GET HELP® Monitors the News
Below are the news and articles shared on our social media
May 2020
Below are the news and articles shared on our social media
May 2020
May 18, 2020
by Lloyd Sederer, MD, GET HELP Advisory Board Chair
For the first time in decades, American life expectancy is decreasing. This is in part due to what Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton called “deaths of despair,” or deaths related to bleak economic or social circumstances, and those largely driven by suicide, drug and alcohol overdoses, and alcoholic liver disease. As we face COVID-19 with little end in sight, we have to wonder how the pandemic will influence rates of substance use in our country, and in turn, deaths of despair.
May 15, 2020
We must recognize the link between housing and health in our policymaking. Safe, affordable housing — and conditions in neighborhoods surrounding a house — influence the health of individuals and families. It is because of this inextricable connection that we have historically seen major housing policy reform grow out of health crises.
Over the last two months, cities that recognize this relationship have secured housing for the homeless by procuring shelters, hotels, trailers and college dormitories. Baltimore provided hotel and motel vouchers. Chicago and Detroit added shelter capacity by partnering with local community-based organizations. Sacramento received RV-style trailers from California. If space has not been available, cities have been deploying hygiene stations in encampments and continuing to grant access to public restrooms.
May 8, 2020
As many as 75,000 Americans could die because of drug or alcohol misuse and suicide as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis conducted by the national public health group Well Being Trust.
The group is sounding the alarm that the growing unemployment crisis, economic downturns and stress caused by isolation and lack of a definitive end date for the pandemic could significantly increase so-called “deaths of despair” unless local, state and federal authorities take action.
May 4, 2020
COVID-19 Testing In Homeless Shelters: Care, Compassion And Combatting Structural Inequalities
“It’s not even about money or food. They don’t even see me…”
This was how my patient, “Roger,” a 44-year-old man with hypertension, anxiety and severe alcohol use disorder, responded when I asked what he wanted the public to know about individuals like him who panhandle on the street.