The Healthiest Cities and Counties Challenge
The Breathe Free committee has been in action over the last few months with exciting updates to share! It all started in March when Cleveland was invited and accepted to be an innovator city in the Healthiest Cities and Counties Challenge. Almost simultaneously the Department of Public Health received a small award to build capacity around tobacco point of sales strategies from NACCHO. Finally, in celebration of World No Tobacco Day, May 31s 2016, the Breathe Free Committee co-hosted an tobacco exposure and infant mortality awareness raising event at the Galleria at Erieview. Learn more here!
What can we do to #CloseHealthGaps in Cleveland?
The Cleveland Department of Public Health was one of several community partners who worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center on Society and Health on a life expectancy project. A new Greater Cleveland area life expectancy map shows that opportunities to lead a long and healthy life vary dramatically by neighborhood. If you travel less than 10 miles from Cleveland’s northeastern neighborhoods to more affluent eastern outer-ring suburbs, life expectancy can differ by as much as 12 years. The map is part of a series from the VCU Center on Society and Health and RWJF, which includes maps from several large cities in the U.S. What can we do to #CloseHealthGaps across ZIP codes? Learn more here
January to June's reports on violence surveillance data has been released
Thanks to the Cleveland Department of Public Health Epidemiology Team, we have ability to regularly track incidences of health and other reasons for admission to our local Emergency Rooms. The medium for collecting this data occurs throught a program called EpiCenter. The EpiCenter Violence Surveillance Report was just released for January through June of 2016. Read more here
How can we help alleviate violence in our communities?
Healthy Cleveland Violence Committee member, Vino Sundaram, recently presented youth violence data by neighborhood and political ward to a national audience at the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists annual national conference in Anchorage, Alaska. The poster presentation highlighted youth violence data, with additional information about childhood lead poisoning and child poverty. The poster was nominated for a Best Poster award at the conference. Information from the poster will be used to provide guidance and direction to the public health model approach as noted in the Cleveland Plan for the National Forum on Youth Violence. Findings of the poster showed that Goodrich-Kirtland Park and St. Clair- Superior neighborhoods had among the highest rates of youth violence indicators, according to 2013 data from the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. Political wards 1 and 7 have among the highest youth violence indicators. Read more here
*Vino is an epidemiologist with the Cleveland Department of Public Health. For more information, or a PDF version of the poster, please contact Vino Sundaram at vsundaram@city.cleveland.oh.us
Cleveland Department of Public Health welcomes Merle Gordon as new Director
In case you missed it-the Cleveland Department of Public Health welcomed Director Merle Gordon as the new Director of Public Health on June 13th, 2016. Read more here
Stay Active with Open Streets this Fall!
We know that exercising and spending time outside can keep us healthy, both mentally and physically. But it can sometimes feel like an unpleasant chore, especially if there are not convenient, safe, welcoming, and accessible places to be active. What if there were an opportunity right outside your door to meet new people, try new activities, and have fun while being healthy? Read more here
HCI Gaining Momentum...
On Monday, March 28th, the Healthy Cleveland Initiative presented before the Cleveland City Council Health and Human Services Committee to provide updates on the Initiative and the work it has accomplished. Read more here.
We're AMPing up our programming for seniors to encourage healthy aging.
Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging has partnered with the Cleveland Department of Aging and the National Council on Aging to launch Cleveland’s first ever Aging Mastery Program!
The Aging Mastery Program (AMP) is a nationwide program that has been offered in over 100 locations throughout the country. AMP is a free 10-week course that is offered to seniors to encourage healthy aging. In 2016, AMP will be offered to seniors throughout the city of Cleveland. Read more here.
Not the kind of ‘Spice’ you want to add to your life…
The Behavioral Health Committee of Healthy Cleveland has been delving into the scope of the K2-Spice issue in our city. K2 is a dangerous drug also known as 'spice' or 'synthetic weed'. It's typically marketed as a ‘safe’ alternative to marijuana.
It's anything but safe. Read the full article here.
Cleveland City Council Health and Human Services finds flavored tobacco restrictions in good taste...
On Monday, January 25, 2016, the Health and Human Services committee voted in favor of Ordinance 607.21, which would restrict the sales of flavored tobacco to retail tobacco outlets within Cleveland city limits.
Within our city, we see very high rates of youth flavored tobacco use. Read the full article here.
