AHA Stat Blog

In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, events sparked by the murder of George Floyd increased the constant exposure to stress in communities of color, a detriment to one’s physical and mental health, writes Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D., senior vice president of community health and equity and chief wellness and diversity officer at Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, and chairperson of AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity Leadership Council. In this blog in conjunction with July as Minority Mental Health Awareness Month read her call to action to making behavioral health accessible to all.

Founding Father John Adams believed that July 2, was the correct date on which to celebrate the birth of American independence, and he reportedly would turn down invitations to appear at July 4 events in protest.

Implementing an anti-human trafficking program may seem daunting during the COVID-19 pandemic, but simple steps can get every hospital started, write Hanni Stoklosa, M.D., founding CEO of HEAL Trafficking and an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and George L. Askew, M.D., chairperson of the HEAL Trafficking Board and deputy chief administrator officer for Health, Human Services, and Education for Prince George’s County in Maryland. Read more.

Let’s also engage U.S. health systems to guide global vaccination efforts on the ground

On this episode, you’ll hear from Kenneth Davis, M.D., president and CEO of Mount Sinai Health System in New York, a system that was on the front lines of the first wave of COVID-19. He is a neurobiologist and a pioneering researcher in the field of brain disease, notably Alzheimer’s disease.

In Bellingham, Wash., the PeaceHealth clinic is using community health workers, or promotoras, to help educate farmworkers in rural communities about the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. 

EmPATH — or Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing — is designed to guide patients safely through a current crisis while building coping skills that will guide them through future challenges. Though it just opened in March, this unit is moving emergency mental health care in a new and exciting direction.

A history-making event that changed the lives of Black Americans more than 150 years ago is now being recognized as a federal holiday. With the stroke of a pen, President Biden signed a bill establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day – commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S..

What qualities make an outstanding leader, whether in health care or another field? Your list may include being collaborative, courageous, empathetic, innovative, inspiring, and intelligent. Based on my experiences and observations during the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d add a couple more: being humble and resilient. 

Individuals and states have tried — three times — to wipe the Affordable Care Act off the books. The Supreme Court — for the third time — rejected those efforts. In a lopsided 7-2 opinion, the Court held that individual plaintiffs and states seeking to strike down the Act lacked “standing,” or the legal right, to bring their suit. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever altered the way hospitals and health systems care for patients. Much has been written and said about the pandemic’s devastating effects; there are, however, some silver linings.

Back in 2011, the first wave of Baby Boomers — people born from 1946 to 1964 — celebrated their 65th birthday. That marked a new demographic trend: the aging of the U.S. population.

Just days ago, UnitedHealthcare announced a new policy that threatened to deny some patient claims for emergency services starting July 1 if the insurer determined that the patient didn’t need emergency-level care.

Hospitals and health system leaders are committing to increasing diversity and inclusion in the board room.

Hospitals are cornerstones of our communities. They provide a broad spectrum of acute and ambulatory care services and serve as economic anchors in many cities and towns.

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated health disparities, and the renewed calls for social justice and dismantling structural racism have moved front and center to our community health improvement work.

COVID-19. Never have our communities been faced with such a challenge, bringing to light the full spectrum of heartache and resiliency.

As the global pandemic recedes, hospitals, health systems and community-based organizations must continue to align strategies and tactics and accelerate the shared work on ensuring health equity and creating communities that contribute to vitality for all.

When COVID-19 was rapidly sweeping through the country in spring 2020, Americans instinctively did what they have done for generations in times of peril: They turned to hospitals for safety, securi

Our hospitals and health systems are not immune to violence, but they have made great efforts to curb it, writes Mary Beth Kingston, R.N., chief nurse officer at Advocate Aurora Health in Milwaukee, Wis., and Downers Grove, Ill., AHA Board member and AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence advisory group chair. In this blog (LINK), Kingston talks about how her system combats violence and encourages others to share their stories for tomorrow’s #HAVhope Friday.