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-Matthew Schreiner
The International District has a large percentage of residents that are minorities, along with strong cultural ties to Asian heritage which helps to make it the cultural home in Seattle for those of Asian descent. However, there are high levels of homelessness and poverty in this neighborhood, and resources for one's health, depending on their needs, can be either sufficient or highly questionable.
Physical Health: Asset-Around the International District, there are plenty of areas to exercise, such as a basketball court and multiple parks, there are multiple clinics around the neighborhood, along with alternative medicine options and the large ICHS hospital.
Mental Health: Barrier-In the International District, while there are opportunities for you to work on your own personal mental health, such as green spaces and community areas, there are limited options for any professional help, such as a single counselor, and the services that ICHS provides, which I do not believe would be enough for the entire neighborhood.
From visiting the International District, I was able to see where the different clinics were, and how accessible they were overall, and all were either relatively accessible or very accessible.
What I found in the neighborhood did match up with my initial research; plenty of physical health options, but not many mental health options. There was also not good signage to advertise the single professional mental health option.
I also saw that there were plenty of stores with fresh fruits and vegetables, along with a community garden that also had fruits and vegetables for the neighborhood, which will help with overall health.
There were plenty of people smoking in the neighborhood, and cigarettes were everywhere on the ground, which will detract from everyone else's health.
There was a large amount of trash piled up around in the neighborhood, including on sidewalks and other public areas, which poses a safety risk for everyone.
There were a number of public spaces, and green spaces/parks scattered throughout the International District for people to exercise at, as well as to take a break from their lives and appreciate nature to help boost their mental health.
One's overall health depends on multiple factors within the community, such as the large number of public parks and green spaces that residents are able to use, to exercise at to help to improve their physical health, but to also improve their mental health by forming a community with others, or spending time in nature. However, there is also a large amount of poverty within the district, leading to a large number of people experiencing homelessness, which severely detracts from their health, and can put a drain on the overall health of the community as they have nowhere to put their waste. However, transportation is a large contributor to overall health in the district, as it is readily available to transport people to professional health services within the neighborhood or to transport them easily outside of the neighborhood in case they need higher-level healthcare.
Overall, I would give the International District a rating of 3 out of 4, as while some topics are assets and some are barriers, the majority are assets. Public parks, physical health, and transportation are all strong assets to the community, while mental health and homelessness are both barriers to the community, however, in my opinion, the topics that are assets far outweigh the barriers.
Sources
Sources
“ICHS History.” International Community Health Services, 2021, www.ichs.com/history.
Tran, Valerie, et al. Chinatown-International District 2020 Healthy Community Action Plan, 2020, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fliving-future.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2F2020-CID-Healthy-Community-Action-Plan.pdf&clen=4834592&chunk=true.
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