Will making changes to the built environments (adding parks, sidewalks, healthy food stores, playgrounds, green-spaces, safer streets, etc.) of low-income neighborhoods be adequate enough to help community members combat health disparities based upon income or race? Why or why not?
Thought I don’t think that improvements to the built environments of low-income neighborhoods will be the cure all for health disparities based upon income or race, I do think that it is a giant step in the right direction. My number one reasoning behind this statement is that just because the environment changes for the better it doesn’t mean that the environmental change will automatically produce a higher level of activity and healthy food choices by the individuals within the community. Another huge initiator of health disparities based upon income or race is stress. The stress of being poor, living in an abusive family, and having to strive just to survive are not necessarily affected by the outside environments. Getting that all out on the table I do think that there is a lot to be gained by built environmental improvements.
In the film Place Matters they talk about how the degradation of a community directly effects the people that live in it. Once a community goes down hill no one wants to invest in the community creating a loss of job opportunities, less taxes to invest in schools, and poor food options. The people living in a disadvantaged community are then faced with no work, poor education, and poor diet choices. These things all contributing to additional stress (Lee & Kim, 2008). This is a sad and viscous cycle that often seems unstoppable to the people living in the thick of it. There is hope. As the short film Reshaping Somervillehighlights a fairly new and innovative tactic being used to combat the growing obesity epidemic. The community members, restaurants, city planners along with the town mayor and a specialist on the topic of place and obesity are teaming up to improve the health of their town. Walking paths have been added to the town, exercise programs have been added to the school curriculum, parents are making healthier food choices for themselves and their children, restaurants are offering healthy options, and together they are shaping up into a healthful community. The reshaping that Somerville has chosen is a perfect example of what a community can do to empower one another as well as other communities towards a healthful existence. Thought they did make improvements to their towns built environments they are also focusing on getting the community as a whole informed and involved toward leading more healthful lives.
Somerville is a great example of just how effective bettering built environments and educating a community on what a healthy lifestyle looks like. I think that programs likeReshaping Somerville need to be implemented in low income communities as well. “Specific health deficiencies present in segregated Black neighborhoods compared to White neighborhoods of the same socioeconomic status: two to three times fewer supermarkets with fresh produce, two to three times more fast-food outlets, three times more likely to lack outdoor recreational facilities and, in hospitals serving Black neighborhoods, less technology, fewer specialists and fewer doctors with the highest medical certification” (Cooper, 2010, p.4). Segregated low income communities could benefit the most from programs like Reshaping Somerville. Knowing that these types of programs can be costly there are small steps that can encourage health within a community. A simple option that was mentioned in The Supermarket Solution is as easy as a rearrangement of supermarket shelves. “Research shows that we're more likely to choose healthy food when it's placed right next to its less healthy cousin” (Warner, 2011).
References:
Warner, G. (Producer) (2011). The supermarket solution [Web]. Retrieved fromhttps://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=324056&tId=1274423
LeBlanc, L. (Producer) (2012). Reshaping somerville:the fight against childhood obesity [Web]. Retrieved from https://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=324056&tId=1274423
Cooper, K. J. (2010). Segregation sickness. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 27(19), 4-4. Retrieved from http://stats.lib.pdx.edu.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=55123491&site=ehost-livesegregation
Lee, E. (Director), & Kim, A. (Editor) (2008). Place matters [Web]. Retrieved fromhttps://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=324056&tId=1274423
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