Groups 5-8: Food Availability

This Friday Group 7 travelled to New Brunswick to collect data; visiting a corner store, two supermarkets which wish to remain anonymous, and a vegetarian co-op. They used a modified version of the Thrifty Food Plan to look variety, prices, store hours, delivery services and whether stores accept Food Stamps. One member also concentrated on looking at specialty food and vitamin sections, such as for infants and diabetic. Of the four stores it was at the cornerstores where they found the most items from the Thrifty Food Plan to be missing.

Although they collected enough data to begin their analysis, one of the members is concerned that the stores that they visited are not representative enough of where the residents of New Brunswick shop, and therefore won't give them a clear idea of what kind of food is being consumed. Although the supermarkets offered a good selection of food, the members felt that it would be more useful to look at more corner stores and to see at how accessible the supermarkets are in comparision to the corner stores, to really determine what kind of foods residents can buy.

They hope that when their data is compared to the research that the infrastructure groups are doing they will have more clarity as to how to address the problem of food availability in New Brunswick.

In the meantime, group 5 has been analyzing the data that was collected in Trenton. There have been no updates from the Camden group, and group 8 has a trip planned to Newark on December 5th; once these two groups have collected their data it will be interesting to compare their experiences on the field with those of groups 5 and 7.

Infrastructure Part I & II (Groups 3 & 4)

This week, the two groups continued working on mapping out the infrastructure elements in New Jersey. After break, each group plans to make their site visits to take pictures of the infrastructure elements they will be researching in their project. This week, I also interviewed members from each group about their progress so far and their expectations for the rest of the semester. Here are a few excerpts from the interviews:

Interview #1—Wyliena Guan (Group 3)

Q: What has been the most challenging part of the project so far?

A: It has been using the program, the technology, to get this project completed. To use this program on my own, finding the info (where to get it on the internet)... having to refind, re-set the data, trying to use the program on my computer… has been a little bit of a pain. Besides that, it’s not so bad. I really like it.

Q: What city will you be traveling to, and what do you hope to find there?

A: I will be traveling to New Brunswick, or Newark, with my entire group…. (When I go to the city) we will be looking for basic infrastructure elements. What we have been trying to map out using the GIS programs.

Q: Why are the infrastructure elements you are researching important?

A: When you try to implement any project, plan, etc, it all goes back to the infrastructure. If a plan isn’t working, you resort back to (analyze) the infrastructure. For example (as in one of our readings) when trying to provide health care to Puerto Rican women, a big problem was having convenient (health care institution) hours for the women, providing a place where they could go for childcare… little things like that. Even though you don’t think of it as that important, and think of them as pretty minor, it is those sorts of details that can make or break a program…any endeavor that you are going to go after.

Interview #2—Alexandra Satty (Group 4)

Q: What has been the most challenging part of the project so far?

A: Utilizing the mapping program that the GIS librarian showed us has been pretty difficult. The programs look like they can do some incredible things, but it’s very complicated to figure out. In addition, trying to figure out how to combine all the data sets we are finding in the most useful way seems like it will be rather challenging.

Q: Do you think anything that you have learned thus far in “the Politics of Race and Health in America” has changed the way you think about elements pertaining to this project? If so, what and how?

A: I think the idea of race being a social construct is really interesting to consider when looking at census data, and specifically maps based on this data pertaining to racial distributions. When looking at a map, race seems very black-and-white (or, in the case of the maps we looked at today, red-and-yellow) – red areas have a high percentage of blacks, while yellow areas have a low percentage of blacks. However, after considering the idea of race as a social construct, you start to think about how all this data is not as clear cut as it sometimes seems, which was something I found rather interesting.

Group 1 (Food as a Public Health Issue) & Group 2 (Health in New Jersey) (3rd post)

While members of Groups 1 and 2 are busy starting their research work this week, I thought it would be interesting to ask them how they got interested in their chosen topics. It turned out that they all have different and very interesting reasons, ranging from personal career interests to inspirations from recent new events. Having understood the rationales of their research topics, I became even more excited in expecting what they will find at the end of the project!

Let's hear what they said...

Group 1 - Food as a Public Health Issue

History of food availability in the US (Carine Davila)
“I've decided to write about the history of food availability and its correlation with aggregate health outcomes (e.g. longevity). I became interested in the topic because longevity in the last century has increased due to advances in medical technology and other public health measures. This project has prompted me to consider whether food availability may have actually played a role as well. I'm eager to learn more about the impact of food availability. I think it will be interesting to see exactly how I can measure food availability over time, and whether or not studies have been done along these lines. Furthermore, I think the question may be a tricky one, because food availability does not necessarily correlate with consumption choices made by individuals, so it may not lead to a correlation with health outcomes. Nevertheless, since we wish to look at aggregate health outcomes, this may be the only level to see any kind of impact.”

History and contemporary politics of school lunch programs (Lauren Bartholomew)
“I specifically chose to do research on school lunch programs, because I remember hearing on the news debates over the healthiness of food provided by school lunch programs. I was interested in the topic but did not have time to pursue researching it. Therefore, I figured that this [CBLI project] would be a good way to learn more about the topic while fulfilling our class's paper requirement.”

History of the USDA food pyramid, food safety regulations, and changing government assertions about what is healthy (Carol Shih)

“This topic is interesting because of the recent food scandals coming out of China - it has really shaken up the consumers internationally. As citizens and consumers, we need to pay attention to what is put into our food, how it is produced, and who is buying these products. Because many people are either unconcerned with or just not knowledgeable about what our food consists, or even what's healthy, the government should play a role in determining what is acceptable and what isn't.”

Group 2 – Health in New Jersey

Lung cancer, cirrhosis and AIDS (Sara Peters)
“I chose lung cancer, cirrhosis and AIDS because I was motivated to find how illnesses relate to choice-based behaviors in different races. There is definitely a positive correlation between acquiring these diseases and performing what many people see as “morally questionable behaviors”. Although the jury is out in the question of whether these behaviors do relate to negative lifestyle/health choices, I became curious to see which race would have a higher prevalence. It is unknown to us that among people who engage in these behaviors, which racial group would have a higher association with lung cancer, cirrhosis, and AIDS.”

Diabetes, obesity, and heart disease (Emily Hankin)
“I am very interested in childhood obesity and the diseases that are often associated with it. Especially in the last year, the various initiatives across the country to combat obesity have met with enthusiasm from some [people], and skepticism/disbelief from others. I am interested in whether these initiatives actually have any effect, or whether reducing obesity is something that needs to be addressed within the family, rather than imposed by the government.”

Infant mortality and maternal health (Rosalynd Upton)
“I am researching infant mortality and gestational diabetes. I am interested in this topic because I am thinking about becoming a perinatologist, which is a doctor who deals with high risk pregnancies. I thought this topic would be a good way for me to start thinking about women's and infant's health.”

Childhood vaccination, childhood asthma, and childhood injuries (Alexandra Douwes)
“I have always been very interested in pediatrics. I shadowed a pediatric surgeon for a day in high school once, and love to work with children. Moreover, I believe that in order to solve the many health disparities and health issues currently troubling the U.S, we will have to focus on children's health first, as they will grow up to set the health norms and precedent for future generations.”

Unintentional injuries and resulting deaths (Yuna Sakuma)

“I ended up doing unintentional injuries because it was the only one that had not been chosen out of the websites with data that could easily be used for our project. However, I am gladI am doing it now. I am much more aware that there are significant death rates for unintentionalinjuries, and from my perspective, they are often overlooked. It is not something you would think of as causing in a racial disparity, but from my present knowledge, it does. I am looking forward to compiling the data and finding out the specifics about this cause of death.”

Stakeholders: Groups 17-21

This week, the stakeholders groups received feedback on their action plans and continued to tailor their questions to fit CHE's requirements. Each group was given a list of "core questions" based on questions submitted in action plans in order to standardize the interview process among stakeholders in all five areas. Groups will still be able to ask questions in addition to core questions based on what they find most interesting.

There is a natural pause as groups wait for final approval on their full question lists from CBLI and CHE, but group members are still actively discussing logistics and how to divide up reporting on interviews. Groups can either have each individual member report on a single interview, or each group member can report on a particular question across all interviews. The groups were also officially assigned to interview either specific people or a specific category of stakeholder, based on feedback from CBLI and CHE.

A quick glance at some groups and their assigned interviews:

Group 17 (Trenton): Mayor, United Way Director
Group 18 (Camden): Osborn Family Health Center Director Marge Cofsky, Representative from Camden County Chamber of Commerce
Group 19 (Newark): Mayor Corey Booker, Executive Director of Newark Department of Health and Human Services Dwight Peavy
Group 20 (New Brunswick): Hospital administrator, food pantry administrator
Group 21 (New Jersey): Commissioner of NJ Department of Health Heather Howard, Representative of New Jersey Hospital Association

Groups must finalize their interview lists (which includes identifying specific individuals to interview within some of the broader categories listed above) by Monday, and interviews will begin soon after that.

City Residents Speak about Food: Groups 9, 10, 11 and 12

This week the project really started to come together for the residents speak groups. The Trenton and Camden groups each sent a few representatives to their respective cities to carry out interviews last Friday. The Newark and New Brunswick groups continued preparations for their travel days, which have been pushed back until after Thanksgiving, December 3rd and 5th.

From the Camden group, only one member, Monique McDermonth, was able to go out and participate in the fieldwork due to the other group members constricting class schedules on the day of the trip. She reports that she was able to get some great footage. In the weeks to come hopefully the group will get together to review and analyze the data collected.

The Trenton group still has yet report back on how the fieldwork interviews went. However, I am sure they were able to collect a substantial amount of useful information and will soon be processing the interviews into transcripts for analysis.

The Newark and New Brunswick groups solidified their questionnaires for the upcoming interviews through meetings and email exchanges. The New Brunswick group made a point to outline what main aspects of residents' experiences they hope to hone in on throughout their interviews: culture, spaces (in which residents eat), the meaning of food, background information and the expense of food. These groups also verified which group members would definitively be able to travel to their cities to conduct the interviews in the coming weeks. As of now they are just waiting for the date of their the future fieldwork to arrive.

Groups 5-8 Food Availability.

This Friday two members of group 5 traveled to Trenton, where they looked at food availability in four stores, including a 7-11 in Lawrenceville, two big supermarkets in Trenton, and a farmer’s market right outside of Trenton. Their group is is also using the Thrifty Food Plan to survey food, focusing mostly on the variety of food present, prices, and expiration dates, and whether or not stores accept food stamps

The students, Carolyn Smith-Lu and Anthony Loring were surprised by the great variety and quality of food in the two big supermarkets - Supreme FoodMarket and the Food Bazaar – and noted the extensive section of ethnic foods in both stores. Although in Supreme FoodMarket we were not warmly received, the manager of Food Bazaar met with Carolyn and Anthony, and emphasized the importance of taking into account the ethnic composition of the population that the store was marketing to. He also clarified that the reason for which the supermarkets seemed rather empty had to do with the fact that most of the shoppers tend to come at the very beginning of the month and late at night. The Farmer’s Market also offered a variety of affordable, fresh and healthy food.



At the 7-11, not surprisingly, there were a few Thrifty Food Plan items missing from the store, and most of the products did not have price labels, or were incorrectly labeled. The store employees were more than willing to ring up each item for them, and interestingly, one of the workers approached me to comment on the importance. of checking for expiration dates and correct prices at least once a month. However, it is not clear how useful the data from this store will be seeing that it is located in Lawrenceville and not in Trenton.

Their findings led Carolyn and Anthony to wonder if it would have been more helpful to look at the food offered in corner stores in residential neighborhoods as well as problems related to accessibility to the supermarkets. Given the data collected, the quality of the food sold in these stores is not a problem in Trenton. Carolyn also commented that there have been many proposals to modify the thrifty food plan, and that the study that groups 5-8 are doing may show that this indeed needs to be done.

During the upcoming weeks, the other three groups will visit their respective cities. All of them are using the same measure - the Thrifty Food Plan. The group doing research in Camden will also be taking advertisements, coupons and discounts into account. After having heard Catholic Health East’s CEO speak about the problem of diabetes in immigrant population, they will also be looking at the availability of healthy ethnic food. One aspect of their research that differs from the other groups' is that they will also be looking at what kind of restaurants are found within a three block walking distance of supermarkets.

Infrastructure Part I & II (Groups 3 & 4)

This week, the two infrastructure groups met to discuss their plans and strategies for tackling their infrastructure goals when they travel to the cities. Both groups took time out to sit down and redefine exactly what it was they were going to be looking for. For example, what exactly constitutes a “vacant lot?”

The students also reflected on what Professor Harris-Lacewell mentioned in lecture last week. She challenged us to think of models while conducting our research. One of the groups I met with asked each other to think about what food meant to each of them, personally, by the next time they meet. This will aid them in better-connecting with the project. I will hopefully have the results of the combined answers next time I post.

Lastly, I traveled with Wyliena Guan, a member of the Infrastructure Part I group (group 3) to visit with the GIS librarian to learn about mapping out infrastructure. While there, he asked us some thought-provoking questions. Some of which were: “How are you defining your infrastructure elements?” “What does transportation include? What does it mean to you?” “What do you mean by “residential areas”? Does this include urban, rural, etc.?”

These questions caused us to stop and think about what it is exactly we are studying, and how we define what those things mean to us, and to other people. It also caused me to think about how I personally saw these things as well. In general, however, he gave us a very informative lesson on map-making, using the software, searching the databases and finding infrastructure elements. Map-making is a lot more difficult than I first imagined. So, I wish the groups the best of luck with their final projects!