformation Grant funds, the Institute for Family Health partnered with Cornell University Cooperative Extension, PS 218, Sheridan Academy in the Bronx, and food distributors and suppliers to evaluate the impact of an Adopt a Shop workshop. Results of the evaluation show that there is a strong willingness on the bodega owners’ part to make changes, if requested by the community, including displaying signage promoting fruit and other healthy food items, stocking dried fruit, and advertising healthy sandwich specials. As Adopt a Shop increases its reach, even more stores and residents will continue to benefit from healthier food options.

ceonyc: Bike to work day!! #bikenyc

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:21:33 -0400

ceonyc:

Bike to work day!! #bikenyc

Seven NYC Hospitals Make Strides in Tobacco-Free Hospitals Campaign

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:08:11 -0400

New York City’s 62 hospitals open their doors to millions of patients, visitors, and staff every year, many of whom are current smokers trying to quit. NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (NYC DOHMH) Tobacco-Free Hospitals Campaign is supported by the NYC Community Transformation Grant and works with hospitals to help them update their employee and patient tobacco policies and practices, making it easier for smokers and recent quitters to quit or stay quit. The Campaign, which began in 2011, supports hospitals in adopting tobacco-free campus policies, which help smokers who are trying to quit and decreases non-smokers’ exposure to second-hand smoke; provides resources for hospitals to evaluate their cessation programs; and encourages them to provide services, such as counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, and other medications, to all employees and patients who want to quit smoking.

Seven of the 15 hospitals that participate in NYC DOHMH’s Tobacco-Free Hospitals Campaign have achieved Bronze Star Status—the first of three levels of recognition for demonstrating best practices—for creating or improving tobacco-free campus policies and offering more robust employee cessation programs.

http://www.nyctobaccofreehospitals.org/

Training Helps Providers Screen More Patients for Substance Misuse

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:42:03 -0400

Excessive and underage drinking is responsible for many health and social problems. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH), with funding from the NYC Community Transformation Grant, is addressing this challenge by working with health care providers to screen for substance misuse using the Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol. Beyond screening, SBIRT includes intervention and referral strategies that take into account the severity of the misuse and the readiness of the patient to reduce or eliminate harmful use. So far, over 100 health care providers at three of the six sites NYC DOHMH is working with have received training on how to utilize SBIRT in their practices. In addition, these three sites, Choices Women’s Medical Center, the Institute for Family Health, and Care for the Homeless, have begun to integrate SBIRT into their practice and electronic health records. Over 260,000 patients are seen each year by the staff at trained clinics. NYC DOHMH is working with another three sites to train their providers, over 100 of them, and facilitate integration of SBIRT into their practices.

Data Help Bronx Doctor Keep Practice Patient-Centered

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:51:27 -0400

Dr. Maselli (above right) knows electronic health data can play an important role in improving health care delivery and access. His Bronx, New York practice, which includes his partner and six other practitioners, has been using an electronic health records system (EHR) to track patient records for over a decade. His practice also uses a patient portal that enables over 10,000 patients to directly and securely access information, including lab results, referrals, and notes, from their personal medical records. However, Dr. Maselli knows that electronic data are most useful when they support, rather than replace, in-person patient–doctor discussions.

Dr. Maselli’s practice participates in NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Primary Care Information Project (PCIP), which seeks to improve population health and the quality of primary care through health IT and data exchange. With NYC Community Transformation Grant funds, PCIP is expanding the delivery of quality dashboards—one-page emailed reports that tell providers how they are doing on sixteen quality measures compared to other providers. The dashboard displays a red dot if the provider is below average on a key indicator and a green one if the provider is doing as well as or better than other providers. Indicators include alcohol use, blood pressure, and cholesterol. A separate but complementary system alerts doctors during a patient’s visit and prompts them to address important health issues related to quality measures on the dashboard, such as offering smoking cessation advice when appropriate. “We went from some red scores that could be easily addressed either by a physician or assistant attending to alerts provided in the system to almost entirely green scores,” he says. The system has enabled him to efficiently improve the quality of care delivered by his practice without compromising face-to-face time between patient and provider.

Health Department Warns Patrons of A West Village Restaurant Of Possible Exposure To Hepatitis A From March 23 To April 2

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:05:19 -0400

If you, or somebody you know, ate DESSERT at Alta restaurant (64 West 10th Street in Manhattan) between March 23rd and April 2nd, the Health Department is recommending that you get vaccinated for hepatitis A, due to the possibility of exposure. The vaccine will act as a preventative measure. There are currently no known cases of hepatitis A from eating at Alta.

Read the press release:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2013/pr009-13.shtml

Learn more:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/living/cd-hepatitisa.shtml

Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/cd/hepatitis-a-faq.pdf

Health Department Launches Ad Campaign Encouraging Consumers to Purchase Lower Sodium Packaged Foods

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:46:00 -0400

Nearly 90 percent of Americans consume too much sodium, much of which comes from packaged foods

The Health Department has launched a new ad campaign encouraging consumers to compare nutrition labels and choose products with less sodium. The ads, running in subway cars, highlight the large range of sodium in packaged foods and encourage consumers to “Compare Labels. Choose Less Sodium.” The ads will run through the month of April.

“Most of the salt in our diets comes from packaged food – food that may not even taste salty, such as bread,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley. “While we encourage companies to voluntarily reduce sodium in the nation’s food supply, there are steps every shopper can take now. Use labels to choose products with less sodium, a choice that could help reduce your blood pressure and decrease your risk of heart attack and stroke.”

Consumers can obtain more information on how to reduce their salt intake by calling 311 for a copy of the “Choose Less Sodium” Health Bulletin. The Health Bulletin outlines ways to cut the salt when shopping for food, eating at home, or eating out, such as:

Choose fresh foods, which usually have less salt than packaged foods
Check the label when buying raw meat since it often has added salt
Cut down on salt gradually so you will be less likely to notice a difference in taste
Be aware that some seasonings like adobo, garlic salt and lemon pepper contain salt
Request that your meals be prepared without added salt at restaurants

NYC GOV: New Data Released Highlighting Relationship Between Sugary Drinks and Obesity

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:27:15 -0400

NYC GOV: New Data Released Highlighting Relationship Between Sugary Drinks and Obesity:

nycgov:

Today, Mayor Bloomberg released new data showing the strong correlation between sugary drink consumption and obesity. The data from the New York City Community Health Survey showed that 9 of the top 10 neighborhoods with the highest obesity rates were also the highest in sugar drink…

Health Department Kicks Off 8th Nicotine Patch and Gum Program

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:57:40 -0500

The Health Department began its nicotine patch and gum program to help New Yorkers quit smoking this week. The program, in partnership with the New York State Smokers’ Quitline, will run through Thursday March 21st. Now in its eighth year, the hard-hitting-media-driven nicotine patch and gum program has helped more than 350,000 New Yorkers in their efforts to quit smoking. In conjunction with the launch of the program, two of the most memorable ads will run on air, online and in print. These ads, entitled “Separation” and “Cigarettes are Eating You Alive,” show smoking’s devastating health consequences as well as the impact it has on the families who lose smokers to illness.

Watch one of our ads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12pDrt3yI5w

Learn more: https://a816-nycquits.nyc.gov/pages/homepage.aspx

Join NYC Quits on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nycquits?ref=hl

The Health Department today launched a new ad campaign to...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:26:00 -0500

The Health Department today launched a new ad campaign to promote oral health for young children. Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease and dental problem in America yet it is largely preventable. In New York City, more than one out of three third grade children have untreated tooth decay and 55% of third graders have had a cavity. Untreated tooth decay can cause pain, infection, difficulty eating and speaking, and reduced self-esteem due to appearance. This new campaign educates the public of the risk factors for tooth decay and gives parents and caregivers of young children tips to help prevent tooth decay.

“Good oral health habits start at a young age,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley. “We often don’t realize that some of the most common everyday behaviors, such as putting a baby to sleep with a bottle or using our mouth to wash off a pacifier can be contributing to a child’s tooth decay.”

Nationally, more than 51 million hours of school were missed annually by children due to an oral problem or a visit to the dentist beyond regularly recommended checkups. Home prevention can play a critical role in the health of a child as there is a low utilization of dental care especially among very young children. The recommendation for children is to visit the dentist when the first tooth comes in and no later than 12 months of age and then at least twice a year through adolescence. By launching this educational campaign, caregivers are receiving important information to keep their children healthy.

The Health Department advises parents and caregivers of young children to take the following steps to prevent tooth decay in young children:

Don’t use a bottle as a pacifier
Don’t put your baby to sleep with a bottle
Avoid putting sugary drinks in bottles
Don’t share utensils or bites of food with your baby
Do use water, not your mouth, to clean off a pacifier
Do take care of your own teeth to reduce germs in your mouth
Do brushyour child’s teeth twice a day as soon as the first tooth comes in
Do brush with fluoridated toothpaste for children ages 2 and older
Do assist and supervise children until they can brush on their own
Do help your child drink from a regular cup by age one

“This campaign is about giving parents and caregivers of young children the information they need to make healthy decisions,” said Amanda Parsons, Deputy Commissioner, New York City Health Department. “These are preventive measures that can be taken at home to help keep young children cavity-free.”

The ads will run in subways through the end of April.

For more information on children’s oral health, call 311 or search for “teeth” on NYC.gov.

Saturday, February 16th from 11am-4pm “Keeping the Love Promise:...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:02:43 -0500

Saturday, February 16^th from 11am-4pm

“Keeping the Love Promise: Test with your Partner Today” - Free HIV Testing at various locations across Brooklyn

On the heels of Valentine’s Day and National Condom Day (2/14), community partners of the Brooklyn Knows HIV Testing Initiative are conducting free HIV testing at various locations across Brooklyn. A special effort is being placed on encouraging couples to get tested together. From 11am – 4pm, HIV testing will be available at mobile units located at the following intersections and at the clinic location below:

· Flatbush Avenue and Tilden Avenue

· Hanson Place and Ashland Place (near Atlantic Terminal)

· Pitkin Avenue and Rockaway Avenue

· Brookdale University Hospital Clinic at Flatbush Avenue and Cortelyou Road

"Keeping the Love Promise" Testing Day Event to Be Rescheduled

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:20:52 -0500

The Brooklyn Knows Partners “Keeping the Love Promise” HIV Testing Day event has been canceled due to the winter storm expected to arrive in New York City Friday evening. We express our apologies for any inconvience this may have caused and please stay tuned for informaiton regarding rescheduling of the event.

Dr. Thomas Farley, NYC Health Commissioner, recommends that all...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:56:15 -0500

Dr. Thomas Farley, NYC Health Commissioner, recommends that all New Yorkers who have not yet received their flu vaccination do so to prevent contracting the influenza virus. Flu vaccinations are available at a number of locations throughout NYC. For more information on flu vaccination locations call 311 or use our flu clinic locator: http://on.nyc.gov/OuI1LB

NYC GOV: Share Your New Year Resolution to Enter the #NYCResolves Twitter Contest

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:43:28 -0500

NYC GOV: Share Your New Year Resolution to Enter the #NYCResolves Twitter Contest:

nycgov:

Whether your 2013 resolution is to eat healthier, support local small businesses, take the ferry to work, or run more in Central Park, share it with the hashtag #NYCResolves. The City of New York is hosting the #NYCResolves Twitter contest starting Wednesday, January 2, 2013 to …

Today NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Tom Farley and Mayor Mike...

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:49:43 -0400

Today NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Tom Farley and Mayor Mike Bloomberg visited a lower Manhattan Duane Reade pharmacy to receive their annual flu shots. Both the Mayor and Commissioner urged all New Yorkers to get their flu vaccinations.

Influenza or the flu is a common and highly contagious upper respiratory infection and is the third leading cause of death in New York City. Flu season usually begins in the winter months, peaking from January to March. The BEST way to protect yourself against the flu is to receive the flu vaccination. For more information about the flu and locations on where you can receive the vaccination visit our website.

NYC Health has found that New York City childhood lead poisoning...

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:35:45 -0400

NYC Health has found that New York City childhood lead poisoning cases have dropped 17% from 2010 to 2011 and the number of childhood lead poisonings have declined 56% since 2005.

While there have been dramatic declines in the number of childhood lead poisoning cases in NYC, lead poisoning still poses a potential health risk for young children living in older, poorly maintained housing. Peeling lead paint is the primary cause of lead poisonings amongst NYC children.

October 21-27, 2012 is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. NYC Health reminds you of 5 simple ways to protect your children from lead poisoning:

Report peeling paint to your building owner, if your building owner doesn’t fit it, call 311;
Remind your doctor to test your children for lead poisoning at ages 1 and 2, ask about testing older children;
Wash floors, window sills, hands, toys and pacifiers often;
Don’t use imported products known to contain lead- such as foods, spices, medicines, herbal health products, clay pots and dishes, cosmetics and toys
Use only cold tap water to make baby formula for drinking and cooking- run the water for a few minutes first.

Visit www.nyc.gov/lead for more information.

There’s nothing better than farm fresh autumn apples,...

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:29:00 -0400

There’s nothing better than farm fresh autumn apples, pumpkins, & squash! What’s even better is that you can find all this and more at a NYC Farmers’ Market.

In addition to healthy eats, if you use your EBT to purchase fruits or vegetables at the farmers’ market you can earn Health Bucks! For every $5 worth of EBT spent you will earn $2 worth of Health Buck that can be spent on fruits and vegetables.

Find a farmers’ market near you with our NYC Health: Farmers’ Market foursquare list or by using the online farmers’ market locator.