Residents of Alton, Illinois lack equal access to the necessary healthcare required to survive and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Climate change is one of the contributing factors to the effect on people’s health. Many low-income residents don’t make a suitable income to acquire adequate healthcare for their families. Based on where they reside, this factor could determine more or less how they’re affected by climate change In the area. In Alton, you would notice a correlation between income, the quality of infrastructure, and healthcare access in the area. 

In 2022, Alton’s population consisted of 26,490 people with a margin error of +35. 69.89% of those people are white, 24.34% black, and other races make up 5.77%, based on the U.S. Census.

Alton has a median household income of $43,291 per year as of 2020. With 60% of people being homeowners, the median property value is $80,400 with a $6,790 property tax. With the poverty rate sitting at 25.54%, more than a quarter percent of people living in Alton make lower than the median income per household. Most people have established themselves or inherited property and generated an income comfortable enough to maintain living in Alton. Although there are many residents who are impoverished and greatly impacted by various contributing factors.  

Major climate events like floods and hurricanes greatly affected the people of Alton financially and put a great toll and people’s health. One of the main climate change problems in Alton is flooding. For example, the Mississippi river flooding back in 2019, almost reaching the record-high flood level set in 1933. Reaching heights of 39.01ft high from the ground, leaving a crested mark under the red line right under the “Welcome to Alton” on the towers. Residential and business properties were damaged to the point of remodeling completely or having to close down due to a lack of finances. Although some businesses were resilient and stayed open through the chaotic time. Aftermath events like heavy rainfall and storms added to the present mass destruction of property. Many people living closer to the river had to spend their time they had to rest while off of work to clean and salvage their belongings, affecting their mental health. People did not have the financial income to buy what they had lost causing them to get and second and even third job. Crucial necessities like cars were either damaged causing people to take the bus to and from work. Low incomes areas were most affected by these floods as you can see in the chart above. Being close to the river, these low-income households were affected the most. Higher areas that are further from the river had little to no effect on being able to go about their lives. While white residents still live in these areas the majority demographic of these areas is black. Although white people make up most of the population, white people have the lowest poverty rate compared to any there race living in Alton. While some are still in impoverished areas make up high-income neighbor

After these floods, some health issues arose and some that were already inherited were getting worse, due to either attaining an additional disease or lack of daily medication. These unfortunate events also caused a lack of useful water due to contamination. This resulted in another inconvenient expense adding to additional expenses weighing on residents’ bank accounts. Overall this caused an additional contribution to the increase in residents’ health complications mentally and physically. Upon their property getting damaged, people had no choice but to come back to their homes and deal with the condition the flood left their property in. Water from the flood was mostly made up of infectious bacteria making it unsuitable for fishing, swimming, and drinking. People came back to their homes and businesses full of mold causing diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever, and leptospirosis. People attempted to protect themselves as best as possible while salvaging n]and restoring by wearing face masks, protective waterproof suits and etc. Over time, residents’ morale began to weary as some grew devastated knowing they lost sentimental valuables and/or were unable to repair damages cause of financial difficulty.  Mental health was on a rise with these floods causing multiple Inconvenient issues within these heavily impacted ares of Alton.