Source: BrownfieldRenewal.com, M. Ballogg
A brownfields-related movement, whose roots are
arguably traced to one woman’s foresight and passion in 1997, is
beginning to accelerate after years of grassroots and individual program
efforts. In hindsight, the initiative that's been billed as
“Transforming Brownfields to Healthfields,” makes perfect sense—take
abandoned and blighted properties and, using coordinated funding and
community-based mechanisms, turn them into thriving economic
developments that also improve access to healthy lifestyle choices for
all.
Willa Carson, a retired nurse, started simply enough
in Clearwater, Fla., providing basic medical assistance to friends and
neighbors who lacked health insurance and a means to travel the more
than 10 miles to the nearest hospital. Shortly thereafter, beginning in
two apartments, Carson founded the North Greenwood Health Resource
Center in 1997. When the City of Clearwater designated the Greenwood
area Brownfields Redevelopment Area in 1998, it was her vision to take
an abandoned gas station site and turn it into the stand-alone facility
now called Willa Carson Health & Wellness Center.
