Our New Work Group Will Support Mental Health in New Jersey Communities
The months of fear, isolation, and deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have created a mental health emergency in our towns and cities. The trauma of the pandemic — along with economic uncertainty, social unrest, and environmental catastrophes — is affecting our emotional well-being. If you cannot sleep at night, you’re not alone. The…Read More…
Take Five Interview with Daniel Finch
Daniel Finch, MD, PMH-C is Chief Medical Officer at CarePlus NJ, a member of the Quality Institute’s Provider Council. The non-profit organization provides recovery-focused integrated primary care, mental health care, and substance abuse rehabilitation services. The pandemic created great momentum for the use of telehealth. How has CarePlus used telehealth to provide mental health…Read More…
Op-Ed: Birth Control Is Healthcare — Why don’t we treat it that way?
MedPage Today by Brittany Stapelfeld Lee, MSW August 31, 2020 Birth control has been long applauded as one of the biggest public health advancements of our time. According to the Guttmacher Institute, over 99% of sexually active women ages 15–44 have used at least one contraceptive method in their lifetime. So, why, 60 years after the first FDA-approved oral contraceptive,…Read More…
Take Five Interview with Charles Wayland
Charles Wayland is the new CEO of the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of New Jersey, a member of the Quality Institute’s Plan Council. Can you tell us your priorities when you took this position — and have they changed? When I started, our top priority was really about taking care of our members in New Jersey. In…Read More…
This Flu Season Is An Important Test for New Jersey
Influenza vaccine is now being shipped to New Jersey, and perhaps never before has a strong, widespread flu vaccination effort been more critical to the health and safety of our residents. There is no vaccine against COVID-19. But we do have an effective flu vaccine. The upcoming winter could be among the deadliest in…Read More…
Take Five Interview with Bonita Stanton
Bonita Stanton, M.D., is the Founding Dean and Professor of Pediatrics at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, which is a member of the Quality Institute’s Education Council. What steps is the medical school taking to combat racial bias in health care, and to address racism as a health care issue? It is a great…Read More…
Refocusing the Mayors Wellness Campaign in the Time of COVID
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh kicked off 2020 with a new Mayors Wellness Campaign (MWC) to prioritize the health of the city’s residents. There were community walks from City Hall to the Great Falls, an employee wellness program, and community aerobic classes. Then, life as we knew it changed. Mayor Sayegh shared in a recent Op-Ed…Read More…
N.J. has 1 of the worst maternal mortality rates. COVID-19 has made things worse.
New Jersey is ranked 47th in the nation, and for mothers and babies of color, the situation is even more dire. When the global pandemic hit, pregnant women became particularly vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and fear, say First Lady Tammy Murphy and Lisa Asare, the assistant commissioner of Family Health Services in the Department of…Read More…