Battlefield Training in FlatbushAugust 9, 2004 By Lisa Spinelli
Since few missiles or even bazookas are fired in
Central Brooklyn, it surprises some residents to learn
that soldiers in the U.S. Army are getting combat
training at Kings County Hospital.
The reason why the army chose the hospital in as a
permanent training site for the 8th Medical Brigade is
because, while the crime rate is down, there is still
enough gunfire in the area to make the Kings County
Hospital Trauma Center one of the busiest in the
United States.
"Yesterday, we took five guns off the streets here and
one of them was a sawed-off shotgun," said Police
Officer Rose Mendez, who has patrolled the area for
four years. "This happens every day."
The hospital lies in the middle of the 67th precinct,
a 3.4-square-mile area, much of it poverty stricken.
Although the crime rate has dropped by about 50
percent in the last 10 years, the precinct still
recorded 580 felony assaults and 28 murders in 2003 --
about three percent of the total felony assaults in
the city that year and approximately five percent of
the murders. Crime statistics in the surrounding
precincts either surpass or equal those of the 67th.
But many residents feel fairly comfortable in their
neighborhood. "I keep to myself mostly, but the area
ain't so bad," said Mary Dantzler, a 54-year-old HIV
counselor who lives two blocks from the hospital.
"Don't get me wrong, I still hear gun shots, but not
often, maybe once a year."
And a number of efforts are aimed at making the crime
rate decline further. The Flatbush Youth Association,
the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club and other
groups try to keep young people off the streets and
promote peaceful methods of conflict resolution.
In the 1990s, surgeons from the hospital trauma center
started Doctors Against Murder, which lectures against
violence and works with local churches to campaign
against gun use. "It's part of the responsibility of
trauma centers," said Robert Kurtz, associate
professor of surgery and co-director of trauma and
surgical critical care at Kings County.
Yet many community residents are more concerned with
other health problems, such as asthma, HIV and
diabetes. "The HIV crisis is really hitting us hard in
central Brooklyn," said Yvette Clarke, the City
Council member whose district includes the hospital.
Clarke said she does "not see a problem" with the army
using the trauma center for training. And many in the
community are proud that the army has chosen their
hospital. "That just shows you the kind of caliber of
these doctors," said Pearl Miles, a member of
Community Board 9.
But while the army may be impressed with the
hospital's staff, its selection of King County
highlights the large number of victims who pass
through the hospital. Last year, the trauma center saw
1,490 patients. And Kurtz estimated about 40 to 50
percent of the trauma patients seen at Kings County
were gunshot wound victims between 16 and 30 years
old.
The type of trauma seen at Kings County closely
resembles the type soldiers experience in war, said
Colonel Consuelo Dungca, nursing staff officer of the
8th Medical Brigade. "We had to wait longer at other
facilities before to get this kind of training,"
Dungca said, "because at the other hospitals we just
didn't see this much of this kind of trauma."
The first set of army physicians will complete their
training in September. The program at this hospital
trains 20 to 25 reservists during the weekends. Each
physician soldier serves a total of nine weekends a
year. During a two-week stretch at the end of their
training, the soldiers are on-call around the clock.
And they stay busy. "There's no time to sleep," Dungca
said. "If a trauma comes in, we wake them up. That's
how it works in the military."
Related Story:
The Urban Health Challenge
Issue of The Week (August 9, 2004)

Flatbush: From Street Vendor To Small BusinessMarch 19, 2004 By Reginald Constant
After years of selling her sculptures and jewelry on the streets of Park Slope, Makini Armand decided to set up shop in the Flatbush Caton Market.
Armand never had problems with the police or storeowners for occupying sidewalk space. But the routine of bringing her goods from Flatbush to Park Slope was tiring and business, though lucrative, wasn’t doing well enough to help her reach her goal of operating a store of her own.
When it opened in January 2002, the Flatbush Caton Market was intended to provide street vendors like Armand with a secure place to sell their merchandise and an opportunity to make the transition to a more stable business. It was also designed to appease local storeowners who complained of losing customers to street vendors.
For years, the largely Caribbean stretch of Flatbush Avenue had been what one writer called a “peddler’s paradise.” Vendors competed for space and those who got a good spot could earn hundreds of dollars a week. But in the late 1990s, police cracked down on vendors along Flatbush, confiscating their goods. Una Clarke, the then City Council member, advocated for Flatbush street vendors. For a while they set up on a municipal lot. Then Clarke’s efforts and a grant from the city led to the construction of a 9,000 square feet of enclosed retail space for the market.
Built by the city and managed by the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce, the $1.2 million Flatbush Caton Market is a blue and yellow hangar that stands on the corner of Flatbush and Canton Avenues.
Fifty-five independent merchants, mostly former street vendors, pay $25 a day in rent for a maximum of two years. They sell goods from batteries to custom-built computers and Haitian spiritual art to miniature flags. With the help of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and the city Department of Business Services, the vendors can take classes on accounting, tax preparation, technical assistance, law and marketing skills - all with the goal of becoming owners of successful businesses.
But for some these inducements are not enough.
Even though street vendors are supposedly not allowed on Flatbush Avenue, on most days the street teems with vendors hawking bootlegged CDs, clothing, and tropical produce. Many of the street vendors are local residents who have immigrated from the Caribbean or Africa.
The street’s attraction is clear. Flatbush Avenue is always thronged with pedestrians but shoppers are less likely to find their way to the Flatbush Caton Market. Little but the presence of its loud colors and odd shape compel passersby to look at the market, although special holiday and cultural events draw the biggest crowds. Inside the market, the merchants stand or sit before their stalls, some seeming to be just biding time.
But some are more aggressive. Makini, who is approaching her third year at the Flatbush Caton Market, hands customers business cards featuring pictures of her sculptures and wooden bowls. She has a business number, e-mail address and is planning to set up a Web site.
“It takes more than great technical skills, managerial skills and financial skills to run a business,” she says.
Related:
Pushcart Wars by Joshua Brustein
Selling
Hotdogs, Getting Ticketed by Anwar Hussein
Selling
Jewelry, Spending the Night in Jail by Aeisha

AIDS And Lack Of Health InsuranceOctober 21, 2003 Central Brooklyn is the epicenter of the AIDS crisis in New York City and
the nation. The rate of infection
in this district is 16 times higher than the national average. Another major
concern is that over 40 percent of the district's residents do not have health insurance.

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