Category: Health
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LADIES FIRST: Local nurse weighs in on health care for women
Are women treated differently in the health care field? I recently went to Massachusetts General Hospital to talk to Mary, an infectious diseases nurse, and to get her opinion on the debate. Mary has treated homeless and non-homeless women, men and children in the Infectious Disease Unit. Many of her colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital…
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We Can Do Better
“We can do better.” That was part of the opening speech given at the beginning of the 25th Interfaith Homeless Memorial Service that is held annually at the Church on the Hill in Boston. It’s a somber event, as the names of those who have passed away on the street in the previous year are…
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MHSA Honors Rosenberg and Brunson for Tackling Homelessness
BOSTON, Mass.—State Senate Majority Leader, Stanley C. Rosenberg, and the Interim Clinical Coordinator at Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Richard Brunson, were honored for their outstanding contributions to reducing homelessness in Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) annual meeting this year. “This year’s Canon Brian S. Kelley Public Servant Award is particularly a…
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Long Island Bridge Debate Continues as Winter Sets In for Boston’s Homeless
By Aimee Ortiz BOSTON, Mass.—On Monday 15 December, Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the location of a new homeless shelter for Boston – a building at 12 Southampton St. in the Newmarket area. The news came after the city had stopped plans for a shelter on Frontage Road in the South End and over two…
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The Adventures of Casey and Seth, Part One
Papaver somniferum defies agricultural advances. Poppy cultivation remains a time-consuming gamble, opium extraction a tedious, manual exercise. To produce enough opium for just one viss (about 1.65 kg) requires the scoring and scraping of three thousand seedpods for their alkaloid-rich opium ‘tears.’”—from “Chasing the Dragon” by Charles Cox. Way back when, we were friends from…
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The Hard Life and Untimely Death of Michael Stearns Jr.
BOSTON, Mass.—Michael lay unconscious for nine days in his hospital bed at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His skin and eyes turned yellow from liver failure, and on the ninth day, he died. He was 42. “Ultimately, I watched as his body slowly started to shut down over nine days, his skin became jaundiced and…
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Showly Nicholson Looks to a New Platform for Helping the Homeless
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Harvard Square is, in many ways, an excellent snapshot of the unique qualities that define the greater Boston area: the same street corners and T stations that are frequented by Harvard University’s most promising students, and homeless individuals who don’t know when they will get their next meal. These streets are also the breeding…
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Remembering Menino: The Former Mayor’s Legacy on Social Justice
The late Mayor Tom Menino’s impact on the city of Boston was easy to see after his death on the morning of Oct. 30. Thousands visited his casket in Fanuiel Hall on Saturday, Nov. 2, and thousands more lined the route of his funeral procession the next day. As the oft-repeated statistic claims, more than…
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New City Commission on Black Men and Boys Comes to a Vote
BOSTON, Mass.—The founder of the New Democracy Coalition, Kevin C. Peterson, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Boston Herald giving Boston’s officials a red flag. “The status of black and Latino men and boys must become one of the city’s priorities,” Peterson said. “If it doesn’t, we are just kicking the can further down…