In Sickness and in Wealth: Post-viewing Activity

Please select and answer TWO (or more) of the following questions following the film:

1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?

Which issues most affect health in your community, for better and worse: housing, jobs, income, transportation, racism, schools, social exclusion or civic engagement, land use and development…? How?

2. Who makes the decisions that affect your community?

Who’s missing? How can community members gain access to power? How would you change the process? What decisions would you make differently?

3. What compelling stories do you want to tell about your community?

How would you reshape the media coverage that exists? Which voices are missing? What messages and ideas? Who are your audiences? What images and symbols would you use in communicating with media?

4. How can you make things better in your community?

What are the greatest challenges? What additional resources are needed? Who are your natural allies and how will you begin creating alliances and partnerships? What are your priorities for action?

5. What initiatives are already underway that can improve health outcomes on the local, state or federal level (e.g. living wage campaign; a drive for universal preschool; mandated paid sick leave)?

19 thoughts on “In Sickness and in Wealth: Post-viewing Activity

  1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    This may not reflect my community, since I feel my community is pretty averaged. But I can say that my cousins, who live out in New Jersey, living in the suburbs, Their neighborhood is friendly, and tend to have income of at least 6 figures (have asked around, when I visited them and they were having a neighborhood block party/barbecue). Their neighborhood association/community seems to meet every 2 weeks. I don’t know how active my community/neighborhood association is, but a couple-to-few years ago, we go the stop sign removed and replaced it with a traffic light, which was petitioned in my area/block.

    Who makes the decisions that affect your community?
    The “president” of the neighborhood/community association for our area makes the decisions, but it’s more like a “board of directors” kind of thing where the members of the association get together and plan/decide on a plan that affects our community. It is also there where some companies or organizations try to promote/advertise some of their services to the community.

  2. Which issues most affect health in your community, for better and worse: housing, jobs, income, transportation, racism, schools, social exclusion or civic engagement, land use and development…? How?

    In my community there is an opportunity for satisfactory to substantial housing I don’t think it affects our health much. Maybe for those who’s living conditions aren’t enough to support their family. The roads are horrible and im positive everyone is affected negatively with their car subject to greater damage, The roads are broken into and repaired very poorly most of the times worse that what it started out as.

    Who makes the decisions that affect your community?

    The mayor Bill De Blasio makes the decisions that affect the community. The people in the community can become district council members in order to try and change things for the better, since they actually live in the community. I would try to get our roads fixed. To me that’s our biggest issue that seems to be ignored year after year.

  3. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    I can say that my community is decent theirs a park close by, were people go to do exercise, go for a walk and parents take their kids to play. There are a lot of supermarket that sell organic products. The schools that are nearby offer after school programs that help kids express their creativity.

    4. How can you make things better in your community?
    My community would probably be better if once in a while we gather together as a group and discuss of improvements, or do activities in were we can bond and develop social awareness, for example doing a blood drive. Everyone would be working to gather in order to make the blood drive to happen will donate blood to those in need

  4. What compelling stories do you want to tell about your community?
    * Witnessing a couple of car accidents a few steps away from where I live leaves me with great concern. Just three weeks ago and mother and son got ran over which resulted in death. But this is not the first time it happened. I think it would be much safer if there is a cross guard or even a traffic camera so people will slow down instead of speeding up.

    What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    * In my community I feel most people are united. Our church does blood drives, food drives where a lot of people are more than happy to help out with. Where i live , we have at least 6 different clothes donating bins and if your lazy to even walk to one you can always call for your donation to be picked up to be dropped by a church organization.

  5. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community? Which issues most affect health in your community, for better and worse: housing, jobs, income, transportation, racism, schools, social exclusion or civic engagement, land use and development…? How?
    In my community I think that there are a lot things that affect health in a better way. There are opportunities for safe and reliable housing, there are a lot of jobs available in our area for services, and the transportation is pretty reliable for people that do not have vehicles. I think that my community is this was because I live near a state college so this promotes good health behavior because the town is full of young commuters. My town has a lot of issues that affect health in our community in a better way.

    2. Who makes the decisions that affect your community?
    I believe that in my community there is a town committee that controls the decision making for the infrastructure in my community. The town of Babylon does all the decision making. Different community members can gain access to power by running in small town elections. I think that the decisions made by the town are good and have been for years. I think it is also good that they have elections so everyone gets a chance to be apart of the decision making.

  6. 2. Who makes the decisions that affect your community?
    Without a doubt the mayor and the cities authorities make the decisions that affect my community. Also, the working people with more money has more of a voice in the neighborhood but I believe the poor people living there have a major impact on how things work. We are the people living there and I feel if we were to speak up about what we want they would hear us out.

  7. Question 1:What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    I really like my community. I consider it more than average. It contains pretty much everything that should be in a residential community. We have shopping malls, supermarkets, churches, mosques, parks, schools, ocean, public transportation and hospital very closer to each other. Which make my community well organized and a reasonable place to live. Moreover, my community is very clean. I have been living there since eight years and I have not heard of any severe incident related to the race, religion or culture. However, rents are little higher in my area, which we can consider as a flaw. Bu based on the facilities we have around us, I think it is fair.

  8. 2- What initiatives are already underway that can improve health outcomes on the local, state or federal level (e.g. living wage campaign; a drive for universal preschool; mandated paid sick leave)?
    There are a few things going on within my community in order to make it a better place. There is construction of new roads going on these days. Also, All the landlord honors are told to make sure that they are make sure that the clean water is supplied through out the water pipes. That is why there is some work going on in my building.
    Also, local stores are being asked to raise the wages of there employees. Especially the supermarket workers and the Dunkin Donuts. However, this campaign is in the process.

  9. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    One of the thing that reflect in the community is the whole school where kids of low income people are trapped into filling school and other factor I have noticed that people of color while driving in rich neighborhood. And I tend to a higher force of Police in the poor neighbourhood than the rich which is never the result of lowering crimes.
    4. How can you make things better in your community?
    One of the way we can improve the community is by bringing the people together,treat people fair,help teenagers to stay in school,make trade school more affordable for low income family.They should create more activities for students stay off the street.

  10. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    Which issues most affect health in your community, for better and worse: housing, jobs, income, transportation, racism, schools, social exclusion or civic engagement, land use and development…? How?

    In my community i often see people living check to check making it nearly impossible to save and they cant afford to go on family vacations. Its not weird for someone to be found dead. The cost of living compared to minimum wages could be an issue that causes most of these problems. I have noticed that there is more development in my area but most people think its because of the increased amount of whites moving in to the neighborhood.

    5. What initiatives are already underway that can improve health outcomes on the local, state or federal level (e.g. living wage campaign; a drive for universal preschool; mandated paid sick leave)?
    Well i know that the mayor purposed an increase of minimum wage in NYC and that they approved paid sick leave for small business employees recently. The president famous Obama-Care helps make health insurance more helpful. The city is also using solar panels to help lower consumption of fossil fuels and lower c02 levels.

  11. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    I consider my community more than average community. It has schools, clinics, urgent care centers, small parks, well maintained sidewalks, grocery stores. One of the best thing I like about my community is its’ greenery. Transportation is also very good, several train lines, and bus routes are available. My community is also safer in case of hurricanes. Only things I don’t like are high rents and a large number of people of my own race. There aren’t so many community activities held in here or maybe I’m not aware of them. Health wise, I think people in my community has easy access to health care, clinics and 24 hours pharmacies.
    4. How can you make things better in your community?
    In my neighborhood, there is a major parkway which has benches. The problem is there are so many homeless people around there who sleeps on the benches. High number of homeless people poses safety issue. I think those homeless people should be provided with information about shelters and resources available to them.
    One initiative in my community was to reduce the speed limits on ocean parkway. Several accidents has happen daily. I’m glad the now the speed limits has been reduced. So I’m hoping decreased number of accidents.

  12. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    My community is pretty much composed of families of low income. There is things that all communities have like a park, a church, a hospital, shopping stores and supermarkets but the quality of these establishments are not that great. People that have a bigger income live in a different part of Brooklyn. Housing is more affordable here because the neighborhood is not good.

    How can you make things better in your community?
    I can organize people together to raise money to fix the park. The kids in my neighborhood can have a nice place to go have fun, instead of getting in trouble. Help build school programs that will teach young adults certain skills so they could be better prepared when they graduate. Something else I could do, is volunteer in the hospital to help people in need.

  13. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?

    Which issues most affect health in your community, for better and worse: housing, jobs, income, transportation, racism, schools, social exclusion or civic engagement, land use and development…? How?

    I don’t think my community has issues as much as other communities. I live in the Bronx and I know many people think of the borough as like the worst out of NYC. In all honestly, the Bronx is one of the few boroughs that have a lot of diversity going on. Everyone gets along with everyone in my community and they care a lot about the neighborhood. Our community board meets once a month and they talk about many issues concerning about having speed bumps on the streets in which they recently added to prevent accidents and building new charter schools. Income wise, it’s pretty middle class. There’s new affordable housing for people with low incomes which help families that aren’t earning enough. My community is pretty active when it comes to issues like this.

    4. How can you make things better in your community?

    What are the greatest challenges? What additional resources are needed? Who are your natural allies and how will you begin creating alliances and partnerships? What are your priorities for action?

    At the moment, there are no major challenges. Additional resources I feel like we need a local library around the area because the nearest one for my community is about 30-45min away. The library is needed for children and people who don’t have resources to read books or go to local workshops where they can get help to confront the world around them. It’s also not fair for the kids that’s are in school to travel that far on their own to check out books for school.

  14. 1. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?
    Income affects a big part in the community because it is one thing everyone needs to survive in this society.With the high rise of rent, low income families cant afford to live trying to put food on the table while paying for rent. Jobs is another factor that affects the community because of the low pay wage that people have to live on.

    5. What initiatives are already underway that can improve health outcomes on the local, state or federal level (e.g. living wage campaign; a drive for universal preschool; mandated paid sick leave)?
    Right now there has been changes in our community on the minimum wage that people are getting paid to fight poverty and help workers earn a decent living wage. Our community also implemented a paid sick leave policy that can give workers the ability to get paid while they are sick, so they dont have to worry about making money to pay the bills. this gives them the the chance to rest and see a doctor when they are sick.

  15. 4. How can you make things better in your community?
    In my community or neighborhood, the street is dirty, dog poops is all over the street, the owner of the dog supposes to clean up after the dog finish their everyday walk. People in my community doesn’t treat this neighborhood in respect. In the winter, some people in neighborhood doesn’t shovel snow in their front yard, which it makes us in neighborhood hard to walk to school and also dangerous to walk on top of snow. If I could make the community betters. I would fine the owner of the dog, and people that doesn’t shovel the snow.

    Who makes the decisions that affect your community?
    I think the district council is the people that represent the community, they suppose to help create a better living environment for the people in the community. The people that live in the neighborhood should always sees district council to about a issue. In my neighborhood, the corner of subways station has no signal light, which is very dangerous to walk across the street. My sister talks to district council about issue, but no one really coming to fix the issue. If the community could write and sigh letter as whole group. The district council might take the complain more seriously.

  16. 3. What compelling stories do you want to tell about your community?
    My community is labeled as the worst part of Brooklyn due to its high crime rate. Although there are many crimes that take place in my neighborhood in the past year or two things are really beginning to clean up. I moved in to the neighborhood February 2014 and so far while living there I have not personally witnessed any crime. I take the trains late nights and leave early mornings before the sun come up and I feel safe. There are many police who walk the streets of my neighborhood which also make me feel safe. before I moved in I heard so many bad stories and the media portrays the community to be horrible but things are really cleaning up.

  17. 2. Who makes the decisions that affect your community?
    – The mayor who we elected makes the decisions regarding my neighborhood. He has an open policy where he asks the community if they noticed any problems around, or what they feel needs to be changed. He tries his best to make everyone’s ideas and opinions come true.

    3. What compelling stories do you want to tell about your community?
    – My community is pretty small. I live on a block that’s surrounded with restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors and Boat companies. During the summer, my neighborhood gets a lot of visitors especially from the city which causes it to get loud and sometimes crazy. Some of my neighbors are okay with the noise and excitement but others find it to be annoying with all the traffic we receive through our street.

    4. How can you make things better in your community?
    – Some changes have already been made in my community. All the streets surrounding mine have become one ways. This has helped because the amount of cars that travel through my neighborhood have caused a lot of ruckus and traffic. Now cars are able to travel peacefully down one street in one direction.

  18. What elements depicted in this film reflect your community?

    My community is pretty good, well managed and a rich community. My community actually has one huge park where you can do cycling, running. There is a pond for boat rentals and a playground for kids within the park. This park was a shock and excitement to me when i figured out it was only five minutes away from my home. There are also two more small playground in my community which describes it all. As i live in a Jewsih neighborhood they have Kosher’s market and other markets as well. The Kosher’s market is an addition to my community. They have LOFT, SEPHORA, GAP and many other branded shops and various kinds of famous restaurant ten minutes away from my home.They have MARTHA’s Bakery in my neighborhood which is a plus point to me as i love cakes. I always feel good while walking down home as my community is filled with great choices.

    How can you make things better in your community?
    To the day today there are no great challenges. However, they always run a construction on the roads as it this the local highway. I do not work during night but there might be others who work at late nights. They get disturbed early in the morning, and that it might affect their health. I think the construction could be conducted after the morning rush hours.

  19. The people who make the decisions in my neighborhood are the politicians as well as some of the older people who grew up in the community. i believe who is missing is the voice of the younger people, if not to make decision to add their input. community members can gain access to power by walking to their neighborhood council person. i don’t see any better way to do this because there are alternate ways of reaching out such as the telephone as well as email and my neighborhood politicians are always present in community affairs as well as playing sports in neighborhoods parks. so i would say they are very approachable and accessible as well.

    i do not think of my community as a bad place it is a close knit neighborhood. with that being said, there is room for improvement. i think the greatest challenge in my neighbor in my opinion is getting the rest of the community involved and not just the same faces at community events. i think we could use a little bit of promotion to let other people who may not know what going on around them and let them know that they welcomed to join

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