A wetter than normal spring produced a lot of mosquito larvae, which are now taking wing to feed on us.

The real health risks are diseases carried by mosquitoes. According to Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen, some of these include encephalitis that causes severe brain infections, dengue fever, West Nile that can cause many severe effects, including severe bleeding, and even liver, kidney and total body failure and death.

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Staff in subacute care at the Keswick Multi-Care Center weren’t sure if an older woman was going to recover after she was sent to them from a local hospital.

Two years later, that same woman was able to move from long-term care into her own apartment. After another year, she is now a regular visiting Keswick Community Health programs every day, taking classes, making art and even participating in a walking club.

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In their editorial, Dr. Wen and Dr. Shelly Choo focus on the collaboration between the Health Department and the City’s 12 emergency departments to fight the opioid crisis, and highlights specific programs created to facilitate opioid addiction interventions from the ED, including discharging patients with naloxone, connecting patients to peer recovery coaches, and providing access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) from the ED. 

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Baltimore now has a scoring system in place for highlighting the hospitals best equipped to serve people addicted to pain medication.