• Diabetes Health Tips for 2020 Holiday Season

    Diabetes Health Tips for 2020 Holiday Season (Plain Press, December 2020)           Be safe: Wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash hands frequently and sanitize heavily used surfaces like door handles, countertops, faucets, etc. when outside of home. Don’t reuse disposable masks, wash cloth masks frequently and try to use paper towels when touching shared surfaces.    Use caution…


  • Neighborhood Family Practice awarded over $350,000 from Three Arches Foundation

    Neighborhood Family Practice awarded over $350,000 from Three Arches Foundation (Plain Press, December 2020)           On November 18th, Neighborhood Family Practice announced that it was the recipient of two grant awards totaling $356,202 from the Three Arches Foundation.    The first is part of a joint award with Barton Senior Center and Lakewood Senior Citizens Service Corp to…


  • Researchers turn to HIV/AIDS clinical trial network for help in building Black Clevelanders’ trust in COVID-19 studies

    Researchers turn to HIV/AIDS clinical trial network for help in building Black Clevelanders’ trust in COVID-19 studies  by Rachel Dissell and Brie Zeltner (Plain Press, November 2020)                 It took more than a decade of participation on the Community Advisory Board at University Hospitals’ AIDS clinical trial unit for Ray Allmond, who is Black, to understand the…


  • Black physicians help build trust in clinical trials, medical care after decades of community skepticism, mistreatment

    Black physicians help build trust in clinical trials, medical care after decades of community skepticism, mistreatment  by Rachel Dissell and Brie Zeltner     (Plain Press, November 2020) Dr. Jackson Wright is successful at recruiting Black patients to participate in his research studies. That’s in part because he — and much of his team — look like them. …


  • MetroHealth offers updates on its planning and development projects

    MetroHealth offers updates on its planning and development projects by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, November 2020)           At a September 30th virtual community meeting MetroHealth Medical Center offered an update on progress of construction of the new hospital building on its main campus, a progress report on the Institute for Health Opportunity Partnership and Empowerment (HOPE), and updates…



  • ‘Step Therapy’ and other insurer practices limit access to critical mental health care

    ‘Step Therapy’ and other insurer practices limit access to critical mental health careby Patrick J. Kennedy (Plain Press, October 2020)           COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on Americans’ mental health.     One in three Americans suffers from severe anxiety, and one in four battles depression, according to recent Census Bureau data. Texts to federal emergency mental health lines are…


  • COVID 19 Update

    COVID 19 Update (Plain Press, September 2020)       As of August 23, 2020, the city of Cleveland Department of Public Health reported 4,840 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 110 deaths due to the coronavirus. Zip codes 44102, 44113 and 44105 had the highest number of confirmed cases among city of Cleveland zip codes (coded red meaning…


  • “He Loves to Fight for all the Little Guys”

    “He Loves to Fight for all the Little Guys” (Plain Press, September 2020)       After 30 years as a MetroHealth doctor, and a number of years before that serving as a community organizer, Doug Van Auken is set to retire. Doug Van Auken’s mission in life was perhaps best captured in that headline from a 1984…


  • Trump Administration ends pharmacy coupons when patients need them most

    Trump Administration ends pharmacy coupons when patients need them most by Peter J. Pitts (Plain Press, September 2020)       For chronically ill Americans, the economic damage from COVID-19 could be nearly as life-threatening as the virus itself. More than 40 million workers have filed for unemployment since the beginning of the outbreak. For many, the financial…