ABSTRACT
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Health Center (MLK) began as one of the first and largest of the Neighborhood Medical Care Demonstration Projects funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity. The site was chosen by determining where patients came from who in 1966 were using the emergency room of the Morrisania Hospital for their primary source of care. The catchment area covers health areas 24 and 26 in the South Bronx. The residents of this area are 47 percent black, 45 percent Puerto Rican, and 8 percent other. Incomes are low for those who are able to work and can find a job; the majority of the people manage on social assistance income (especially Aid to Dependent Children), social security income (the disabled or elderly), and supplemental security income.
