SERVICES
ABOUT US
GET INVOLVED
6900 McGraw Phone: 313-361-6377 Email Us:
Detroit, MI 48210 Fax: 313-361-6378 bcigeneral@bridgingcommunities.org
Mobilizing Elders in Southwest Detroit:
Challenges
According to a recent study, Detroit elders are three times more likely to be at or below the poverty level than seniors in other parts of the country (Onolemhemhen, 2009). In Southwest Detroit, 56% of people over 65 are below the poverty line.
Many seniors live in houses that were built in the 1920‘s, which are costly and physically challenging to maintain. Elders must choose whether to pay their high energy bills, purchase food, or buy prescription medications.
Homebound seniors must wait on a 4 to 5 month waiting list in order to receive food from Meals on Wheels, due to a lack of funds.
A high rate of poverty in the area across all age groups causes problems for seniors. Crime and gang related activity prevent many elders from going out into the community.
Southwest Detroit is home to three steel mills, an oil refinery, and a water treatment plant plus many semi trucks crossing the border to Canada. This combination poisons the air with toxic chemicals.
Poor air quality can increase cancer, promote asthma symptoms and aggravate heart disease. For elders, air quality also affects their ability to be outdoors and this reduces their physical and social activity.
1. Environmental Health
The smokestacks of a steel company peek over neighborhood rooftops near Dix and Vernor Highways.
“The rate of asthma hospitalization in Southwest Detroit and South Dearborn is more than double the rate for Michigan Residents”
--Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision
2. Poverty
An elderly woman had been discovered living in this home alone at the time this photo was taken.
3. Lack of resources
Low-income senior citizen housing available are designed only for people who can live independently. Elders that need more assistance like assisted living or a nursing home are forced to move out of the area, far away from their neighbors and friends. Wait lists for Medicaid beds in nursing homes can be as long as 4 to 5 years.
The only accessible neighborhood health clinic has a wait of several hours. Many seniors cannot endure the wait and choose not to go.
“The lack of primary care physicians [in Detroit] leads to overburdening hospital emergency rooms. Few private practices accept the uninsured, and there are long waits for appointments at health centers. Therefore, many people visit hospital ERs because they have nowhere else to go” (“Social Equality”, 2010)
This senior center near Livernois and McGraw was closed due to lack of funding. It now stands vacant.
Mobilizing Elders is a community profile of individuals aged 65+ in Southwest Detroit, researched and created by Rebecca Fried, Anita Kasper, Stephanie Wagner, and Lotus Yu, MSW candidates at the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work.
“Some of our seniors have to choose between paying their bills, eating, or buying medicine”
--Carrie Harnish, BCI
