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Healthiness is next to happiness

Source: PeopleImages / Getty

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Northeast Ohio Alliance of Hope (NOAH) hand-delivered petitions to Cuyahoga County Council members and the county administration requesting county leaders establish and fund a program that would bring quality grocery options to East Cleveland’s growing food desert.

NOAH also invited county leaders to a public forum on April 15 to discuss supermarkets in Cuyahoga County, in addition to policies and programs that can address food deserts.

“It is an important issue on the table around access to quality grocery stores in underserved communities,” said Trevelle Harp, the executive director of NOAH.

Studies and research done by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health’s Creating Healthy Communities program have shown that more than 400,000 people in the county live in a so-called food desert, which means they do not have convenient access to healthy, fresh food. Without these options, people are more inclined to buy fast food or microwaveable meals which are loaded in fat and sodium.

The absence of fresh and healthy food choices leaves people vulnerable to chronic health conditions, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes, officials said. The areas that the health department has labeled as food deserts also have higher rates of death from chronic diseases.

“There have been a lot of stats that show a lot of health disparities and chronic illness and chronic diseases that will link to the access of healthy foods in communities,” Harp said. “There are stats that show that based on your zip code that you can dictate someone’s life expectancy.”

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NOAH members have looked on as three supermarkets have opened in food deserts across the county. Each one of those markets, including the newly opened East Side Market in the Glenville neighborhood, received some level of public funding. Advocates hope history can repeat itself in the sprawling food desert of East Cleveland, which has an extremely high number of deaths from chronic diseases. According to the Creating Healthy Communities’ 2017 study, East Cleveland has only one grocery store that serves fresh produce and meat. As of this year, that number remains unchanged.

The April 15 public forum will be held at the McGregor Home in East Cleveland beginning at 6:30 pm.

 

READ MORE: News5Cleveland.com

Article and Third and Fourth Picture Courtesy of WEWS News 5 Cleveland

First Picture Courtesy of Roberto Machado Noa and Getty Images

Second Picture Courtesy of PeopleImages and Getty Images

Video Courtesy of YouTube and WEWS News 5 Cleveland

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