Raising New York City Smoking Age From 18 To 21

Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke is among the top causes of preventable death in the United States.  Killing more than 440,000 Americans annually, smoking tobacco causes more deaths per year than HIV, Illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents, suicides and murders combined, according to the Center for Disease Control. Smoking can be especially dangerous for adolescent users, because pleasure receptors in the adolescent brain are easier to stimulate and mold at a young age. Developing brains are highly susceptible to addictive nature of nicotine, which will lead to future health problems such as heart disease and lung cancer.

Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Under Construction

   

Portland, a city that seems to be under constant construction, is working to create another bridge that connects the east and west sides of the Willamette river.The new Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Project will connect Portland State University to inner Southeast Portland, Milwaukie, and North Clackamas County with the addition of 7.3 miles of new track. “MAX service on the alignment is scheduled to begin in 2015. By 2030, this light rail line will carry up to an average of 22,765 to 25,500 weekday rides, and there will be approximately 22,000 households and 85,000 employees within walking distance of Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail,” according to Trimet.  Transit users benefit economically by choosing to utilize the light rail. According to the American Public Transit Association (APTA), a Portland resident who chooses public transit saves $10,313 a year, based on a per gallon gas price of $3.43.

Alternative Therapies for PTSD

PTSD in veterans is an ever growing disorder caused by psychological trauma while on duty and it can range from mild to severe. A normal treatment for PTSD is large amounts of medications such as antidepressants which can lead to side affects and addiction. Alternative therapies are a more affordable and easier to access options for veterans that do not present such harsh side affects. These treatments range from pet therapy, music therapy , acupuncture, meditation and yoga , and hypnosis and much more.

(No) Condom Culture

Photo Credit

TIME reports on recent SIECUS paper stating that nearly 50% of all sexually active college students don't use condoms. These low rates of safe sex help explain why 50% of incident STD cases occur among young people ages 15-24. One reason for this trend is a declining emphasis on safe sex education in schools, in part due to budget cuts. Also, teens' assumption that partners are STD free contributes to the problem, as does the pervasive view that sex is less pleasurable with condoms. Katy Steinmetz, the author, highlights a recent Gonorrhea outbreak in Oregon's Lane Country, where complacency is seen as the culprit:

In Oregon’s Lane County, senior health official Patrick Luedtke is in the midst of confronting an ongoing gonorrhea outbreak, with rates jumping as much as 40% in recent years. Like Kann, he believes complacency is a large part of the problem. “People don’t have the fear of death from sex like they had 15 years ago,” he says. “For the teenagers, that fear is gone, and people are not practicing safe sex as much as they used to.”

Read more: Why Young People Aren't Practicing Safe Sex | TIME.com 

Are we the greatest country in the world?

Thanks to Isaac, one of your fellow students, for sending this clip along on the heels of our class today. Based on our conversation, it's clear to me why this came to his mind and why he chose to share it.

I hope it makes you think. It's definitely made me pretty interested in watching Newsroom.
Enjoy.

Reaching People Where They Are!

One perpetual challenge facing public health outreach workers is finding the community members they seek, particularly in the case of vulnerable, hard-to-reach populations. Currently, health workers nationwide are trying to connect with these exact populations in order to educate them about the new health insurance marketplaces, with the ultimate aim of enrollment (and of course, health!). Creative, innovative strategies are often used in these endeavors, and this example highlighted on NPR is a fantastic one: outreach workers headed to a Latino-serving beauty salon to provide patrons information on MNsure, Minnesota's new online health insurance marketplace. More on this story here.


Karina Cardoso's beauty salon in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Photo credit: Elizabeth Stawicki for NPR

A mobile unit from Southside Community Health Services offers screenings and flu shots and shares information about the state health exchange, MNsure.

                                                                             Photo credit: Elizabeth Stawicki for NPR

A Bloom[berg]ing Public Health Paradigm?

The Atlantic Cities contributor Emily Badger quotes a chilling fact in "The Radical Case for Bloomberg's 'Nanny' State": "the risk factors for lifestyle-related diseases [...] are now a greater threat in the U.S. than infectious ones." We've been learning that many of these risks are socially determined and could be mitigated publicly; however, "nanny state" naysayers take offense to civil liberties when a government intervenes in the public health by, for example, raising the age to legally procure tobacco. But, as Badger asks, what defines 'freedom' here--freedom from illness, or freedom to eat, drink and smoke what we choose"?

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/20/1366131/teen-smoking-record-low/