Living Healthy in a Philadelphia Neighborhood

The subject interviewed for this report was A.P., a 49 year-old African-American female living in the community known as West Philadelphia. City Avenue serves as the northwestern boundary of this community in which many of the city's major colleges and universities are located. About 14 percent of the city's population lives, shops, and in many cases, works in West Philadelphia, in which some neighborhoods, are increasingly recognized as enclaves characterized by widespread poverty, property deterioration and abandonment, main streets that have declined, deteriorating infrastructure, and high crime rates (Fischer, 2004).

The specific neighborhood in which A.P. lives is known as Carroll Park. The average residential structure in the community is a multi-family dwelling. A.P. has been a life-long resident of West Philadelphia who originally lived as an adolescent in the Belmont section and who has lived in several different residential buildings throughout the entire area. She has been in a six-unit building in Carroll Park with her three dependent children for the past eight years, receiving Section 8 housing assistance in order to afford a three bedroom unit.

A.P. states that she uses health care services provided via programs that are run in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania. A local clinic located on 41st and Woodland Avenue provides her health care while her children receive services thro

. . .
ime, but is uninsured. This 19 year-old male who still lives at home, is not covered by Medicaid and does not anticipate having private health insurance through his employer at any point in the future. Like A.P., this young man does use a hospital emergency room when a health crisis occurs. A.P. was asked what nurses needed to know about the neighborhood. She said that nurses need to understand that people use the emergency room instead of a physician's office not out of choice but because they have to. She also said that nurses need to understand that many people in her community tend to put off seeing a physician until a crisis occurs. She also commented that nurses must become more sensitive to and knowledgeable about the dietary and lifestyle preferences of African-Americans and other minorities. A.P. said that her neighborhood needs more doctors and that the city of Philadelphia needs to become more interested in "cleaning up the community" to get rid of crime and drug dealing and to force landlords to take better care of their property. She pointed out that her only trip to the emergency room in the winter of 2003-2004 was for pneumonia that was brought about by the inadequate heat in her apartment. When A.P.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1373
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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