Nostrand Park » Health

Berean Community Center Walk For Kids

NP — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:23:15 +0000

On Saturday May 15th The Berean Community and Family Life Center (BCFLC) hosts its 7th annual Walk for Kids. The Berean Community and Family Life Center is a first of its kind in New York City for a faith-based organization that focuses on health and wellness for adults and children. This unique Center currently houses a medical clinic with highly respected physicians in podiatry, gastroenterology (GI specialty), along with pediatricians, internists, obstetrician/gynecologists, physical therapists and a nutritionist.

Saturday’s walk is part of BCFLC’s efforts at fighting obesity. This walk begins at 8:30am and registration starts at 8am. There is a ten-dollar entry fee and each walker will receive a t-shirt, sponsor forms and registration packet. For more information on participating in Saturday’s walk to fight childhood obesity, call 718-778-2938 or visit BCFLC’s website: http://bereancommunity.org/index.htm

Veggies – New Juice Bar On Franklin Ave

Abeni G. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:13:50 +0000

Saw a new awning at 785 Franklin Ave., between Lincoln Pl and St. Johns, that read Veggies, Natural Juice Bar!

Nostrand Ave. has the wonderful Punch Line Juice Bar at 701 Noastrand Ave. at Park Pl. among other nearby juice bars- and now it looks like Franklin Ave will have its own version soon.

I can’t wait till Veggies opens so I can try their wheat grass and carrot juice! Hope they will make fruit smoothies also!

New Women’s Health Center

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:32:00 +0000

Join us for a special preview of

December 1, 2009 and December 2, 2009

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bishop Orris G. Walker, Jr. Health Center

528 Prospect Place, 1st floor

Brooklyn, NY 11238

Light refreshments will be served.

Interfaith Medical Center has opened up a new Women’s Health Center at its Bishop Orris Walker clinic facility.

The clinic is located at 528 Prospect between Franklin and Classon Aves. They are having two preview days in the on December 1st and 2nd.

Rep. Yvette Clarke Hosts H1N1 Tele-Town Hall

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

via Team Tish

ATTENTION: Rep. Clarke Hosts H1N1 Tele-Town Hall Meeting; 11/19

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke
Presents…

A Tele-Town Hall Meeting on:
THE H1N1 VIRUS: PART TWO – “HOW IS NEW YORK CITY ADDRESSING THE NATIONAL SHORTAGE OF THE H1N1 VACCINE?”

Date: Thursday November 19, 2009
Time: 6:00p.m. to 7p.m. EST

Call In Number (877) 229-8493 Pin: 13319

Special Guest- Dr. Aletha Maybank the Assitant Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, joins Representative Clarke to discuss how people can better access the H1N1 vaccine.

For more information please contact: 718-287-1142

Berean Community and Family Life Center

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:26:56 +0000

From an NP Reader…

I’d like to mention the Berean Community and Family Life Center as an important resource in Central Brooklyn. They offer medical services, including consultations with nutritionists and health assessments. They also have a drumline for youth and offer a wellness program for teenage girls. They also host a number of health fairs in the summer months. The staff is very dedicated.

They have a website and are located on Bergen Street near Rochester Avenue.

How Healthy is Central Brooklyn?

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:10:00 +0000

WNYC recently did a story on health issues in the South Bronx where they alluded to Central Brooklyn joining the South Bronx and Northern Manhattan as the three areas in this city granted District Public Health Offices (DPHO) that are meant to help develop community based solutions to public health issues such as asthma, diabetes and obesity.

While there have been a few sightings of a green cart on Nostrand, farmers markets at Weeksville and Malcolm X respectively, and the Crown Heights CSA, as well as fitness centers like the St. Johns Recreation Center and Resurgent Fitness, not to mention Brower Park. According to DPHO statistics 35% of adults in Bed Stuy and Brownsvill are overweight, double the figure for high school students in the same area.

Quality food choices are obviously one part of a holistic public health pyramid. Fitness resources, be they gyms or parks and ample green space are also necessary, as well as resources to ensure that residents are kept abreast of new developments, and are employing good health care habits.

It remains to be seen whether these newly minted DPHOs can solve this riddle, but for all our sakes we are glad they are trying.

Brooklyn District Public Health Office

Bedford Health Center
485 Throop Avenue,Brooklyn,NY 11221
646-253-5700
BrooklynDPHO@health.nyc.gov

Bushwick Health Center
335 Central Avenue,Brooklyn,NY 11221
718-573-4847
BrooklynDPHO@health.nyc.gov

Who Runs Crown Heights?

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0000

We all do if we so choose…

I’ve been an off an on runner for the past decade. However, in spite of some prolonged breaks, this period from January 2008 to now has een the most consistent stretch since I adopted running to my workout regiment a decade ago. There are a number of reasons to explain this consistency; first was an incredible beginners running course that I took through Jack Rabbit Sports in winter ’08 where I learned how to the nagging injuries that had previously derailed my jogging routines, and most importantly for anyone striving to be a runner in the northeast, how to effictively run outdoors in the winter. After completing this class, it was a breeze to get up and do a quick loop around Prospect Park, and I gradually got to the point where I was pushing myself to try longer distances.

Things were going well until I began teaching again in fall 2008 and before I knew it, instead of getting out to the park 3-4 times a week, I was lucky if I made it twice. And then it became run twice one week, take a week off, run once, take two weeks off. What was in August a regular routine became a sporadic series of misadventures, and as my mileage went down, my weight went back up.

Then a series of events took place this summer that conspired me to take a serious look at what was in store if I continued being lax with my health. During my annual check up in June, my doctor warned me for the second time in as many years that if my weight continued going up, I was putting myself at risk of contracting diabetes–which would be doubly tragic given the fact that it does not run in my family. Then from late July – early September, I accipurposefully initiated a stark decline in my intake of processed foods. Part of the inspiration for this was reading Mark Bittman’s Food Matters and Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. What struck me as I read both texts is that as I considered my family’s food biography since my parents immigrated from Haiti in the mid 70s the amount of “real food” that was consumed in our household rapidly declined as inexpesnive items like Hostess cakes, soda, potato chips and fast food started dominating our cupboards. While I still wasn’t running as much as I was in spring ’08, by cutting down on processed food items I felt healthier than I had in ages.

But lo and behold once the semester started and I began teaching, I soon found myself receding into bad habits, and by early October I was making runs in between classes to pick up an individual pack of Vienna Fingers, and dare I say it, a Kit Kat bar. And with those store runs came another recession in running days.

That’s when I started thinking about a post that Nick had put up on I Love Franklin Avenue over the summer about running in Crown Heights. It dawned on me that one of the things contributing to a decline in mileage was that running Prospect Park can become staid after awhile. So instead of running or walking to Prospect Park and doing a loop, I began running around the nabe. Beginning with loops around Brower Park and then proceeding to a variety of routes along New York Ave, and most recently Utica Avenue–running felt like new again.

I’m not running the same distances yet that I was doing last spring, but I am running more often. Now when I get up I no longer have to do the calculation about whether I’m gonna have enough time to get to Prospect Park and back in time for work. Instead, I just step out my door and go wherever the spirit leads me.

Running Crown Heights at 6:00am I am often reminded about how breathtaking Eastern Parkway is, or the inclines up New York Avenue around Empire Blvd, and that busy thoroughfares like Utica and Nostrand are sometimes serene in daylight.

And as the ladies who I see walking around Brower in the mornings also bring to mind, you don’t have to run or play a fast paced sport to stay fit. Walking is a great way to stay fit and is less taxing on one’s joints than running.

These experiences reiterate some of the basic tenets of a healthy lifestyle, exercise and a proper diet have to be enacted in tandem for either one to be effective. Annual checkups and following through on warnings, even if they allude to events far off in the distance, should be heeded. Finally, setbacks and lapses in any regimen are inevitable, what’s important is developing a willingness to get back on the wagon, and to not let your routine become routine.

Crown Heights Health Week

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:50:55 +0000

While this designation is far from official and as far as we know may be far behind any actual health week in this area, we wanted to invite our readers to contribute to next week’s Crown Heights Health Week series. If you are involved with a social service, public health or community based organization that strives to improve health outcomes in the area we encourage you to submit op-eds, post events on our calendar, or pass along charts and other relevant data that can be posted immediately.

Why next week?

Well one reason is because we wanted to, and a second is that by happenstance all of our main contributors were simultaneously working on health related entries without any premeditated planning. Looking over the enttries we have on tap, we realized that it makes sense for a number of reasons to make next week health week:

It’s the week before Thanksgiving, a week where many people find their stress levels starting to rise as they prepare for long-distance travel and trying to balance fulfilling work obligations and the series of family and personal obligations that converge during the holiday season.
Also, as the week before Thanksgiving, it’s the week where people are most likely to fall off healthy diet regimens and start gorging on carbs and desserts. What starts out as a thanksgiving break from working out often lasts well past Christmas when having realized they’ve fallen off the wagon, people begin flooding gyms in an attempt to get ready for summer.
Mental health issues such as seasonal depression, and higher levels of stress resulting from unemployment of financial burdens risk becoming exacerbated. Too often we allow ourselves to become consumed with what we are not able to give, rather than being able to embrace what we have, and this has a propensity to incite self-destructive behavioral patterns.
Crown Heights is a paradox in that it has better health services than we think, while also offering far less attractive health services than we desire. We at NP are interested in how can we as community members work to improve that divide.

So whether your a yogi or a public health wonky, we encourage you to share your thoughts and resources with your fellow Crown Heights residents through NP.

In your Hearts and Minds we trust…

NP Staff

NP Roundup

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:00:06 +0000

Update: Crains: Brooklyn Economy Fairing Better Than Rest of NYC
Update: Brownstoner: City Spurs Grocery Stores to Underserved Areas
Update: MyBrooklynReport: How 39 Herkimer Street was Stolen from its Rightful Owner
NYTimes: Study shows better scores for charter schools
Brooklyn Eagle: Bloomberg Unveils Web-based Healthcare Tool
Kaenahora: Rosh Hashana in Crown Heights
NY Daily News: Crown Heights Playground Designed by Students

Hot Off the Events Calendar!

LaurelB — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:56:18 +0000

Photo Credit: Resurgent Fitness

The long day weekend is right around the corner, so we just wanted to take the time to point out some fun events happening around Crown Heights this weekend. Of course, there is the famed West Indian Labor Day Parade happening on Eastern Parkway on Monday (you can purchase your own costume and march with a professional band or you can march along with the folks at Heart of Brooklyn if you are so inclined).

But even before the Labor Day fun begins, you may want to warm up for the festivities with FREE yoga, belly dance, djembe, muay thai and other classes taking place all day Saturday, September 5th at Resurgent Fitness, located at 845 Sterling Place, between Rogers and Nostrand. (FYI – as the owner Eric shared with us, in response to our comment re: lack of signage in our previous post about Resurgent, they’ve put up a sign on the building!) You can also partake in any of the other pre-parade events, including the Junior Children’s Parade, which starts at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Resurgent Fitness – 1st Annual Open House

Saturday September 5, 2009

Schedule of Events

10:00am – [Surprise Class - TBD]
11:15am – [Surprise Class - TBD]
12noon – Capoiera w/Leticia Montiero
1:15pm – Muay Thai w/Miguel Rivera
2:30pm – Belly Dancing w/Olga El
4:00pm – Congolese Dance w/Funmilayo
5:15pm – Yoga w/Montez Teferi
6:30pm – Djembe Drum/Djembe Dance w/Yao Ababio & Kofi Osei Ababio Williams
___________________________

All classes are FREE, but donations are encouraged and appreciated!