Dr. Amy Sheon, Urban Health Institute Executive Director and Dr. Scott Frank, Director of Public Health Initiatives at Case Western Reserve University have researched the relationship between the lack of internet access and health disparities.
Sheon said local hospitals and public health agencies are now working on a common community health assessment she hopes will provide the information and unified effort needed to push lawmakers and internet service providers toward a solution.
But the problem is a significant one as Sheon said, “Cleveland is the third worst connected large city in the country, and something like 40 percent of people living in Cleveland have no internet at all.” Dr. Frank is concerned that “[i]n those distressed neighborhoods they don’t have the opportunity to use the internet as a tool to improve their own health.” The result is a “direct link between a lack of internet service, and serious illnesses like high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.”
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