Traditional Remedies in Modern Times

By Andre Brown

Bronx Journal Staff Writer

Every day, Glonnie Faison drinks at least one cup of herbal garlic tea, to maintain a stable blood pressure. Essence Gadsen swallows Echinacea capsules or guzzles down the liquid extract to prevent colds and the flu. Nadirah Diaz applies Aloe Vera, on her cuts and burns. And every morning, Jessica Aldridge place potatoes on her eyes, for at least 15 minutes, to eliminate puffy eyes.

No, they are not crazy. In fact, they are doing something that has become much more common these days — relying on home remedies.

According to the U.S Census Bureau survey of August 2008, 45.7 million people in the U.S. were lacking health coverage in 2007. Could this lack of health benefits be contributing to the rise of use of traditional remedies? Essence Gadsen, 26, seems to think so.

“There are many people these days without sufficient medical coverage,” says Gadsen, an accountant major at Baruch College, in Manhattan. “Why spend a fortune on medications when you can go to a health food store, or vitamin shop, and buy some herbal supplements, and save [money],” she says.

Glonnie Faison, 46, a Bronx native who suffered from high blood pressure for five years, praises his home remedy.

“I used to get headaches all the time and my body used to feel sluggish,” he says. Faison is a construction worker, currently between jobs, and like many Americans, uninsured. “One of my buddies put me on to those herbal garlic teas a year ago, and now I feel like a million bucks,” says Faison, who claims he no longer suffers from high blood pressure or prior symptoms.

Saving money isn’t the only reason Americans utilize home remedies. Many use them because it is a family tradition, passed along from generation to generation.

Nadirah Diaz, 23, follows her family’s practices.

“My family comes from the Dominican Republic,” says Diaz. “When we get a cut or burn, we use Aloe Vera from the leaf. It’s also good for your digestive system, when you eat it,” she says. “But it tastes nasty.”

Gadsen, another traditional remedy consumer, learned everything she knows from her mother — a licensed health practitioner, and claims she has never suffered from a cold.

“When I start feeling a little bit under the weather, I take Echinacea (in a liquid herbal extract or pill form), for a week or so,” says Gadsen. “[This] prevents me from getting sick.”

Jessica Aldridge, 38, a photographer, who recently moved to the Bronx — from Paris, France, swears by potatoes.

“If you have puffy eyes, peel, wash, then dry a potato,” says Aldridge. “Grate the potato as thin as possible. Then put the sliced potato in a clean cloth, and fold, to make a poultice,” she says.

“Place the poultice on your eyelids for 15 minutes, and behold, you’ve de-puffed those bags.”