Public Health Voices features commentary and analysis from Irwin Redlener, M.D., on pressing issues in public health along with guest insights from colleagues committed to science, compassion, and public service.
Hot enough for you?
Well, if you live in one of the many US cities where official heat emergencies have been declared, or if you live in California, suffering the worst wildfires in the state's history, the answer is obvious. Extreme heat creates terrible conditions. And for many vulnerable individuals those conditions can be -- and often are -- deadly.
A unique moral failing has happened under his watch. He must go.
There is no justifying the unrelenting trauma the U.S. government is purposely inflicting on children and parents separated at the southern border as an explicit deterrent to immigration from Central America. It is an unconscionable use of overt cruelty as governmental policy. And many Americans, even ardent Trump supporters I have spoken with, say they find this policy abhorrent.
But compounding the trauma of separation are the conditions for children during the weeks and months of uncertainty that follow it. Children are being subjected to emotional shock treatment at detention centers that the government has set up to warehouse them as they wait for reunification.
There is no justifying the unrelenting trauma the U.S. government is purposely inflicting on children and parents separated at the southern border as an explicit deterrent to immigration from Central America. It is an unconscionable use of overt cruelty as governmental policy. And many Americans, even ardent Trump supporters I have spoken with, say they find this policy abhorrent.
Dr. Redlener joins Brian Lehrer of WNYC to talk about the psychological trauma and effects on immigrant children that have been separated from their families and why it constitutes "child abuse and neglect by government," which could lead to legal consequences.
A dramatic rescue is underway to free the remaining children trapped in that flooded cave in Thailand. Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi speak with NBC Correspondents Bill Neely and Matt Bradley and the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, Dr. Irwin Redlener about this race against the clock.
The bandwagon of child care and health professionals who have characterized the federal government’s forced separation of migrant children from their parents as “child abuse by government” is overflowing. It would indeed be difficult to concoct a more traumatizing experience for already vulnerable infants and children then what these kids have gone through.
The fact is that, as a pediatrician, if I saw a child being subject to the terror these kids are experiencing I would be ethically and legally obliged to contact the authorities. But wait: The authorities are the perpetrators!
Even assuming the worst, it is hard to imagine that anybody — even in this White House — planned to have Melania Trump’s seemingly heartfelt public statement about cherishing and protecting children utterly neutralized — almost mockingly — by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ s ice-cold reiteration of protocols for dealing with immigrant families seeking asylum status in the United States.
From limited access to health care, to contaminated drinking water and the growing opioid epidemic, America’s health is constantly being threatened and children are often hit the hardest. Co-founder of the Children's Health Fund and public health activist Dr. Irwin Redlener joins Salon’s Amanda Marcotte to discuss his new book, “The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America,” and the biggest threats to children’s health today.
Nuclear war. Jimmy Kimmel. Lionel Richie. What do these things have in common? Dr. Irwin Redlener. Columbia's Acacia O'Connor takes you inside the doctor's office on this episode of The Low Down.
Redlener is director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at The Earth Institute, co-founder -- along with Paul Simon -- of Children's Health Fund, a professor of health policy and management, and professor of pediatrics at Columbia University's Irving Medical Center. He works the biggest of big issues: from hurricanes and the refugee crisis to access to health care and education. He recently wrote a memoir, The Future of Us, published by Columbia University Press.
In many ways my trip last month to Flint, Mich. — now the symbolic epicenter of how bad decisions, bad politics and ill-advised money-saving measures can seriously and permanently harm children — was more depressing than the first time I visited that struggling city in 2016.
You’ll recall that in 2014, the state of Michigan, led by Gov. Rick Snyder (R), replaced Flint’s clean, safe water from Detroit’s system with improperly treated water from the Flint River. Lead leached from pipes into the water supply. The state’s irresponsible — in fact, criminally negligent — decision precipitated one of the worst public health crises in recent U.S. history.
Strong evidence supports the existence of Health Barriers to Learning (HBLs)—health conditions that when untreated or unmanaged can interfere with a child’s ability to learn and succeed in school. These HBLs include vision and hearing deficits, uncontrolled asthma, mental and behavioral problems, dental pain, persistent hunger, and the effects of lead exposure. However, 19% of US children aged 6 to 11 did not receive their annual checkup in the past year. School requirements for health screenings can help identify children with HBLs. This study explores which states require health screening for children in elementary school, and the extent to which the 7 HBLs are included.
Dr. Irwin Redlener, one of NYC’s leading child advocates, joins the Leonard Lopate Show to discuss his new book The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America. He addresses the growing crisis of child homelessness in New York City, and argues that it will only get worse if President Trump's proposed budget cuts and threats to restructure Medicaid become reality.
William wouldn't show his eyes.
The guarded, gaunt 10-year-old gazed at the floor of Dr. Irwin Redlener’s mobile pediatric unit parked in his Brooklyn neighborhood, answering the pediatrician's questions in monosyllables.
Then Redlener, who dreamed up the mobile unit — a big blue bus — with his wife, Karen, and singer-songwriter Paul Simon to bring health care to the inner-city poor, asked William what he calls “the big question”: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Irwin Redlener talks with Brian Lehrer about his life and work dedicated to removing barriers for children to realize their potential, from healthcare to education, and discusses the recent disasters in Puerto Rico and Mexico, as well as the current efforts to repeal the ACA.
In response to recent sanctions, North Korea threatened to cause the United States 'the greatest pain and suffering it has gone through in its entire history.' It's not something to be taken lightly - they do have nuclear weapons and an unpredictable dictator running things. Jimmy likes to be prepared in situations like this and we hear a lot about what to do in an earthquake but not much about how to deal with a nuclear attack. So we got in touch with Dr. Irwin Redlener who is the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. Jimmy brought Guillermo along to meet him so they can be prepared when disaster strikes
Irwin Redlener, president of the Children's Health Fund, professor of pediatrics and director of pediatrics, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, and author of the forthcoming The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First Century America (Columbia University Press, 2017), talks about how individuals and governments prepare for Hurricane Irma.
