By Danielle Cameron, Chief Strategy Officer for National Health Foundation
Too many times we have heard how zip codes have a greater
impact on individuals’ health than their genes; usually in the negative sense. Social
determinants of health – conditions in the places where people live, learn,
work, and play – can have wide ranging impact on health risks and outcomes.[i] But
these zip codes facing troublesome social determinants of health have an
opportunity to rise up and tackle these challenges head-on so that these zip
codes are no longer synonymous with poor health, but rather signify some of the
most willful, engaged communities working together to improve their environment
and collective health.
Rather than viewed for their economic policies, environmental
circumstances, social norms, or educational experiences that poorly impact
health, these zip codes often indicate the presence of a powerful community of
organizers, advocates and change agents. They are shifting the tide in terms of
population health – in their own neighborhoods. It’s these zip codes where
hospitals, health plans and community-based organizations should be looking to
establish multi-sector partnership that leverage local resources and ambition
to create the most impactful change.
NHF has had just that experience in South Los Angeles.
According to the ‘Mapping LA’ project of the Los Angeles
Times, South Los Angeles is a 51 square-mile region encompassing 28
neighborhoods that are home to more than 749,000 residents and some of the most
troublesome zip codes in Los Angeles County.
For the past four years, NHF has been working in a handful
of these zip codes with a generation of engaged teens, learning to bring about
dramatic changes in their community and succeeding! In particular, they are changing
the way South Los Angeles residents view their physical environments, personal
health practices, the healthy development of their children, as a means of
improving their overall health and wellbeing.
Through a series of student-led programs that emphasize
information gathering as well as peer and public input, healthy changes are
afoot in a zip code that otherwise has many negative associations.
At Jefferson High School, National Health Foundation’sHealth Academy, a student-led, healthy change initiative has, over the past
three years, implemented such ground breaking ideas as a hydration station
offering fresh water as an alternative to sodas and juices, reconfigured the
lunch room so that all students have time to get lunch and eat it, versus
having to go to the snack shop to buy sugary treats to replace meals, and have
tested and introduced healthy meal options that are now on the lunch menu.
Perhaps the biggest victory was the creation of classroom-based mini farm
stands where students can help themselves to a piece of fresh fruit when needed.
The initiative caught the eye of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s food
services director who acknowledged the thoughtful use of fruit left over from breakfast
service, the reduction of food waste, and the increase in opportunity for
students to snack on healthy fruits. The district is considering expanding the
program to other LAUSD school sites.
Through another project, NHF’s BUILD Health Challenge grant
in collaboration with California Hospital Medical Center and the LA County
Department of Public Health, student ”Community Health Liaisons” spent several
months interviewing residents about their perceptions and needs as they relate
to their physical environment. Residents voiced concerns ranging from a need
for safe, open spaces for play and exercise, to a desire to walk more and have
more opportunities to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. The partnership took
the information gathered and formulated a Community-Driven Action Plan for Historic
South Central. The purpose of the plan will be to implement upstream, meaning
preventative rather than curative, solutions to the health issues faced by the
community. By lowering or even eliminating some of the social and environmental
barriers to health, the team hopes that the community will defy the current
statistics that point to lower life expectancy and a higher than average rate
of preventable illnesses.
As part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Great Street’s Initiative,
another group of inspired students championed the creation of a Walking
Corridor along Central Avenue. Through the use of clever wayfinding signage,
the community can now see how far the nearest transit, entertainment, shopping
and recreational facilities are located on foot. The signage, unveiled during a
community event in May, has been met with the resounding approval of the
community and visitors alike.
The community is seeing first-hand that change is most
meaningful when it comes from within and is possible when it is led by the
energy and passion of one of its most valuable assets: its youth. The
remarkable success of these empowered and engaged youth is a reflection of a
new and brighter outlook in the zip codes of South Los Angeles.
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