Lakeshore: Health and Accessibility

By Vanessa, Maria, Beatriz and Miguel

There were a variety of healthy food choices around Lakeshore. Some foods were healthy, others weren't. Some of the more healthy choices were Subway, Vegetarian pizza, and places where they sold different types of soups. There was also a Trader Joe's market, which is a grocery store that sells organic and locally-sorced foods. At the same time, there were also a lot of unhealthy choices; there were a lot of fast food restaurants, like Chinese take-outs and greasy-looking burritos. Most people around were eating different kinds of food.

On our way to Lakeshore we saw a lot of people exercising, running around Lake Merritt. We interviewed women and we asked her what people do to keep healthy. She said, "they go and run in the morning, and try to eat healthy". We passed by the restaurants and saw people eating healthy for example salads, vegetables and other things. We were amazed because if you come to Oakland you don't see as many people eating healthy.

While walking around Lakeshore asking people about health, we figured out that there weren’t any free Clinics in that area. This lady we interviewed said it would be nice if there were more free clinics around this area. Free clinics would be a good idea for people that have a low income and can't afford health insurance. If these clinics aren’t free, they should at least be at a low cost. This way, people can go for checkups to make sure they're healthy, and find health problems before they get bad. Overall, we think Lakeshore had both healthy and unhealthy people. There were a lot of people there for work, not living there, so this might not show what the neighborhood people might be like.