Thread by @t_brannstrom

Happy afternoon! I’ll be live-tweeting today's Chicago City Council Committee on Health & Human Relations for #CHIdocumenters @CHIdocumenters. It was scheduled to begin at 11:30 CT, but the committee is running late. They will be discussing COVID-19, HIV/AIDS & overdose efforts

The agenda is here: chicago.legistar.com/DepartmentDeta…

The meeting is now starting at 11:49AM CT

Long-time Chicago activist Neal Resnikoff asks, in public commentary, for funding to strengthen Chicago Dept. of Public Health programs on the ground. He says that door-to-door outreach programs used to be strong, but now they're a "shadow of themselves."

Public commentary continued: Creola Hampton says that Chicago Dept of Public Health has allocated just $1.4M of their $40M annual budget to black-led community organizations that tackle health issues in black communities. This, she says, is "an outright act of racism."

Christopher Balthazar of @TaskForceChi, an Austin-based organization that provides wellness services to LGBTQ youth, echoes Hampton. He makes a case for increased funding for Black-led organizations that address HIV/AIDS in Chicago.

Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady summarizes Chicago-wide data on COVID-19 & the flu virus: the department is seeing more flu hospitalizations this year than in previous years, & the COVID sub-variant that still dominates is Omicron

Arwardy: 2021 saw the highest # of opioid overdose death rates in Chicago. There were 1,426 OD deaths, vs. just 426 deaths in 2016. This is a higher # of deaths than with homicide and traffic deaths combined.

Sidenote -- a recent UIC public health study found that opioid deaths in Cook County (Chicago) have been undercounted by up to 15%: today.uic.edu/new-study-reve…

Arwady: opiate overdose deaths are "everywhere in Chicago," but the "top OD death communities" are on the city's West side: Austin, Humboldt Park & North Lawndale

Those w/ highest rates of OD deaths in Chicago, via Arwady: 1) those just released from the prison system [40-120% X more likely to die from an OD than others], 2) those who recently detoxed, who use opiates shortly after, 3) women who have just given birth, 4) people 55-64 y.o.

There are 3 public health efforts tackling opiate overdose deaths across Chicago: 1) increasing access to Medications like Suboxone used in longer-term recovery, 2) providing free Narcan [overdose reversal spray] at public locations, and 3) distributing free fentanyl test strips

Arwady speaks about 'co-occurring disorders': "if you're going to talk about treating substance use disorder, you're also going to have to talk about treating mental health issues." Additionally: people with severe mental illness are 10-20x more likely to become homeless.

Alderman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez: How can we create supervised consumption sites, which have been successful in NY?
Arwady: These sites are illegal at state/federal levels. We would need private funding. And would need to protect those funding the sites from prosecution.

Matt Richards, Deputy Commissioner of CDPH, in response to safe consumption sites: Chicago currently has "sobering tents" for people who are intoxicated, but they cannot use substances in these tents.

New York has safe consumption sites for substance users, and they are seeing a lot of success in preventing overdose deaths. But these sites are NOT funded by public money: npr.org/2022/06/04/110…

Alderman Ramirez Rosa: How can the city take a more public health-based approach to the overlap of mental illness, substance use & homelessness - instead of criminalizing people? And how to increase funding for this? "We cannot live on the crumbs of philanthropists," he says.

[from last tweet]
Arwady: we now have primary & behavioral care in shelters, which saves the system $. We also have the Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program (via Chicago Police), which sends an arrested person to an addiction counselor & other services in lieu of criminal charges

More info about the Narcotics Arrest Diversion program: directives.crimeisdown.com/diff/6b7968e2b….

Arwady says that the CDPH is currently funding 15 Black-led community organizations with Black CEOs, which tackle HIV/AIDs & other health issues. The average amount of funding is $303k annually, ranging from $92-895k.

Why isn't CDPH funding more Black-led organizations? Arwady: 1) many orgs who apply don't meet funding qualifications of providing direct medical care or long-term housing, 2) smaller orgs can't front the $ while awaiting reimbursement from the CDPH, 3) many orgs haven't applied

Someone from a Black-led org says that last year he RAN to deliver his org's grant application to CDPH, was 3 mins late, & was turned away at the door. This year, his org got a $20k grant that has only been reimbursed $5k by late Nov. He says: there is no accountability for CDPH.

Christopher Balthazar of @TaskForceChi speaks to inequitable funding for Black-led orgs that provide services around HIV/AIDS. He says, CDPH provides barely enough $ for smaller orgs to keep their doors open, & smaller orgs are often competing w/ larger agencies for this $

Local advocates speak to issues that plague a 'planning council' that has dictated CDPH funding policies, like: a lack of diverse representation among the 5-member council. Arwady says council leadership is a different issue than CDPH being legally bound to following their rules

These issues around funding for HIV/AIDS initiatives are hashed out as commentary that could inform the creation of the African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund. See more about the fund here: dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item….

That concludes this hearing on COVID-19, overdose prevention & HIV resolutions, held by the Chicago City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations, at 2:30pm CT.