Additional Community Feedback
Health
“ Healthcare needs to be brought to the people instead of residents being expected to go to the healthcare . Maybe JPS , Arlington Memorial , or the North Texas University medical programs could partner with the City and other entities to set up neighborhood clinics with doctors in residency and senior nursing students from UTA and TCC to staff these clinics for a few day a week to offer screenings , wellness programs , education , preventative care , etc . I am not sure about the issuing medication , but hopefully some type of partnership could be forged . If this kind of pilot program worked successfully , it could be replicated in other under-served neighborhoods where health care issues and health disparities exist .”
“ This week we set up three high-output vaccination clinics , to be able to begin vaccinating in the most vulnerable populations to COVID-19 . We said , ‘ Okay , let ’ s look at who ’ s on the Tarrant County Public health wait list and start pulling from that list because there ’ s hundreds of thousands of people on that list .’ Of the 7000 names , here ’ s what I can tell you : it ’ s not representative of our community ; Whites are over-represented and minorities are almost non-existent .”
You ’ ve probably heard about ‘ food deserts ’ that are usually in lower-income areas . These neighborhoods might have a Dollar General store if they ’ re lucky , or a 7 / 11 convenience store . But they don ’ t have fresh fruits and vegetables . Those are all things that are high in carbs and high in sugar . They lead to obesity . What ’ s gonna happen if you live in one of these food deserts and you don ’ t have transportation to get to an actual grocery store ? Your probability of being overweight is unbelievably higher , and we know that the more overweight people are , they ’ re susceptible to the things that have a real negative impact with COVID-19 like diabetes and hypertension .
– an Arlington resident
Unity Council Report 76