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Since 1993, the city's Health Department has been giving out fast food restaurant coupons to TB patients, as an incentive to get them to return to clinics for six-month treatment programs. It's a bit awkward, because this is the same Health Department that's launched an aggressive, multi-pronged public health campaign to educate consumers about junk food. Start the countdown for the first lawsuit from a TB patient who contracts diabetes!
And the Post, always a reliable mouthpiece for the restaurant industry's push-back against the Health Department, has been hooked up with an ex-employee at the Health Department, who says he felt "ridiculous being part of an operation handing out high-calorie gifts when my own bosses were campaigning against it." Besides receiving $5 vouchers for fast-food chains, patients also get coupons for variety stores and bookstores.
Over the past 10 fiscal years, the city has spent $3.3 million on the TB giveaways, but less than $300,000 of that total came from tax dollars. The average patient receives $130 worth of free food and $580 in MetroCards, according to agency spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti. In an email statement, Scaperotti tells us, "Treating people for TB is critical for saving lives and protecting others in their communities; the disease is both deadly and contagious, and small incentives are proven methods for improving treatment adherence."
Since offering incentives, TB cases have declined by more than 75 percent in NYC. Of course, it's unclear to what degree the incentives directly contributed to the decline, but the agency is currently evaluating the program and considering healthier eateries.
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What a complete non-story. I visit news aggregators like Gothamist so I don't have to read whatever crap the Post runs.
hypocrisy with our tax dollars is always newsworthy my friend.
All these free incentives put them in a lot of contact with people... while they're being treated for a contagious disease, doesn't make much sense either.
not *while* they're contagious. read the fucking article, jackass. they get the coupons after they finish the treatment
I DID read the article, no reason to call me names DICK (wow YOU really hold up to your moniker!)
The article, which i might add, people CAN understand different, not EVERYONE reads the same thing, the same way, mentioned "treatment Adherence" as in this is indentive to keep them coming for the FULL TREATMENT TIME, which lasts months AND the article also states that $5 vouchers are given, presumably at each visit AND that's why it adds up "The average patient receives $130 worth of free food and $580 in MetroCards"
Do you think they give this all to them in one shot???? JACKASS
Ease up, guy. TB isn't ultracontagious otherwise the patients would be quarantined from the public. It usually takes extended exposure to a patient to get it. After a short course of antibiotics, they're usually not contagious anymore, but they do need to continue taking the antibiotics otherwise the disease won't be completely eradicated from the body, hence the incentives. And I'd have to sadly say that this does make sense. Talk all you want about healthy food, but you won't get people to come back repeatedly for treatment if you offer them broccoli and spinach. You have to offer them what they want. It's simply the lesser of two evils in this case.
and.....THAT IS NEWS WORTHY.
If we made at least a half-assed effort to protect our borders, there would not be enough TB in this country to warrant such a program.
Does it say they have to order fatty food? I'd bet they could buy a lame salad or something with the coupons too.
I'd contract TB just to hit 'em up for free meals at Per Se.
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