On Wednesday, June 21, The Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Medicine’s Civic Engagement Committee volunteered in the Douglas Homes Community Health Fair. The purpose of the fair was to educate and empower families to take actions and make good choices to be more self-sufficient. The fair connected families with community resources with health screenings for all ages,(...)
Journeys in Medicine
Journeys Forward
Posted by | AdministrationAbout two years ago our department began on a journey to chronicle thought-provoking articles, activities and innovative ideas that focused on community engagement, community health and equity. We encourage readers to look back at previous posts, as well as review a recent post from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Improving Community Health by Strengthening Community Investment: Roles(...)
Is Equity the Missing Link?
Posted by | AdministrationIn a recent Health Affairs Blog "Restoring Equity to the Health Law Debate," Abraham Nussbaum, a psychiatrist at Denver Health, delivers an awakening perspective on a missing component of our critical conversation and public debate on health reform--EQUITY. He delves into a historical account of the Scottish physician, Archie Cochrane whose insights from the famous lecture(...)
Dealing with Racist Patients
Posted by | AdministrationManaging medically complex patients from around Maryland and the world is a practice that physicians at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions regularly handle. However, the experience of caring for patients with openly alternate or even bigoted viewpoints regarding matters of race, ethnicity, gender or religion can be difficult. We can look back at the February 2016(...)
Go Red for Women
Posted by | Civic EngagementThe month of February was Go Red for Women month sponsored by the American Heart Association to raise awareness about women and heart disease. The journal Circulation published its first-ever Go Red for Women issue and in addition to articles about gender disparities in research and clinical outcomes, they also chose to publish an article(...)
DOM Civic Engagement Community Service Kickoff Event
Posted by | Civic Engagement, Vice Chair ContributorsWe are excited to announce the first event of the DOM Civic Engagement Community Outreach Committee. Many of us take for granted that we have the proper clothing and business attire to wear to work. Imagine, however, if you were recently homeless or unemployed—it is highly likely that you no longer have those resources, making(...)
Structural Racism and Supporting Black Lives—The Role of Health Professionals in the NEJM
Posted by | Civic Engagement, Vice Chair ContributorsIn the October 12, 2016 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, a perspectives article makes the distinction between interpersonal racism and structural racism, citing the latter as a contributor to premature death and reduced levels of overall health and well-being. Structural racism is “a confluence of institutions, culture, history, ideology and codified practices(...)
A Dialogue Between the Police and the Community Recap
Posted by | Administration, Vice Chair ContributorsDepartment of Medicine faculty and staff enjoyed an engaging dialogue with Melvin Russell, chief of the Community Collaboration Division of the Baltimore City Police last month. He successfully built the case that many of the current challenges between the police and the community are a deficit in relational equity between the two groups who ultimately(...)
Civic Engagement Initiative Kickoff Event
Posted by | Civic EngagementWe are excited to announce the kickoff event of our department’s Civic Engagement Initiative! We will be hosting a Journeys In Medicine Session focused on police-community relationships, entitled “A Dialogue to Create a Bridge Between the Police and our Community.” Our guest speaker for this forum will be Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell, chief of the(...)
Health Inequities in Hypertension and Organ Damage
Posted by | AdministrationThe August issue of the journal "Ethnicity and Disease" is dedicated to articles focused on health in hypertension and related organ damage. Two articles from our own Johns Hopkins Center to Eliminate Cardiovascular Health Disparities, directed by Lisa Cooper, professor in General Internal Medicine, are included. In an original report, Tanvir Hussain summarizes findings from(...)