Tag Archives: urban

Older women in New York City: Is a crisis coming?

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Photo: Ed Yourdon via Flickr

Older adults are New York City’s fastest growing population. There has been a 20 percent jump in the 65-and-over population since 2005 and the majority (60 percent) of New York’s 1.3 million older adults are women. And many of those women are struggling.

The New York City Council addressed this ongoing but, often unseen, crisis facing women as they age in a Jan. 23 hearing. Testimony by activists, experts and representatives from the NYC Department for the Aging and the Commission on Gender Equity, painted a vivid and disturbing picture of the many economic challenges facing older women in New York City. [A video of the hearing is here]. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, who writes about caregiving, dementia, access to care, nursing homes and policy in her role as AHCJ’s Health Beat Leader for Aging. Seegert helps provide context for reporting on this multidimensional issue with story posts, tip sheets, analysis, data and one-on-one interviews with aging experts.

Covering urban health through data and history

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Photo: Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Cities provide unique views on the concentrated nature of how policies play out in the everyday lives of their citizens. Attendees at AHCJ’s Urban Health Journalism Workshop in October were treated to an overview of the Big Apple’s public health initiatives and efforts to address disparities, as part of the workshop’s opening session. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, who writes about caregiving, dementia, access to care, nursing homes and policy in her role as AHCJ’s Health Beat Leader for Aging. Seegert helps provide context for reporting on this multidimensional issue with story posts, tip sheets, analysis, data and one-on-one interviews with aging experts.

NYC’s first lady urges reporters to tackle mental health issues

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Photo: Liz Seegert/AHCJChirlane McCray, First Lady of New York City and founder of ThriveNYC, was the keynote speaker at the Urban Health Journalism Workshop.

Chirlane McCray is passionate about mental health. The first lady of New York City openly discusses how mental illness has affected her own family, including diseases like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, PTSD and a relative who died by suicide. She brought that passion to her Oct. 19 lunchtime keynote at AHCJ’s Urban Health Journalism Workshop.

McCray founded ThriveNYC, a broad-based mental health initiative designed to reach deep into communities throughout the five boroughs and connect people with the counseling and services they need. But first, she told the room of journalists, you have to be able to push past the stigma and talk about it. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, who writes about caregiving, dementia, access to care, nursing homes and policy in her role as AHCJ’s Health Beat Leader for Aging. Seegert helps provide context for reporting on this multidimensional issue with story posts, tip sheets, analysis, data and one-on-one interviews with aging experts.

NYC’s first lady delivers message especially for journalists

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Photo: Len Bruzzese/AHCJ

Chirlane McCray, the first lady of New York City, talked about efforts to improve mental health programs in urban areas at AHCJ’s Urban Health Journalism Workshop in New York on Oct. 19. She chatted with independent journalist Katti Gray following her keynote address. Continue reading →

Pia Christensen (@AHCJ_Pia) is the managing editor/online services for AHCJ. She manages the content and development of healthjournalism.org, coordinates AHCJ's social media efforts and edits and manages production of association guides, programs and newsletters.

October workshop will explore how urban life affects health

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Chirlane McCray

The first lady of New York will keynote AHCJ’s Urban Health Journalism Workshop in October. Chirlane McCray, the founder of comprehensive mental health plan ThriveNYC, as well as the wife of Mayor Bill de Blasio, will talk about addressing behavioral health issues in the city.

She also spearheads the Cities Thrive Coalition of mayors, with representation from more than 150 cities from all 50 states, advocating for a more integrated and better-funded behavioral health system. Continue reading →

Jeff Porter is the director of education for AHCJ and plays a lead role in planning conferences, workshops and other training events. He also leads the organization's data collection and data instruction efforts.