Children’s HealthWatch Principal Investigator, Dr. Alan Meyers, was featured in an article in The Atlantic on his work prescribing bicycles and groceries to patients to treat the lifestyle consequences of poverty.
How Being Poor Makes You Sick
When poor teenagers arrive at their appointments with Alan Meyers, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, he performs a standard examination and prescribes whatever medication they need. But if the patient is struggling with transportation or weight issues, he asks an unorthodox question:
“Do you have a bicycle?”
Often, the answer is “no” or “it’s broken” or “it got stolen.”
In those cases, Meyers does something even more unusual: He prescribes them year-long memberships to Hubway, Boston’s bike sharing program, for just $5 per year—a steep discount from the regular $85 price.
