ABOUT: Health has a Right to the Poor.
Living in both worlds, the rich and the poor, I learned that everyone nowadays experiences high amounts of stress. The only difference is, people in poor neighborhoods are left with only cruel ways of dealing with it in their communities.
With all of my hopes and dreams of increasing graduation rates, and helping more residents in these neighborhoods become business owners, I realized that healthy living must come first. What if the poor residents had access to getting a massage when needed, rather than spending that much on a pack of cigarettes a week, which would be the equivalent price? What if they had close access to a place where they could work out, do dance and receive physical therapy? What if they had close by healthy food options and a place to learn about healthy options. (Something I’m still learning much about to this day.) Don’t they deserve that much dignity?
- 75% of our health care spending is on people with chronic conditions
- These include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and obesity
- Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death in our country with 7 out of 10 people
dying from this
- Chronic diseases are also the leading causes of disability in our country
- This seems to be worse in poor communities, where some counties have an 18 year shorter
life expectancy in men when you only factor in the poverty aspect.
The expectation that families who have been subjected to unhealthy lifestyles will make a "180" overnight is beyond unrealistic. It can not be overstated that a key to this change will be to give it its time, which can include things being passed down for generations – like any other form of wealth.
