Hello fellow health news aficionados! Welcome to the Community Health Roundup, a place where you can have your news and read it too. This week, I am bringing you the choicest articles from around the internet including articles on the backlash over blood pressure guidelines, how economic inequality is tied to health inequality, an article about cancer disparities in Philadelphia, and a special shout out to one hard working clinic in Oregon.
You may have heard the news that the ACC/AHA recently changed the blood pressure guidelines (if you hadn’t, well, the ACC/AHA changed the blood pressure guidelines). This move is seen as controversial by many, including the American Academy of Family Physicians who recently wrote a defense of their position against the new guidelines. Read the AAFP’s response to the new guidelines here.
CityLab recently ran an eye opening article examining the link between economic inequality and health inequality. Not much else to say in this preview other than I strongly recommend reading this article.
Have you heard of the zip-code gap? It’s based on the impact on life that living within a zip-code can have and how one zip-code hes residents with more longevity then those in a neighboring zip-code. This zip-code gap can be seen in Philadelphia and Dr. Karen E. Knudson is working on trying to close it. Read about Dr. Knudsen’s plan to close the zip-code gap here.
To close out this installment of Community Health Roundup, I wanted to highlight a clinic here in the Portland, OR metro-area that is doing extraordinary work and was recently honored for it by the Oregonian. Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center is a fantastic organization who’s patient population is 63% Medicaid and over half the visits are in a language other than English. Virginia Garcia does more than just provide in-office health care though, they also help recent immigrants understand health policy, provide them literature on health care and health policy, and with the Transitions of Care program, make house visits. To learn more about Virginia Garcia, read the Oregonian’s recent profile here and also head over to Virginia Garcia’s website.
About the Author
William Jacob Amadeus Pinnock is a Research Coordinator at OCHIN where he assists with the creation, execution, and dissemination of research projects. He graduated with an MS in Communication from Portland State University where he focused on health communication, rural mass media, and qualitative research methods. He has experience working in commercial health insurance, healthcare research, and radio broadcasting. In his spare time, he is an Adjunct Instructor at Portland State University helping students master the art of public speaking.
