What happens when a Communications major spends a lot of time reading health news? Why, another Community Health Round up is created! And this week, this Communications major read so many wonderful articles that it was difficult to choose the ones I did, but I think you are going to really like what I picked. We’ve got an opinion piece from the New Yorker on opioids, a how-to on using the ACA Marketplace, a town in New Jersey who is combating social determinants of health, and we conclude with a video on raising awareness for Diabetes Awareness Month.
The New Yorker ran a marvelous piece this week by Jerome Groopman calling for doctors and society to stop stigmatizing those who suffer from opioid addiction, and instead, focus our efforts on helping them overcome their addiction. “‘At some point, it became culturally acceptable to treat all conditions in a patient except addiction”, Alison Rapoport and Christopher Rowley write. “It’s a diagnosis still frequently and falsely regarded as untreatable – a convenient assumption driven by the stigma against people with this disease.'” Read more here.
I said it last week and I will say it again, open enrollment is here! That time of year the healthcare exchanges open their internet doors and we decide what our coverage will be for the next year. Now, if you are feeling overwhelmed or if you want a refresher on how to enroll, NPR has you covered. Read their how-to shop for a guide plan here.
The website this next article comes from is called New Jersey Spotlight and the story definitely deserves a bright shining light on it (in a good way). Virtua, a health network company, saw a problem in Camden: some children were going hungry both at school and at home leading to behavioral health issues. In response, Virtua partnered with a local food bank to offer “supper snack packs the kids could take home after school.” The results: immediate improvement in the children’s behavior. And it’s not only in Camden, this program is spreading throughout New Jersey and it, along with other initiatives, have brought more attention to the impact of social determinants of health on communities in the state. Read more about how Virtua and New Jersey are addressing food imbalances and social determinants of health here.
Now, I know you’ve been reading a lot, so I thought for the last link I would have you rest your eyes from text and provide you with a video. This video from MSN is spreading the word about Diabetes Awareness Month (did you know it was Diabetes Awareness Month?) by bringing in Dr. Glenn Pomerantz of Blue Cross Minnesota and RN Jenny Harstad to talk about diabetes and Nurse Harstad’s experience with the disease. Watch the video here.
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.
