Lead vs. Plastic
Lead water pipes created a health disaster in Flint, but replacing them with cheaper plastic — as some cities are doing — carries hidden costs Above image: Plastic water pipes may be cheaper, but they also come with risks. Mark Bernard/iStock/Getty Images Plus By Rajpreet Grewal, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Laodong Guo, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, […]
Measles 101
As measles cases in Chicago remain low and vaccinations increase, here’s what to know about the latest outbreak While her sons played one Sunday evening in early March, Yulia* tried to locate a suitcase. The family was staying at the Pilsen migrant shelter, but they had plans to move north, to reunite with Yulia’s husband, […]
Rising Concerns
Where flooding and sewage treatment meet — and how both impact people’s health Flush your toilet or rinse your kitchen sink, and you probably don’t spend a ton of time thinking about where that water goes next. Yet, wastewater treatment ranks as one of the most vital public health innovations in human history, due to the advances […]
Beyond Bullets
Can changing the way we medically treat gunshot wounds stem gun violence? If you watch local news in Chicago, you can’t escape stories about the city’s gun violence. But the stories don’t often go beyond the shootings themselves — and neither do most medical treatments. As of early December 2022, gun violence has killed 583 […]
I Took My Daughter to an Amusement Park. Then a Shooting Happened
This story originally ran on Healthline in September. Cathy Cassata is a writer for Chicago Health and Healthline. Going to Six Flags Great America amusement park in Gurnee, Illinois, has been a part of my life since I was a kid. My sister and I had season passes throughout our teen years in the ’90s and now […]
Under an Urban Canopy
Chicago’s tree ambassadors teach residents about the crucial role trees play in health and health equity. In North Lawndale, on Chicago’s southwest side, Annamaria Leon will be talking with her neighbors about one thing this fall: not crime, not politics…but trees. As a neighborhood tree ambassador with training from the city, she educates others about […]
Public Health Hero: Allison Arwady, MD, MPH
Chicago Department of Public Health Armed with a straightforward attitude and reams of data, Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, answers the public’s coronavirus questions every Tuesday and Thursday during a livestreamed Q&A session. The immediacy of the real-time interactions enables Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), to communicate directly with Chicagoans and […]
