CHICAGO — People who live in West Garfield Park have a life expectancy of just 68.8 years, while those who live on the Near North Side are expected to live to be 85.2 years old.
Those numbers, while reflecting a disparity, also show something good, said Dr. Julie Morita, commissioner of Public Health: Life expectancy for residents of all of Chicago's neighborhoods rose between 2000 and 2010, according to data from the city, and the gap between neighborhoods on the North, South and West sides is decreasing.
And in fact, gun violence — a hot topic when it comes to inequality in Chicago — does not contribute to the life expectancy gap, since homicides are a relatively infrequent cause of death compared to chronic diseases like diabetes and heart conditions.
Morita, speaking at the American Public Health Association's Chicago meeting on Nov. 4, highlighted the disparity by pointing out that someone can take the train and see a 16-year difference in life expectancy between seven stops in Chicago.
“Disparities exist between neighborhoods, and they’ve existed for a long, long time,” Morita said on Friday. But, “those disparities have decreased and all the neighborhoods actually had improved life expectancy.”
The life expectancy for the entire city is nearly 78 years old, Morita said.
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The disparities stem from a number of factors, from genetics to access to health care to environment and social factors, Morita said. In fact, shootings, which occur with more frequency in West Garfield Park than the Near North Side, do not play as significant a role in the 16-year life expectancy gap between those areas as do issues like differences in poverty levels.
“The numbers are relatively small,” Morita said of shooting deaths. “The main causes of death in the U.S. are not related to homicide and murders.”
That's why the Department of Public Health is focused not just on violence prevention in the city but also on mental and behavioral health, child and adolescent health and chronic diseases.
The health department will release a report called "Healthy Chicago 2.0" in early December that will focus on promoting health equity, Morita said. The department is targeting the social factors that contribute to improving health, like economic development and providing adequate housing, transportation and education options for all Chicagoans.
Notably, Morita said the department has a violence prevention program that helps people who are likely to need mental health care. When police interact with someone who appears to have mental health needs, the officers will connect them to health care rather than put them in jail, Morita said.
The health department is also enrolling residents in health insurance so they can receive health care through Get Covered Illinois. Enrollment lasts until the end of January.
“Access to health care is a big factor” in improving life expectancy, Morita said, noting that there is now a "big push" to get people enrolled. “In order to improve health we need to make sure people have health insurance.”
And though the department has "limited resources" and doesn't have the money to do everything for all Chicagoans, it has increased access to care throughout the city and seen reductions in morality due to heart disease, cancer, HIV and other infectious diseases, Morita said.
And in recent years, the difference in life expectancy between Chicagoans who are black and white has decreased by 10 percent, Morita said.
“All those things combined actually lead to improved life expectancy,” Morita said. “Even though there is a disparity, there has been a reduction in the disparity.”
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