HEALTH

Nine years after the Affordable Care Act, these Pennsylvanians struggle to afford health insurance

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The Affordable Care Act [ACA], a 9-year-old overhaul to the U.S. health care system, is intended to make health insurance accessible for everyone by expanding Medicaid and making insurance easier for individuals to buy without an employer. Since its passage and a 2015 expansion of Medicaid, Pennsylvania saw big jumps in the percentage of residents covered by insurance. But there are significant gaps.

Aftermath: Synagogue attack
Cathy Welsh, 44, of Turtle Creek, lost her son to gun violence in November 2018. The mural (left) in the Greater Valley Community Services in Braddock depicts teenagers and young adults from Woodland Hills who have also died due to gun violence since 2005. (Photo by Kat Procyk/PublicSource

Tree of Life trauma victims may find allies in neighborhoods experiencing chronic gun violence

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Experts in trauma care differentiate between sudden violent events, such as the Tree of Life shooting, and chronic forms of violence, such as war zones or ongoing gun violence within neighborhoods. In Pittsburgh, chronic gun violence occurs in some neighborhoods, but not others, and that trauma is disproportionately carried by the city's black communities.

DEVELOP PGH
Sarah Baxendell, director of the Hilltop Urban Farm, points to the land set aside for (Photo by Teake Zuidema/PublicSource)

What does Pittsburgh’s Hilltop Urban Farm need to do to mitigate a food desert? Access to healthy food may only be a start.

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It was raining nonstop, but that didn’t seem to have any effect on Sarah Baxendell’s enthusiasm as she showed visitors the future site of the Hilltop Urban Farm in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood.

The 23-acre farm will grow food to sell, but its creators at the Hilltop Alliance are also planning to teach youth about agriculture and create a new generation of urban farmers. The farm will spin off into a stand-alone organization, and its staff hopes to transform what is now a food desert into an area “abundant with access to healthy food,” according to the farm’s website.