Special Report: Baltimore’s Other Divide
Reporters from Kaiser Health News and the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism spent much of the fall in and around Sandtown-Winchester, a Baltimore neighborhood where violence flared last year after Freddie Gray was fatally injured in police custody. Residents say they have little more confidence in the medical system intended to heal them than in the criminal justice system intended to protect them.
Kaiser Health News:
In Freddie Gray’s Neighborhood, The Best Medical Care Is Close But Elusive
Pushed by once-unthinkable shifts in how they are reimbursed, Baltimore’s famous medical institutions say they are trying harder than ever to improve the health of their lower-income neighbors in West Baltimore. But dozens of interviews with patients, doctors and local leaders show multiple barriers between the community and the glassy hospital towers a few blocks away. (Hancock, 2/16)
Kaiser Health News and PBS NewsHour:
Video: Baltimore Hospitals Work To Repair Frayed Trust In Black Communities
In a city renowned for medical schools and research, there's a striking contrast in the dismal health and life expectancy in some Baltimore neighborhoods. There's a deep distrust of the medical system among many African-American residents, dating back to the 1800s. (Varney, 2/15)
Capital News Service:
Quest For Blood Pressure Cuff Highlights Inequality
The doctor told Sharlene Adams to get a blood pressure cuff, so Adams set out to buy one. For Adams, who lives in West Baltimore, that meant four bus rides, a stop for a doctor’s signature, two visits to a downtown pharmacy for other medical supplies, a detour to borrow money for a copay, a delay when a bus broke down, and, at last, a purchase at a pharmacy on the east side of town. The one-way, 7-mile trip took 5 1/2 hours. Then she had to get back home. (Bluth, 2/16)
Capital News Service:
At Clinic, Poverty Magnifies Health Problems
In Baltimore’s poorer neighborhoods, where problems are plentiful and solutions scarce, Total Health Care strives to correct disparities in access and treatment long faced by people who struggle to get by. Total Health Care is the result of the 1989 merger of West Baltimore Community Health Care Corporation and Constant Care Community Health Center, Inc. Its mission is to provide comprehensive, quality care to the low-income, medically underserved population. (Burns, 2/16)
Capital News Service:
Hospital Trying To Win Community’s Trust
Dr. Samuel Ross had been CEO of Bon Secours Health System for three months when he went to a dinner party in 2006 and first heard the name some Baltimoreans use for the hospital. They called it “Bon Se-Killer.” Ross says the reputation is based partially on urban myth, spread largely by people who’ve never walked through the hospital’s doors. ... But Joyce Smith, who has been an activist in West Baltimore for 30 years, said the nickname reflects larger problems with medical services in her neighborhood." (Bluth and Greenwald, 2/16)
For more stories, photos, videos and graphics reporting on the Baltimore health divide, visit Capital News Service.
