Results tagged “departmentofhealth”

Researchers are serving up more explanations as to why two recent reports on the effectiveness of the city’s ground-breaking calorie labeling law appear to contradict one another. The researchers told the Times that differences in focus and size might clarify the discrepancies.

Back in July 21-year-old singer Rihanna was spotted inking up some others at East Side Ink tattoo parlor in the East Village. The problem is that's not so legal when you aren't licensed, so now the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has cited the shop for "operating with an unlicensed tattoo artist on site." Her longtime tattoo artist, BangBang, was the first to get marked by the singer, getting an "R" on his leg. Two other resident artists got the same; the owner says, "She hadn't done that before. We had a blast. It was so funny and cute." The fine could go up to around $2,000—but we're guessing that's pocket change for the singer, and maybe she'll help out her friends—though with all this publicity she's probably already done her part.

You know who's not on board with the Health Department's plan to make tobacco retailers display graphic anti-smoking posters? The New York Post, that's who. The tabloid is sick of the government telling us what's bad for us all the time, and someone in Murdoch's stable has penned a cranky editorial about it, darkly wondering how far this health-nut meddling go: "What's next? Mandatory autopsy attendance?" There's also a rockin' allusion to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again": "Meet the new Tom—same as the old Tom." That's a reference to Tom Farley, Mayor Bloomberg's replacement for ex-city Health Commissioner Tom Frieden, who recently joined the Obama administration. Farley's assistant promises that with this new anti-smoking campaign, "You're going to see what a blackened lung looks like. You're going to see what mouth cancer looks like. You're going to see what it looks like when you have throat cancer." Awesome, right? But to the Post, this is just a blatant power grab: "Mayor Mike and his new health commisar mean to festoon food stores with massive, disgustingly graphic images because they can, not because they should." Basically, it's 1939 all over again! First they came for the smokers...

With the city's announcement yesterday that two more people died from swine flu, New Yorkers are still, naturally, worried about the swine flu. The NY Times visited Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, where "The hospital created a flu clinic in an area that usually accommodates patients who have been admitted and are waiting for a bed. It was filled on Tuesday with people in masks being evaluated for flu." An average May 2008 day in the Maimonides ER would have about 263 patients—on Monday, there was 480. The hospital's ER chairman said, "The consensus among these physicians is that the influenza is mild but the patients are unusually scared."

Yesterday, I.S. 238 assistant principal Mitch Wiener passed away, becoming the first NYC fatality of the swine flu. Wiener's illness was disclosed last week, when his school in Queens closed along with others. Mayor Bloomberg said, "His death is a loss for our schools and our city," and called him a "well-liked and devoted educator."

After closing three schools on Thursday due to swine flu symptoms in many students, the city closed three more—JHS 74 in Bayside, Queens and P.S. 107 in Flushing, Queens and I.S. 318 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Students at those three schools also exhibited "unusually high levels of influenza-like illnesses." Health Department Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said, "Despite the significant disruption this causes, the Health Department has recommended closing these schools to reduce the spread of influenza. We are continuing to carefully monitor H1N1 virus throughout the City, and are taking action again today because there are unusually high and increasing levels of flu-like illnesses at these three public schools."

106 birth certificates have been stolen from the Office of Vital Records within the Department of Health leading to potential security concerns of identity fraud that could result from them. The Times says that officials were able to identify the serial numbers on the birth certificates and invalidate them so that they would not be accepted in applications. But the Post emphasizes that the the first case of stolen birth certificates in the city over the last ten years "may have fallen into the hands of terrorists." They speak to an investigator who tells them, "It's like hitting the Lotto for a terrorist... After you get that birth certificate, you can get any document you want. This is extremely serious. If they fell into the wrong hands, it could create a significant security threat." The theft appears to be an inside job and may be linked to a stolen credit card case in which a health department aide was arrested (along with two friends) for trying to charge $9,000 on credit cards obtained by people who had faxed the info into the department while paying for birth certificates.

The NYC Department of Health has taken an aggressive approach to promoting the benefits of not smoking. This week, it focused on how a pack of cigarettes will now cost over $9, thanks to a federal excise tax, and offered free nicotine patches for the day to help encourage smokers to break the habit.

The Department of Health will soon require NYC restaurants to prominently display their cleanliness ratings in windows or entryways, Mayor Bloomberg and State Senator Jeff "Dirty Dozen" Klein announced at a press conference Saturday. The changes which will alter the numbered DOH ratings to a letter-grade system, which has been used for years in LA. The new rules will be implemented over the next two years, and health commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden says he plans to hire 45 additional restaurant inspectors, adding to the current total of 140. Also, less sanitary restaurants will now be inspected more frequently. Of course, the restaurant industry is cool to the changes; a New York State Restaurant Association rep tells the Times, "a major objection we have is that an inspection is a snapshot, it reflects a condition on a particular day, but not necessarily a long-term condition."

According to the temperance scolds over at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, you are a binge drinker if you consume more than five alcoholic beverages during one occasion. We always thought that just means you're a New Yorker, but apparently drinkers nationwide go on crazy, multi-drink "binges" just as much as we do here. A study released today finds that 15% of New Yorkers cop to "binging" at least once a month, compared to 16% nationwide.

It's Flu Season! Last week, Mayor Bloomberg got his flu shot and the Health Department recommends that "everyone who wants to reduce the risk of influenza should get vaccinated this year." Flu season can extend into May,

Yesterday State Senator Jeff Klein, a Democrat from the Bronx, released his third annual "dirty dozen" list of New York City's most unsanitary restaurants, based on inspection scores and citations for pest problems. Unfortunately for celebrity chef Mario Batali, the press conference was held outside his Del Posto Ristorante in the Meatpacking District. The three star restaurant was hit with dozens of violations in June, including a citation for food that was "spoiled, adulterated, contaminated or cross-contaminated."

The Health Department issued a report about "Intimate Partner Violence" in NYC, and, between 2003 and 2005, 44% of all women murdered were killed by intimate partners. The Health Department also noted that domestic violence also accounted for nearly 4,000 visits to the ER.

The Department of Health estimates that, per the Sun, "72 out of every 100,000 New Yorkers contracted HIV in 2006, compared to 23 out of every 100,000 individuals around the country." The new statistics are based on a new model the CDC uses to track infections, which led the agency to find the rate of infection was actually 40% higher. In the past year, the NYC DOH has said HIV diagnoses were rising among young gay men and up in high schoolers. Most recently, the DOH wants to test every adult in the Bronx for HIV, because the borough has the higher AIDS-related death rate in the city.

Time to break out the subway condoms! The Health Department reported yesterday that "more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with Herpes Simplex Virus-2, the virus that causes genital herpes." For contrast, the national average for genital herpes infection is 19%.

Is Luna Lounge the latest casualty of the Department of Health? Eater reports that the venue "was shuttered on Friday and has yet to re-open." Recently another Williamsburg fixture, Sound Fix, was forced to close its doors after being harassed by the DoH -- they told us the irony of being "shut down for not having a food permit - and WE DON'T SELL FOOD! Ice is considered food in the health dept's eyes, I kid you not."

Manhattan may be more expensive to live in, but, hey, apparently Manhattan residents are less fat and more in shape than folks in other boroughs.

Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new plan to put health information of millions of New Yorkers online. He touted the initiative, "By bringing this health technology to New Yorkers, we are building a national model for a health care system that works... In Washington, they talk about how our health care system should be reformed; here in New York City, we are actually doing it."

The New York Sun is reporting that the operator of the midtown Japanese restaurant Naniwa has been arrested for trying to bribe a city health inspector in order to avoid a summons. Kazuo Mitsuya allegedly tried to slip the inspector $200 to make the restaurant’s violations just go away. Presumably offended by the low sum offered, the inspector got on the horn with the Department of Investigations, who sent in an undercover officer posing as...

As health-code inspections in bars and restaurants continue apace in the wake of The Great Rat Rodeo of Aught Seven, strange, unheard of violations are coming to light: a bartender at Red Hook’s Moonshine bar was recently cited for “having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar.” In other words, every time you see your bartender poke a wedge of lime into your...