Interview by Jeanmarie Evelly

In 2003, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene opened regional offices in several high-needs neighborhoods that have some of the worst health outcomes in the city. The South Bronx District Public Health Office is located at 1826 Arthur Ave. This week, Be Healthy! caught up with Assistant Commissioner Jane Bedell, M.D. to see what her office is working on.

Q: What do District Public Health Offices do?
A: This was set up under then-commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden, essentially as a response to a lot of health data that showed there were certain areas of the city that had the most health challenges. There are three district offices throughout the city, and we all have a slightly different lead item that we work on. Here in the South Bronx, we work on lowering the unintended teen pregnancy rate—about 90 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended. We recently got a grant from the [federal Centers for Disease Control] to do a whole bunch of work in Community Districts 2 and 3, working with the schools in that area.

Q: Are there other health issues that you think are the most pressing?
A: The one set of data that is going in the wrong direction is around obesity and diabetes. We do a lot of local initiatives around fitness and nutrition. What we hope our work will do is change the environment so that the healthy choices are the easy choices. Right now, it’s difficult to live in the south Bronx and make healthy choices, because the options are pretty limited.

We’ve been working with bodegas, trying to get more fresh fruits and vegetables into local corner stores. There’s the green cart initiative—something the Health Department has been working on for quite some time that we think is starting to catch on, and help change the landscape here when it comes to the availability of fresh produce. We also fund “Shape Up New York,” a no-cost fitness program. A lot of people don’t have the income to support a gym membership, and there aren’t a lot of gyms in the Bronx to begin with.

Q: How big is your staff?
A: We focus mostly on the south Bronx, and we have about 25 to 30 folks [who work here]. That’s a small number compared to the population. What we try to do is work with other community-based organizations, houses of worship, local schools, community boards—basically anyone who wants to partner with us, we’re interested in working with. That’s a way of amplifying our effect.

Q: The Bronx has a bad reputation when it comes to health. What do you make of that?
A: Pretty much on every health outcome, the Bronx is at or near the bottom when compared the rest of the state. There shouldn’t be a big difference between the lowest ranking and the highest-ranking counties, and yet there is.
We’ve got pretty big hurdles [to overcome]. Most big health statistics are really driven by poverty and education levels, and those are the big picture things to keep in mind. But, that being said, we think we’re really on track with a lot of our initiatives.