Health disparities
Type in a ZIP code in this new atlas, and see how place shapes health
For years, Dr. Amy Kind has been keenly aware that the neighborhoods in which her patients live often hinder their recovery. She described, for example, how worries over neighborhood safety deter home health care staff from visiting some of her low-income patients to check on their recovery. In one case, that lack of follow-up care…
Read MoreAccess to credit and savings plays a key role in promoting health
When Jennifer Bui, a resident of the low-income San Diego neighborhood of City Heights, turned 18, she started concentrating on her financial future. “I was really interested in building my credit and building my financial power, in a way,” said Bui, now 19 and studying engineering and physics at Brown University in Rhode Island. After…
Read MoreDishing out nutrition lessons during soccer practice
“Who can tell me what is a grain?” asked a coach at a “Soccer for Success” session with young children last summer on a South Los Angeles playing field. “Wheat!” a young boy called out. “Who knows the difference between a good wheat and a bad wheat?” she asked next. “One is a brown one…
Read MoreA new community garden springs up after land group adopts health perspective
Alina Bokde, executive director the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, wasn’t quite sure how a new push to view her organization’s work through a public health lens would work. She’s been acquiring open space in urban areas for years, with an eye toward conserving land, providing recreation and helping to mitigate climate change. But having…
Read MoreControlled burns spark hope on Yurok reservation
The forests on the Yurok tribal lands in Northern California look like weed-choked, overgrown gardens, as one tribal member described it.1 After years of fire suppression – in an ecosystem that needs fire to regenerate – the forest is filled with underbrush that crowds out desirable plants used for basket making, medicines and food. And…
Read MoreLife Expectancy in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Review-Journal ran a story on life expectancy by neighborhood in the glittering city. Like most every other community, it varies dramatically by neighborhood, with the gap as much as 16 years at either end of the nine-mile stretch between the downtown Strip and suburban Henderson. The study was funded in part with…
Read MoreLow-crime neighborhoods promote mental health in older Latinos
This is from a new study out of the University of Illinois. It’s long known that bad neighborhoods raise stress, but this one quantifies the effect, and in terms of depression. It’s not hard to understand that staying cooped up inside, and feeling fearful leaving your house, would bring on depression. Next step, as the…
Read MoreFeeling in control? It could add years to your life.
I’ve long wondered if outlook could change one’s life expectancy odds, since part of what accounts for discrepancies in life spans relates to a sense of control. That’s why those higher on the social ladder live longer, even if those just below them on the rung have safe homes, good food, medical care, etc. More…
Read MoreDeadly Discrimination
Beware of the small slights in life. Over a lifetime they add up to major loss of health, physical and mental, warns David R. Williams, a professor of public health, sociology and African and African-American studies at Harvard University. For decades Williams has studied the connection between racism and diminished health. Recently his work percolated…
Read MoreLifespans for Rural Americans Lagging Behind Urban Counterparts
Living in a bucolic rural area may seem like a good prescription for health, but new data shows that rural Americans are paying a price in shortened life expectancy for living in America’s hinterlands. In part it’s because only 17 percent of Americans live in rural areas, and they don’t have quite the advocacy voice…
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