PHOTO LINK BELOW: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and New York City Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden visited the state-of-the-art “Cancer Center” at Maimonides Hospital, and announced that New York City has made significant progress in meeting seven out of 10 ambitious public health goals set in 2004 under the City’s “Take Care New York” health policy.

By 2007, the most recent year on record, New Yorkers had surpassed 2008 targets within the program’s priority areas: colon cancer screening, regular access to primary health care, tobacco smoking. The findings are detailed in the fourth annual Take Care New York progress report, released today, which outlines the strides the City has made over the past four years, and the challenges that remain. The Mayor and Dr. Frieden were joined at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center by Health and Hospitals Corporation President Alan D. Aviles, Maimonides Medical Center President and CEO Pamela Brier, NYC Councilman Simcha Felder, and others.

“New York City has never been healthier,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “And the fact that New Yorkers are living longer—an average gain of one year and three months since 2001—is a testament to our progress. We have put particular focus on improving health among low-income residents and minorities, who suffer more than their share of preventable illness and death. We are chipping away at these gaps and making a long, healthy life a possibility for every New Yorker.”

Take Care New York set ambitious four-year goals to reduce 10 leading causes of preventable illness and death. Since its launch, the Health Department has worked with more than 400 health care providers, community organizations and other New York City agencies to address these priority areas.

“Take Care New York has pushed us to raise awareness among our doctors and patients about the importance of preventive and primary care,” said Maimonides Medical Center President and CEO Pamela Brier. “Now our patients are cared for by doctors and nurses who understand that following Take Care New York’s principles promotes good health and saves lives. As a result, we’ve seen higher rates of cancer screening, better management of chronic health problems and an increase in screening and treatment of depression. We were delighted to be the first community partner in this groundbreaking program.”

Maimonides Hospital, was the first hospital to join the Take Care NY program, and shortly afterwards embarked on a colon cancer program to screen and treat people regardless if they are able to pay for the screening and treatments or not. Thus far, the hospital has screened well over 12,000 patients (in the past few years), a third of whom could of not afforded to get screened for colon cancer. Many lives have been saved, thanks to this free screening.

Interestingly, the gastroenterologists at Maimonides Hospital did an analysis on their own patients, and have concluded ‘that every one dollar that gets invested, the government saves 2 dollars in potential costs in medical care’.

Maimonides Hospital has also doubled their numbers for mammography testing – numbers in the past few years, and thanks to Mayor Bloomberg and the NYC Council, the hospital now has state of the art screening equipment.

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(Moshe Altusky – YWN)