Once a month Sonia Diaz says she would take her sixteen-year old daughter, Kassandra Rodriguez, to the hospital due to asthma.  “It sounded like a whistle in her chest, she would start wheezing, and sometimes she couldn’t breathe,” says Diaz, 41, a mother of two. 

Along with her daughter, Diaz, and her son, Nicholas, 19, all suffer from asthma. 

As residents of East Harlem, Diaz’s family health problems are not unusual. 

In East Harlem the rate of hospitalization for asthma in children 0-14 years of age is doubled compared to children overall in New York City.  According to the NYC Department of Health in 2005, for every five children who were hospitalized for asthma in New York City, over ten children were hospitalized for asthma in East Harlem.

Dr. Betty Perez-Rivera, director of the East Harlem Asthma Center of Excellence set to open its doors in the winter of 2009, says East Harlem has the highest rate of hospitalization for asthma in all of New York City. 

She adds that bordering neighborhoods, the Upper East Side and Gramercy, located directly south of East Harlem have the lowest rates of hospitalizations for asthma.

To account for the health disparities between the two neighborhoods, Dr. Perez-Rivera says one must look at the socio-economic backgrounds of the two communities.

 “South of 96^th street there are high risers and people that are middle to high income,” says Dr. Perez-Rivera, “in East Harlem north of 96^th street  . . . we probably have the greatest number of housing projects, immigrant populations, people with everything from housing issues, to issues around health literacy and language barriers.”

She says, “It’s definitely a very different population even though we are located so close together and that could be a very big component on why we have the difference in hospitalization rates.”

Environmental health worker, Eric Hinderlie, from Little Sisters of the Assumption, a community organization that provides public heath services to residents of East Harlem, agrees and sees many housing factors that directly complicate someone’s asthma. 

He explains, a high prevalence of pests, cockroaches, dust, molds, and structural damages in homes of East Harlem residents often trigger a person’s asthma.

“There will be places that we go into with just tons of mold and people are breathing that in that in everyday,” says Hinderlie.

“But there is not a law that says landlords have to get rid of mold or have to call someone to get rid of the mold right away,” he says.  “A lot of times it just sits there and if there is an asthmatic child breathing it in everyday, it’s a horrible mix.” 

Sonia Diaz says cockroaches and mold affected her daughter’s asthma and she reached out to Little Sisters to help control the problem. 

Little Sisters works with families to arrange and maintain a healthy home environment, by cleaning cockroach residues, contacting someone to seal cracks in cabinets and walls, and isolating small concentrations of mold, says Hinderlie.

For larger structural damages and high concentrations of mold, Hinderlie says the problem is more difficult to address.

“A lot of times you have to get New York City Housing Authority to do the work, you put in a compliant and someone will come and check it out usually within a week,” says Hinderlie.  “But then there’s no follow up, or it varies, its too inconsistent.  I think it depends on the building and each building has a different managerial staff.”

To remove the mold around her bathtub, Diaz says the NYC Housing Authority took about two months to complete the process.  

Since improving her housing conditions, Diaz says her daughter has not been back to the hospital for asthma.  

Dr. Perez-Rivera says not only do molds, pests, cockroaches, dust and the need for home repairs add to hospitalizations for asthma, but that 30% of households with an asthmatic childhood, also have an adult smoker.    

Although the rate of hospitalization for asthma has significantly declined since 1994, Dr. Perez-Rivera says rates in East Harlem have reached a plateau. 

 The East Harlem Asthma Center for Excellence aims to reduce hospitalizations rates of the community down to the norm in line with the rest of New York City, says Dr. Perez-Rivera.  

 The center plans on forming and combining a number of resources, utilizing hospitals, clinics, educational and environmental services, to create one standard to address the issue of asthma in East Harlem.

 “We want to focus on one chronic illness, in one community to see how we are able to impact it through our different programs,” says Dr. Perez-Rivera, “if it works well we will expand our model to other areas in the city.” 

Justo Botanica Inc. has been selling hope since 1930, says shop owner, Jorge Vargas.

“Everybody needs hope,” says Vargas, 60.  “It means having faith, and well, has to do with the depressed we have in this city, who look for hope in order survive and pass the times in this universe.”  

Located in East Harlem, every inch of the small religious and spiritual store is covered with beads, plants, stones, and prayer cards.

The scent of burning incenses fills the room and shelves are crammed with tiny bottles of oils that ward of jinxes, or promise: success, protection, and love. 

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It’s second period, Friday morning in senior civics class. A pile of New York Times newspapers sit on the front desk, and two maps of America are displayed on the side chalkboard, one with blue states, and the other with red. Beside the maps, lists of vocabulary words like “swing state,” “Electoral College,” “liberal,” and “conservative” wallpaper one section of the East Harlem classroom.   

 Ms. Chou, who students call by first name, Lena, flicks off the lights and Charles Gibson appears on the projector screen.  Gibson’s news segment briefly describes the differences between the health care plans of Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain.

 About twenty pairs of eyes are glued to the screen.  One or two students drop their gaze to scribble a few notes on their papers, and someone sucks his or her teeth in disapproval of McCain’s sound bite about crossing state lines to find proper health care.

 After the television clip, Ms. Chou, 28, the Participation in Government Teacher at Central Park East High School asks, “Who has the better plan?”  The majority of the class instantaneously agrees, Obama.

 “Barack Obama is the catalyst for their engagement,” says Chou. During the last Presidential election, I don’t remember the same excitement, it was about choosing the lesser of two evils.”

 To explain the overwhelming support students feel for Obama, Ms. Chou says, “East Harlem is predominately Latino and African American and having a major candidate like Obama is such an unprecedented move, they have become engaged by him being a man of color.”

 Ms. Chou adds that not everyone in her class is sold on Obama.  There are a few undecided members of the class, and yes, even a McCain supporter.  “I think its not because of his (McCain’s) ideological factors,” says Ms. Chou, “but because he is a more seasoned politician.”      

 During the long election season Ms. Chou says she has witnessed students take part in fiery debates about the candidates, despite the fact that most of the teenagers are unable to vote and some are misinformed about both Obama’s and McCain’s viewpoints.

 Ms. Chou’s goal is to tune her students into the election process and accurately inform them about the issues.  She views the 2008 Presidential Election as, “a good entry point into civil engagement.  They won’t be voting in this election but voting in elections for the rest of their life.”

Hear what the students of Central Park East High School have to say about the election.

Kenya Clark, 17

Hinde Jelleal, 17

Fatima Johnson, 17

Palestino brothers Kenneth, 5 and Kevin, 7 receive their first ID cards.

 At the 104th Street Fair some children scribbled in the world, flowers, and a cornucopia with sidewalk chalk.  Another crowd of children patiently gazed up at a clown as she magically turned a yellow scarf red. Other children clung to their parent’s hips and formed a line outside of the blue NYPD tent, waiting to be fingerprinted, photographed, and measured.

Operation Safe Child, similar to other Missing Child Alert programs, provides parents with up-to-date information about their child, in the form of an ID card. The child’s address, date-of-birth, eye color, exact height, weight along with other information on the card is stored in a New York State Police database and can be quickly circulated in case of an abduction or missing child emergency.

Brittany Staley from the Bronx and mother of two-year old, Nevaeh Reynolds, thought the idea of registering her daughter was useful.  “Just in case someone kidnaps her or she wanders off, you never know what can happen, she said.  “If she goes to daycare she can keep the card in her backpack.”

In New York City 5,839 children were reported missing in 2007.  A large majority of the cases involve children thirteen and older who are considered runaways.  Officer Garcia from the 23^rd Precinct explained that the East Harlem neighborhood doesn’t hear of many lost children reports.  Roughly about once a month Police say they receive a call about a missing teenager, who most likely turns up back home after a few days.

Regardless of statistics, prevention was on the minds of many parents.  Yvette Russo mother of a nine-year-old, Tyrese, said, “You can never be too safe.”

Kevin Palestino is fingerprinted

From the late 1960’s through the 1980’s Carmen lived within a three-block radius from 110th Street to 107th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues. Even though Carmen left over twenty years ago she finds herself returning to the old neighborhood and reconnecting with the community.

Hear Carmen reflect on the memories of growing up in Spanish Harlem, her first taste of social activism, and the experiences she was exposed to as a young girl.

Innocent Mischief
 
Fire on the Block
  
The Right Choices