Dr. Tony Eton begins his speech with a quote, Physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor, and social problems fall to a large extent within their jurisdiction by Rudolph Virchow and it cut deep. I felt that this quote does not just apply to physicians, but also to me as a planner. While my job might seem small, I realized that I play a critical role in the overall wellbeing of the community. Dr. Eton shares some deep insights regarding the impact that your zip code has on your health and chances of survival. All these differences are mainly attributed to the biases that exist within the system. Racial and cultural discrimination has resulted in failures in the system, where Black people are alienated from the White and they do not have access to basic social amenities. And the result? Two very different social setups, where the White people thrive in flourishing areas with access to healthy food and proper healthcare while the Black people are left to suffer in the dungeons of the city with little or no access to proper food and healthcare. I now realize that it is my responsibility as a planner to interact with work and help alleviate some of these systematic biases that exist in the systems in which we all work. The first step will be ensuring that everyone is allowed fair access to education, housing, and employment opportunities regardless of their ethnic, social, cultural, political, economic, etc. affiliations ("HEAL SLO 2016 - Dr. Tony Iton", 2018) .
Proper environmental planning is crucial to altering and even eliminating these systematic biases. The truth is that an individual’s environmental location affects their access to fresh food produce, medical amenities, and employment opportunities. In this case, proper environmental planning will go a long way in ensuring fairness for all. First of all, the mode of transport is very critical to the health of the people. One environmental planning strategy would be to find alternative transportation that will reduce GHG emissions to ensure that residents breathe fresh air. Also, ensuring access to fresh food is a very vital aspect of environmental planning. This will be easily achieved by enhancing infrastructure so that foodstuffs can get to the area in a timely manner and while still fresh. Each region should also have parks with trees and amusement areas where people can go for a walk and have fun. The trees in this parks will be a guarantee of better air quality. However, the introduction of these elements alone does not address systematic bias. There is a need for a prompt system to identify the need for these elements and to pursue them until they are presented to the people. As a planner, I will look at the data regarding the population of an area, the number of parks in the same area, and the ease of accessing food. This data will be the starting point of implementing the proper environmental planning for the region.
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I will be able to gauge the effectiveness of my efforts to pursue environmental goals and address social/cultural bias by the number of deaths registered in the area. The goal is to reduce the mortality rate of the people, and if this is achieved, then that is a win! The video by Dr. Tony Eton has played a very crucial role in enlightening me about the correlation between an individual’s environment and their health. I initially thought that health is entirely dependent on an individual’s genetic composition. I am now enlightened and I will always be on the lookout of the environment where I stay ("HEAL SLO 2016 - Dr. Tony Iton", 2018) .
References
HEAL SLO 2016 - Dr. Tony Iton. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t2HyJSPVSo
Team, U. (2018). Anthony Iton: Builder of partnerships to create healthy low-income communities in California - Public Health 75. Retrieved from https://www.publichealth75.berkeley.edu/2018/04/05/anthony-iton/
Zip Code Vs. Genetic Code: Which Matters More For Life Expectancy?. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.capradio.org/news/insight/2017/03/20/insight-032017b/
