NYC MDs: Tackling Obesity Takes Systemic Change and Safer Streets

Testimony Dec 9th Linda Prine MD

I am a family physician practicing in lower Manhattan in a Federally Qualified Health Center, one of the types of practices that are expected to double in capacity under health care reform.  In health care, we are dealing with an obesity epidemic. Obesity contributes to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, joint problems and depression.

The medical community has seen the amazing public health benefits that the stop smoking initiatives of the Mayor and City Council have had on the smoking rates in NYC.  We have learned from this that systemic change does much more than one doctor at a time telling one patient at a time to stop smoking.

Studies show that commuting to work by walking or biking is one of the most effective ways to lose weight and stay fit.  Exercise is good for joints, hearts, muscles, memory, and even effective against depression.  But most people can’t find time to exercise, and don’t manage to do it just because doctors tell them to.  Exercise by commuting, however, is much more plausible for most busy New Yorkers.  Cities with a high percentage of the population getting to work by bike correlate with cities with a low rate of obesity.

Biking to work is a good thing in so many ways:  less dependence on oil, cleaner air, more exercise for the individual, less need for parking spaces, less crowding on subways…  It is really hard for me to conceive of how there could be opposition to making this a priority for New York City.  Our gridlock of cars and trucks is unhealthy.  It clogs up our air, it causes many of the 250 plus traffic deaths every year, it promotes a sedentary lifestyle, and it uses up our public space with heavily trafficked streets and parking spaces.  This public space could be put to much better use, the way the Broadway mall has beautified the Times Square area.

Biking lanes provide a safe passage for those of us who bike to work.  I bike to work every day and now get to happily use the new Columbus Avenue bike lane.  I take it from 93^rd street to 77^th street.  Then, I take my life in my hands from 77^th street to 33^rd street until the 9^th Avenue bike lane begins.  At that point, I feel safe again and can travel the rest of the way to East 16^th street on bike lanes.  On the way home, I take Sixth Avenue in a skinny and unprotected bike lane until it disappears north of 44^th street.  That upper section of Sixth Avenue is really scary, with cars easily going 50 miles an hour. I breathe a big sigh of relief when I hit Central Park and the rest of my commute home is lovely.

Biking to work for me is essential to my health.  I have two sisters who are several years younger than I am, and they both need medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol and they both weigh about 100 pounds more than I do.  These are the genes that I have, too, but I don’t have the same medical consequences because I bike 5 miles or 40 minutes twice a day, every day, to and from work.  It would take me 40 minutes to get to work anyway, and this way I get my exercise done for the day.

Over half of New Yorkers who drive cars to work are going 5 miles or less!  Most of these are going 3 miles or less.  These people could be walking or biking to work.  Imagine how much that would cut down on traffic, add to the health of these individuals, and make our air cleaner.  But when I ask my patients why they don’t bike or walk to work, they answer that the streets in their neighborhood are not safe for biking and sometimes not even for walking.

Anyone who cares about the health of New Yorkers must understand the importance of promoting bike travel.  European cities have made it happen and collected the data on health benefits.  New York should lead the rest of the US, as they have in providing mass transit and as they have in stopping smoking, by making biking a safe commuting option for our residents.  And, as we know from the stop smoking campaign, this requires systems changes like congestion pricing, more bike lanes, lower speed limits, increased parking fees, speed cams, bike parking lots, bike racks on busses, car-free parks and so on.

I hope to see some brave leadership from the City Council’s committee on Transportation in order to make New York a safer and healthier city.  More and better bike lanes is a good way to start.

In talking to you today, I want you to know that I represent the New York County Chapter of the NY State Academy of Family Physicians.  We have more than 100 family physician, resident, and medical student members in Manhattan.  We hope that you will help us make New Yorkers healthier; physicians can’t really do it alone.

Linda Prine MDPresident, NY County Chapter of the NY State Academy of Family PhysiciansInstitute for Family Health16 E. 16th Street NY, NY 10003