Unraveling the Causes of Asthma in the South Bronx Angelina Usherenko, Christelle Borgella, Jessie Almonord, Priscilla Fok

Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center

How do asthma rates differentiate between abandoned versus busy

neighborhoods in the South Bronx ?Bad Air Quality, Transportation, and Other

Factors

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IntroductionIn this presentation we explore and highlight several components related to the causes of asthma in busy versus abandoned neighborhoods in the South Bronx. We discuss the prevalence of factories and their relationship to the increasing rates of asthma within zip code 10474. In addition to assessing factories, we include information on why less comprehensive public transportation leads to deteriorating air quality within three different zip codes. These zip codes are 10455, 10456, and 10474. Two bar graphs and one map are also presented to illustrate how numerous factories and scant public transportation is hazardous to the residents living in Hunts Point (10474).

MethodMAPSCorps is a program that focuses on data collection in neighborhoods that are lacking resources. The data collectors are college students and high school teens who visit low-income neighborhoods and record important details about the community businesses or non-profit organizations. After the data is collected it is entered into a database on an iPhone app called the “Mappers” app. Community residents are then able to search for any businesses they need. Using the data collected from these neighborhoods, we were able to make a map and two graphs that demonstrate the lack of transportation and an excess of factories present in Hunts Point. This method was appropriate because it allowed students to engage with the community in person, thus allowing for data collection in real time.

ResultsThe findings based off the data from Images 1

– 3. • According to Image 1, abandoned

neighborhoods such as Hunts Point have more operating factories, compared to other South Bronx neighborhoods.

• As stated in Image 2, Hunts Point asthma residents were exposed to worse air quality within the 2012 – 2013 year. Hunts Point was also subject to the highest percentage increase of bad air quality throughout 2008 – 2013.1 Busy neighborhoods such as 10455 and 10456 did not have as high of a percentage increase.

• In line with Image 3, the most common types of factories in Hunts Point are Goods Distributers and Wholesalers.

DiscussionThe South Bronx is know as an industrial and wholesale area. Due to the fact that there is limited public transportation, residents of the Hunts Point community usually travel with their own cars. With the Bruckner Expressway there, about 1500 trucks pass through the area daily, emitting bad quality of air.2 Daily commuting and product transportation cause the air quality to suffer, increasing in rate as portrayed in Image 2. Another reason why there is a higher prevalence of asthma in Hunts Point as opposed to other neighborhoods is due to the large amount of factories, as depicted in Image 1. The large amount of Good Distributors and Warehouses, shown in Image 3, cause the air quality to fall and asthma rates to increase.

References1 The Prevalence and Cost of Asthma in New York State. Comptroller Web site. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/economic/asthma_2014.pdf. Published April, 2014. Accessed August 10, 2015. 2 Sheridan Expressway – Hunts Point Workshop Summary. NYC Planning Web site. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/sheridan_hunt/workshop_summary_appendc_101511.pdf. Accessed August 10, 2015.

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