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2004-01-08 -- A wide health care gap: minority, poor neighborhoods lag

Chicago Tribune 1/8/2004

January 8, 2004

In Chicago's predominantly Hispanic and black Humboldt Park
neighborhood, 28 percent of children 12 and under have asthma.

In mostly white Norwood Park, 15 percent of kids have asthma.

Puerto Rican children across several neighborhoods have an asthma rate
of 34 percent, possibly the highest ever documented in the nation.

Those statistics are just part of a new snapshot of health care and
race  in Chicago that confirms the vast discrepancies in how diseases
are  diagnosed and treated from one community to another.

The Improving Community Health Survey, to be released Thursday by
Sinai  Health Systems, shows dramatic disparities in health care
across the  city. Some of those disparities exceed national averages,
and  researchers say the gaps are growing.

"We knew that the disparities were bad, but we were shocked at how bad
some were," said Steve Whitman, director of the health survey.

Residents of 1,700 households in six neighborhoods (North Lawndale,
South Lawndale, Humboldt Park, West Town, Roseland and Norwood Park)
were surveyed between September 2002 and April 2003 about their
health.  Norwood Park, a predominantly white and middle-class
neighborhood,  overwhelmingly scored the best in the areas surveyed.

Humboldt Park and North Lawndale, the two poorest neighborhoods with
mostly African-American and Hispanic residents, almost always scored
worst.

The study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sought to
document the health status of the communities and use the information
"to improve the health of the people in Chicago's vulnerable
communities," Whitman said.

The study calls for governments to conduct more local health surveys,
invest in prevention and screening measures and work to establish
universal access to quality health care. Only 44 percent of people in
South Lawndale and 60 percent of people in Humboldt Park and North
Lawndale reported having health insurance, the study showed.

"The larger societal and structural issues have to be dealt with," he
said. "But we don't have to wait until we put an end to racism and
poverty until children's health gets better."

Researchers detailed their findings in 10 key health areas.

The study found that two out of three children in all of the
neighborhoods except Norwood Park were obese. The percentage of obese
children in these communities is more than double the national average
of 26 percent.

Children and adults in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to be
overweight because they don't feel as safe being outside and lack
grocery stores containing healthy foods, said David Ansell, chairman
of  the Department of Internal Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

"This is not a problem of individuals who have bad genes," he said.
"These communities are redlined for supermarkets and health clubs--the
kinds of things that would allow for healthier communities."

Nearly all the health problems identified in the survey are linked in
some way, Ansell said. For example, he said obesity can trigger
diabetes, which the study found is going largely undiagnosed and
untreated in the poorer neighborhoods surveyed.

Humboldt Park resident Windora Cooper, 52, has struggled for 13 years
to  manage her diabetes by eating the proper foods.

"I would eat much better myself if I could afford it," she said.
"Being  poor, you have to eat what you can get. Poor people tend to
eat a lot of  bread because it fills you up. I didn't find out until
later that bread  is one of the worst things for a diabetic."

Cooper, whose 35-year-old son is also diabetic, said she neglected
going  to the doctor while raising her two children in public housing
because  she didn't have the money. She was diagnosed with diabetes at
age 39.

"It's stressful trying to raise your babies and you know you can't
give  them the right things because you can't afford it," she said.
"It's like  a losing battle."

Ansell said African-Americans and Latinos in poorer neighborhoods need
the tools to make the lifestyle changes necessary for good health.

"I've been dealing with this for 25 years and the irony is that it's
actually gotten worse, not better," he said. "Despite all these
technological advances, the disparities have worsened between the
haves  and have-nots."