Kids Come Alive in PS443 Garden Space

This post was written by Kelsey Kinderknecht, a FoodCorps New York service member.

The garden is an outdoor classroom space where students come alive in new ways. Many students don’t thrive in a classroom setting where they must sit still, listen, and do exactly what they are told. Rather, many students thrive in an experiential learning environment where they learn with hands-on activities.

The changing of seasons from winter to spring is an exciting time to utilize the outdoor garden classroom where students learn and explore in new ways. As a FoodCorps member at PS 443 in the South Bronx, I have the opportunity to see kids light up when we take classes outside to the garden. Students learn how to nurture all their garden friends from pill bugs to worms to soil to our little plant seedlings. Many students that I witness struggling in the indoor classroom have a positive shift in behavior in the garden space.

M came alive in the garden space. He arrived in the United States only a couple months ago. He speaks an African dialect that no one else can speak in the school, therefore, he is not able to speak in his 4th grade class with his teacher or classmates. From the very first day, the classroom teacher and I took the class to the garden, this little boy came alive. He immediately dug his hands in the dirt and knew exactly how to plant the carrot seed without needing to comprehend the instructions. Since that first garden experience, he is now able to comprehend and speak a little English. Last week I was able to have a conversation with M about what he planted in Africa. With a smile from ear to ear, he named many fruits and vegetables: spinach, bananas, mangos, carrots, oranges, tomatoes. That day I realized that communication in the garden classroom uses a language of experience and culture: learning the responsibility that comes from nurturing and caring for living things.

Another student, one of my 2nd graders comes alive in the garden space.  As I was giving the instructions for the day, this little girl could not stop talking and asking questions about the garden and the sugar snap pea seeds we were planting. “What’s inside the seed? When will there be snap peas?” The teacher looked at me in awe and said “this is so great! I cannot get her to speak in the classroom!”  Just like the new seeds they are planting, kids come alive in new ways in the garden space!

Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, the Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMD) at the NIH at the April Grand Rounds

                                                                                      Photo via NIH website.

This post is written by Emily Oppenheimer, Program Coordinator for the Partnership for a Healthier Bronx.

On Friday, April 8th, Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, the Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) presented on Health Equity. His presentation, “Reducing Disparities in Health Outcomes: The NIMHD Agenda on Equity,” was the April Grand Rounds feature of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Perez- Stable was invited by Neil Calman, MD, President and CEO of The Institute for Family Health and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine.

Dr. Pérez-Stable shared his optimistic, yet pragmatic views on shifting internal medicine approaches to reduce health disparities. His presentation examined the cultural, environmental, and biological factors and emphasized five ways to reduce health disparity in healthcare settings: (1) expand access, (2) public health consensus, (3) coordinated care, (4) patient-centered care and (5) performance measurement. Primary care works, and access to care makes a difference. He argued that comprehensive systems changes can target health issues and shift disparity.

An important point made by Dr. Pérez-Stable with particular resonance to Bronx Health REACH, given that 90% of the Bronx population is Black and Hispanic, was his statement that even though 40% of the U.S. population qualifies as racial/ethnic minorities, health equity is simply social justice and common sense.

Looking ahead, Dr. Pérez-Stable explained that NIMHD will be looking to collaborate more with the Agency for Healthcare and Quality (AHRQ), diversifying the biomedical workforce, enhancing cultural competence in care, examining structural racism, and focusing research on mental health and epigenetics. Bronx Health REACH is excited to learn that the National Institutes of Health has invigorated efforts and refined its focus on reducing health disparities.

To learn more, visit the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities(NIMD) website.

Bronx Health REACH Applauds Mayor de Blasio’s FY17 Budget Allocation for Physical Education in NYC Elementary Schools

Bronx Health REACH is thrilled about Mayor de Blasio’s budget allocation for physical education in NYC elementary schools.  As Comptroller Stringer mentioned in his “Dropping the Ball” report, many NYC schools have not been meeting the state mandates for physical education, due to a number of challenges such as insufficient numbers of certified physical education instructors, limited training for existing teachers, and space constraints. Now, with this investment into physical education for NYC’s schoolchildren, Bronx Health REACH and the Phys Ed for All Coalition can work together with the NYC Department of Education Office of School Wellness to identify ways to fill the gaps in schools lacking Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP), which includes physical education, before and after school physical activity, active recess, classroom physical activity breaks, and parent and community engagement.

In 1893, Thomas D. Wood, pioneer in health and physical education, stated: “The great thought of physical education is not the education of the physical nature, but the relation of physical training to complete education, and then the effort to make the physical contribute its full share to the life of the individual.”

Public schools are responsible for preparing pupils to become complete citizens that will propel our society towards new heights. As part of becoming well educated and self-directed citizens, there must be knowledge, skills, capacities, and values along with the enthusiasm to maintain a healthy lifestyle into adulthood. For many Bronx schools burdened with the effects of childhood obesity, children need to learn at an early age how to practice, and adopt a healthy lifestyle, eating fruits and vegetables, exercising daily, and coping with stress. These are life skills that will be a mainstay throughout the course of an individual’s life. Like the right to education, the right to a complete and effective physical education is a right of every student.

Bronx Health REACH has partnered with over 20 schools in districts 7, 8, 9, and 12 in the South Bronx to more closely examine wellness policies and environments. We have discovered in School Districts 7 and 12, districts which have not yet received intensive support on CSPAP implementation from the Department of Education, the impact of the PE deficit.  In District 7, public schools face the highest rates of childhood obesity in New York City.  Several schools are unable to offer daily physical education because of the challenges of co-location, declines in quality of equipment from wear and tear, and the lack of adequate budgeting to not only fund new programs but to increase students’ access to activity before and after school, and most importantly—meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s standards for daily recommended physical activity.

Schools in District 7 have responded by partnering with community based organizations such as the National Football League’s Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative, Cookshop, and others. However, the need for integrated physical education programs to support wellness initiatives in schools is sorely lacking. These schools will greatly benefit from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approval of increased spending for physical education programs in elementary schools.

In District 12, co-location is equally challenging for both students and physical education instructors. Furthermore, one school has outdated facilities that cannot serve a campus with over 500 students from grades kindergarten through eighth grade. A physical education instructor who asked to remain anonymous paints a picture of the situation, “Health and wellness are not taken seriously in my school—it is essentially an afterthought. This has been the mindset for years and this—I believe—begins with a lack of commitment at the city level.” Another PE Instructor residing in upstate New York agrees, “Yes, the funding [for physical education at their school] is much less than where I live—I think that contributes to how healthy students are.”

With strides made in the PE4All Campaign and Mayor de Blasio’s receptivity to fund physical education, Bronx Health REACH and the Phys Ed for All Coalition hope health and wellness begins to be treated as a right and made a high priority in our schools.

Joyce Davis – Giving the Bronx Community an Opportunity to be Heard

Bronx Health REACH continues it’s series of individuals that have made a significant contribution to not only the Institute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH, but have been strong activists for needed change in the Black and Latino communities in the Bronx. A notable member of this group of change agents is Joyce Davis. After a successful thirty year career in marketing and sales for AT&T, Joyce found her passion working with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, and Mount Hope Housing Company. Joyce recently completed her Masters of Divinity from New York Theological Seminary.

Growing up in Harlem as a pastor’s daughter, Joyce Davis was just nine years old when her father passed away while giving a sermon. Her mother would emerge as a strong and lasting influence for resilience. "My mother had been the first lady at my father's church, but when he suddenly passed away she now had four children to raise on her own. She had not been working, and there was no daycare in those days, so she transformed the house my father had purchased into a boarding house, and did all the work needed to be done including loading the coal to heat the house," says Joyce.

Her mother was a living example that by having faith and confidence in yourself, you can move forward to overcome any obstacle. “We decided to move to the Bronx and I went with my mother to see a house. After seeing the house she wanted, my mother and gave the owner $50 as a down payment. As we walked away I asked my mother how she was going to pay make the payments for the house. My mother replied, ‘the Lord will provide,’ and she never missed a payment!”

Even though Joyce had spent a successful sales and marketing career at AT&T, she faced challenges of gender discrimination, and felt it may be time to leave the corporate environment. After thirty years of service Joyce accepted a retirement package, but she was uncertain what would be the next journey in her career. Her sister had written a play, “Mama I Want to Sing” (LINK) and was going to embark on a European tour, and asked Joyce if she would be interested in being the tour manager. Joyce accepted and was able to see Europe and Japan with the touring group.

Joyce joined the Northwest Bronx Community and ClergyCoalition (later becoming the first African-American president), a grassroots social justice organization that organized residents to fight for long-term solutions to problems in their communities. “You could see the Bronx was changing as drug dealers took over corners of the neighborhood, and my neighbors were asking for my help in dealing with these drug dealers. The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition had organizers in each of those Bronx neighborhoods that had been fighting against the drugs and redlining. We rallied with the people, since we had a lot of clergy, priests and rabbis that would do marches, chanting, ‘No drugs here!”

From working with the Northwest Bronx Community Coalition Joyce found her new path. “I began to understand what building community was about when working with the Northwest Bronx Community Coalition, and it became my passion. I credit them with focusing me away from what had been my corporate environment, and into a place where I now could make a difference, where my voice mattered, people valued my opinion, and I was heard.”

Joyce joined the board of the Mount Hope Housing Company (eventually becoming Executive Director) and began collaborating with other organizations such as the Institute for Family Health to transform spaces for community use. The Institute for Family Health asked if the Mount Hope Housing Company would like to have a family practice in the neighborhood, and since Joyce did not know the Institute for Family Health that well at the time she had stipulations, the most important being: if you want to come into our community, we have to be a part of it. “We wanted to be an equal part of designing the building, hiring the staff, setting the hours the facility would be open, etc., and the Institute for Family Health was awesome in that regard where they asked and received input from the community. When we opened that health care center, the community trusted the Institute, and the Institute trusted us,” says Joyce.

Eventually she left the Mount Hope Housing Company and began to work with other organizations doing similar things building community revitalization. At the time the Institute for Family Health was putting together a grant that would address health disparities in the Bronx, and asked Joyce if she would be interested in working on that project. Joyce accepted and also suggested bringing in Rev. Robert Lewis Foley Sr. from Cosmopolitan Church and Rev. Dr. J. Albert Bush Sr. from Walker Memorial Baptist Church to partner with the Institute for Family Health on this issue. She added, “It was great to see the clergy focusing on health disparities since it was difficult for people to speak about this issue since they did not want to ruffle any feathers. When something from the pulpit is said, everyone listens, so let’s use the pulpit. That is the mission of the church,” she said.

Joyce believes the work to end health disparities has improved, but much needs to be done. “Many years ago there used to be a sign indicating a colored door and white door, now even though there is no physical sign on the door, people still get that selective treatment. The hope is that someday people can walk into a medical center or hospital and be treated like a human being, and get the care they need to get healthy. At the end of the day, people in the community want to be heard. They want a safe community with decent housing, jobs, education and health care.”