Tag Archives: cities

Why race equity plans matter and how to report on them

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Dallas is among cities, counties and other local governments that have recently adopted race equity plans. In the 2022-2023 goals and metrics report, city officials have said they want to track their goals, which include tracking air quality in certain areas and upgrading water and sewer lines in neighborhoods that haven’t seen investment for decades. There’s a line in there about improving the health of the city’s Black and Hispanic residents, who represent more than 60% of the population of the country’s ninth-largest city and are more likely than their white peers to have preventable chronic diseases. 

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Margarita Martín-Hidalgo Birnbaum (@mbirnbaumnews) is AHCJ's Health Equity Core Topic Leader. An independent journalist who has covered health disparities. Birnbaum’s stories have been published by WebMD, American Heart Association News, and American Indian, the magazine of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Cities sue administration over ACA policy

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Photo: Marylandstater – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. en:Image:1city hall baltimore.jpg, Public Domain, Link

The latest in the Affordable Care Act legal battles: U.S. cities suing President Trump and top health officials at HHS for sabotage.

The suit, filed Aug. 2 by Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago and Columbus, plus two people from Charlottesville, Va., (which has some of the highest ACA insurance premiums in the country) accuses the administration of “intentionally and unconstitutionally” undermining the ACA, including by expanding non-ACA plans and discouraging enrollment. Continue reading →

Contributing editor to Politico Magazine and former health care editor-at-large, Politico, Commonwealth Fund journalist in residence and assistant lecturer at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Health officials talk about cities in crisis, disparities in health #AHCJ16

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Photo: Pia Christensen/AHCJHealth officials from four cities that have faced recent crises shared their perspectives on addressing health disparities during a roundtable at Health Journalism 2016. Susan Heavey, left, moderated the panel featuring Leana S. Wen, M.D., Melba R. Moore, M.S., C.P.H.A., Abdul El-Sayed, M.D., D.Phil., and Natoya Walker Minor, M.P.A.

Photo: Pia Christensen/AHCJHealth officials from four cities that have faced recent crises shared their perspectives on addressing health disparities during a session at Health Journalism 2016. Susan Heavey, left, moderated the panel featuring Leana S. Wen, M.D., Melba R. Moore, M.S., C.P.H.A., Abdul El-Sayed, M.D., D.Phil., and Natoya Walker Minor, M.P.A.

Health Journalism 2016 kicked off a powerful lineup of panels with a roundtable on covering the health angles of cities facing crises. Susan Heavey, who is AHCJ’s topic leader on social determinants and a reporter at Reuters, led the discussion featuring Leana Wen, M.D., health commissioner in Baltimore; Melba Moore, M.S., acting director of health/commissioner of health, City of St. Louis, Abdul El-Sayed, M.D., the executive director and health officer of the Detroit Health Department and Natoya Walker Minor, the acting director of the Cleveland Department of  Public Health.

All the panelists work in what they called “legacy cities,” older urban cities that have been under siege with issues that have kept them in the headlines. Continue reading →

Andrea King Collier (@andreacollier) is an independent journalist in Lansing, Mich. She attended Health Journalism 2016 on an AHCJ-Ethnic Media Health Journalism Fellowship, which is supported by the Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

#AHCJ16 roundtable to discuss the landscape of urban health challenges

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Cleveland March # 49 via photopin (license)#AHCJ16 in Cleveland includes a key discussion with the top health leaders from Cleveland, Baltimore and St. Louis on cities’ health challenges, one of several sessions looking at health disparities.

Cleveland March # 49 via photopin (license)#AHCJ16 in Cleveland includes a key discussion with the top health leaders from Cleveland, Baltimore and St. Louis on cities’ health challenges, one of several sessions looking at health disparities.

There’s no shortage of good panels at this week’s Health Journalism 2016 in Cleveland, especially for reporters interested in social factors that impact health. I’m particularly excited about an opening day roundtable discussion with top health officials from Baltimore, St. Louis and Cleveland that will focus on urban health challenges.

Before you join us at “Covering the health angles of cities facing crisis,” which runs from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, here’s a quick look at recent coverage of some of the major health issues in each city: Continue reading →

Susan Heavey, (@susanheavey) a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, is AHCJ’s topic leader on social determinants of health and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on resources and tip sheets at determinants@healthjournalism.org.

What to know when reporting about age-friendly cities 

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Photo: Jennie-o via Flickr

Photo: Jennie-o via Flickr

You may be familiar with the term “age friendly city,” but do you know what goes into being one?

It’s a concept we’ll likely be hearing more about as the worldwide older population is poised to surpass those under age 65 by mid-century. As people around the globe age, cities and communities face some major challenges – from providing elder-friendly public transportation to venues that welcome older adults to “walkable” neighborhoods that enable their inclusion in community life. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.