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 through University of Pennsylvania hospitals and clinics. She pointed out in the interview that her mother receives health services through the Living Independently for Elders (LIFE) program, a Medicare risk-based program providing long-term care services for elders who choose to remain in their West Philadelphia homes (Sullivan-Marx, 2004).
A.P. told this writer that she and her children are provided with Medicare and that this is the only form of health insuranc...