Community Health and Well-being in the Lower East Side
As my final graduate capstone project while enrolled in the Art, Education, & Community Practice program at NYU, I collaborated with two other graduate students to focus on the health and well-being of communities in the Lower East Side. We partnered with Anthony Feliciano, the Director of the Commission on the Public’s Health System (a community focused organization that advocates for people’s right to access health care) and Michele Rodriguez, the Older Adults Program Director at University Settlement in LES.
We had the opportunity to work with a group of elderly women at University Settlement from April to June 2017. During that time, we inquired how they viewed health and wellness in their lives and within their community and through the use of art based activities as a platform, we were able to collect their stories and envisioned new ways of inspiring dialogue about issues of concern within health and healthcare, identified key themes of well-being that extended from physical health, and shared solutions to ultimately initiate social change.
Their stories had a strong emphasis on culture, tradition, and wisdom centered on more spiritual and holistic practices. All of these themes are connected to how these individuals perceive and experience a sense of overall well-being. Through dialogue and having an open space to share, these women revealed their identities, beliefs, humor, and humanness through their rich stories about their life as immigrants, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and long-time community members of the Lower East Side.
Image from Body Mapping workshop.
As we collected each piece of advice, experience, and remedy in our sessions, we thought that as a result of the project, creating a community well-being book made up of personal “remedies” and stories would be a delightful way of sharing each individual’s story and to give more context to the health and well-being of the elderly Puerto Rican community in the Lower East Side. A sense of nostalgia, familiarity, truth, and wisdom is sprinkled through each page of the book. We (the facilitators) thoroughly enjoyed listening to each individual’s story and insight and deeply appreciate the honesty and commitment of each individual that contributed to our research and the content of the community book.
Cover (front and back) of community book.
Page from community book.
Page from community book.
This project challenged our assumptions about the health needs of the senior population and although accessible and quality healthcare still remains at the forefront of basic care, there are many different variables that contribute to an individual’s overall health and well-being such as family, support, companionship, relationships, housing, safety, and fresh foods.
We were able to expand the dialogue about healthcare through storytelling and using visual images to incite different perspectives and topics about overall well-being. The use of art also facilitated conversation and opened up space for familiarity and trust and allowed the dialogue to extend far beyond physical health and pain.
There is a prominent immigrant community in the Lower East Side and language and culture remain important factors in getting to know and understanding the population’s needs. Other key themes that arose from this collaboration included inter-generational differences with values, beliefs, methodology in treating illness, injuries, and pain. The research collected from our project is only a small glimpse into the topics we have started to explore. We hope that our documentation will help in at least starting the conversation and research into the needs of the communities in the Lower East Side.
For the full project site and details please visit: https://brendahung7.wixsite.com/nyuwellbeingproject