BY SEAN EGAN | People often say their neighborhood is teeming with life — an axiom that feels particularly true in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. And like any living thing, a regular checkup is required to see how well everything is running along, and what might need work.
A new report issued by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) serves just that function — taking stock of Clinton (Hell’s Kitchen) and Chelsea, aka Community District 4, within the boundaries of W. 14th and W. 59th Sts., west of Eighth Ave., as well as W. 14th St. to W. 26th St., btw. Sixth and Eighth Aves. Using information from a wide variety of recent city and state surveys, the department has compiled a comprehensive statistical guide to the neighborhood.
In many ways, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen are doing just fine — indeed, better than most of Manhattan, as well as New York City as a whole. In fact, the district is able to lay claim to being number one in one field: exercise. A whopping 90% of residents report that they have engaged in some kind of physical activity during the past 30 days. That figure is 6% higher than Manhattan’s average, and a full 13% higher than NYC, making Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen the best district citywide in this category.
It naturally follows then that the district ranked similarly well in other health and fitness related categories. In both obesity and diabetes rates, Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea ranked 55th (out of 59 districts) in the city, with 10% and 4%, respectively. Rates of smokers and consumption of sugary drinks are also comparably low, while the area ranks seventh in consuming at least one serving of fruits and veggies a day. With this clear focus on remaining active and healthy, there should be no surprise that district residents have a healthy average life expectancy of 82 years.
In addition, the district ranks relatively low in terms of elementary school absenteeism, as well as teen pregnancies (41st and 46th, respectively). Rates of incarceration are also significantly lower than both Manhattan and the citywide rates. The area ranks similarly well in unemployment, poverty and rent-burden, in which it falls in the bottom third of districts.
The news is not all good, however. The report makes clear that Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen has some serious and unique issues that must be faced in order to improve public health.
In the category of new HIV diagnoses, Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen ranks number one citywide, with 116.8 new diagnoses for every 100,000 population. This figure, staggeringly, is nearly four times the city rate for new diagnoses. In another interesting wrinkle, 66% of adults in the district have ever been tested for HIV, which at 23rd in the city, is far from the worst — but worryingly low considering the amount of new diagnoses. Furthermore, Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen’s incidents of alcohol related hospitalizations and drug related hospitalizations land the area in the top third of districts in both categories — 16th and 19th respectively, higher than both the borough and city averages. In addition, in psychiatric hospitalizations Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen ranks 12th citywide, and with 989 instances, is 234 cases higher than the Manhattan average.
One of the more unexpected revelations is that the district has the third highest air pollution rate in the city. The report goes on to explain that Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen has an average of 11.4 micrograms per cubic meter of a pollutant known as PM2.5. Described in the report as “the most harmful air pollutant,” PM2.5 are fine particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, which can lodge themselves easily in one’s lungs.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), common sources of said particles are any combustion reactions — a possible source of which may be the traffic that comes in through the Lincoln Tunnel and Port Authority. Both the EPA and the survey note and that the very young and the elderly are most at risk of suffering due to PM2.5, as well as adults with pre-existing conditions.
While certain issues, such as air pollution, might seem to be out of one’s control on an individual level, the idea behind the report is to bring these larger scale issues and trends to the attention of the general public — with an emphasis on bringing about improvement and change.
“Reducing health inequities requires policymakers, health professionals, researchers and community groups to advocate and work together for systemic change,” wrote Dr. Mary Basset, Commissioner of the NYC DOHMH, in the preface to the report. “Our hope is that you will use the data and information in these Community Health Profiles to advocate for your neighborhoods.”
Councilmember Corey Johnson acknowledged the welcome news from the report, but also cited its “troubling statistics.” In a Jan. 29 email to Chelsea Now, Johnson called Chelsea’s “stubbornly high” HIV infection rates “unacceptable in 2016,” and called for an influx of necessary resources to the neighborhood, in line with New York City and New York State’s vow to end AIDS in New York by 2020. The asthma rates cited by the report, Johnson said, “highlight the need to reduce the number of buses, trucks and cars on the West Side. These statistics should be taken into account when decision makers are considering transportation and infrastructure improvements. I look forward to working with Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett and her team toward making concrete public health improvements in Council District 3.”
All things considered, life is going pretty well for residents — at least by their own assessments. In one of the report’s most direct and telling inquiries, 84% of residents claimed their health was “good,” “very good” or “excellent” — a figure that’s a bit higher than both Manhattan and the city’s average. There may be room for improvement, but most are satisfied with themselves, and their neighborhood.
For a more detailed discussion of the report, attend Community Board 4’s Housing, Health and Human Services Committee meeting on Thurs., Feb. 18 at 475 W. 57th St. (2nd Floor, at 10th Ave.), where a discussion of the report, with reps from DOHMH on hand, is scheduled for the agenda. To access the report, visit https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/data/data-publications/profiles.page. Select “Manhattan,” then “Chelsea and Clinton.”
