I concur with the
statement, “Our zip code matters more than our genetic codes”, because
is true for me and for most people living in the area code of 94124, Bayview
Hunter’s Point (BVHP) of San Francisco.
Thinking in retrospect, I can now
relate to the frequent asthma, COPD, and CHF exacerbation emergency room visits
by the BVHP indigenes in a community hospital located in the Southeast
of the city of San Francisco. BVHP is
located in the southeast by the Bay, the most isolated, most marginalized and
underutilized neighborhood, predominately occupied by low income African
Americans, Asian and Hispanic ethnic groups.
While the million dollars view and the temperate climate of
the BVHP remained unchanged, the remaining parts of the rat infected,
dilapidated,gravely unsound buildings from the second World War, the naval ship
yard, the gas and electric power plant, and the southeast sewage treatment plant,
continued to impact the environmental air and water quality. Environmental intoxicants
and hazardous contaminants are toxic substances in our environment, containing
a wide range of toxic chemicals capable of causing harm to the ecosystems, such
as our drinking water, air and plants.
Environmental intoxicants have been linked with the exacerbation
of asthma, COPD, and CHF, cause breast, prostate, and blood cancers, and other cardiac
and neurological disorders. Healthcare providers can through education protect
the health of their consumers and make efforts to include environmental health assessment in
their history talking. Health care providers must be fearless in contacting EPA, OSHA or the appropriate health office for any environmental health
issues of concern.
Hey Chika, BVHP is indeed a travesty. The San Francisco of 2019 is a pale copy of its iteration in 1995. The City of St. Francis had a conscience and moral compass, both now absent. The only concern now is the almighty $$$. The economic disparities and shocking juxtaposition of such is now jarring beyond words. How one of the wealthiest cities in the US and the World can allow this deplorable situation to blithely continue is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteChika,
ReplyDeleteYour post on zip codes matter more than our genetic codes exemplifies in our society with a mixture of ethnicities. Your right on the facts about how environment can play a significant role that can impact our health in more ways than one. Yes, it is the marginalized communities who have the biggest negative health impacts on where they live. I concur with you only because of our recent media exposure and our readings for this course about the poor health outcomes that are seen predominantly in the less affluent neighborhoods where people of color live. The land is cheap and the voices of color are disregarded by stakeholders and legislative bodies. When a land-use plan is proposed, it not the community who sits on the environmental impact committee but people who don't live in those neighborhoods and who are the producers of economic opportunities that people in those neighbor hoods want. Employment fosters monetary gain, financial stability, but for the most part, it is survival for people of color; their health is only secondary. So unfortunate for a country to be considered superior in everything.