Yesterday morning in Washington Heights, the American Italian Cancer Foundation’s roving mammogram bus was parked across the street from the offices of City Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa, offering free breast screenings to the general public. AICF coordinates with local officials like De La Rosa, parking the bus in a different spot every day across the five boroughs to bring their services under-served communities.
De La Rosa’s relationship with AICF predates her term on the City Council, which started in 2022, having coordinated with them on this initiative since her days in the New York State Assembly, where she represented the 72nd Assembly district from 2017 to 2021. Her City Council office today is a vital resource for her community and it shows, as constituents packed her office on 177th street seeking all manner of assistance. Some were waiting outside before staff even arrived to open up for the day. “They need access to food stamps, access to housing vouchers, and access to healthcare,” explains the Councilwoman. “It is those same people who can take advantage of this wonderful resource,” referring to the AICF bus.
As income and wealth inequality continue to grow and health care costs rise across the country, what should be vital necessities remain persistently out of reach to many Americans, and De La Rosa’s constituents are not exempt. “Oftentimes, people that are on the margins, that are working every day to survive, are not thinking of their health as a priority,” she explained. The people of New York City’s District 10, which runs from Washington Heights up through Inwood and across the river to Marble Hill in the Bronx, have an average personal income of about $38,000, a full 20 percent lower than the state average, according to Census data. That same data, which was gathered in 2022, shows a 21% poverty rate for the district, which is about one and a half times the rate in New York and the country overall. The Councilwoman has witnessed the effects of these injustices firsthand and their consequences: “with mounting medical bills and the pressure of the economy, we see that our community is less and less inclined to go and get checked up.”
Fortunately for her constituents, De La Rosa and her team are dedicated advocates, seeking out programs and taking initiative on their behalf wherever possible. As her communications director Fraynette Familia put it: “they have the services and we have the outreach.” That outreach has been consistently on display, as De La Rosa organized an LGBTQIA+ health fair in June, and a women’s health fair and self-defense workshop just a few days ago. It was also evident yesterday as the AICF mammogram bus, which usually takes walk-ins, was booked up for the whole day with appointments thanks to the coordination of City Council District 10. For AICF and Carmen De La Rosa, it’s all in a day’s work: “we want to make sure we are doing everything in our power to bring services to the community.”
