National Association of Counties
When we are asked to take action to support the idea of a “Healthy County,” we most often think of what they can do as individuals. These actions usually take single-focused examinations like food access, 0-to-5 Health, child and youth skills development, elder care, access to both physical and mental health services, improvements in social or economic conditions or better dietary education. But we know that while these single-focused efforts require action, they fail when built in a vacuum. For example, one of the demographics with some of the poorest health outcomes is our health professionals, who are highly educated, informed and capable people. Why? They are human. They are humans with multiple responsibilities: job, career, family and community, to name a few. County health programs are like the people we want to address, with many competing responsibilities requiring time and resources.
Like our own health objectives and goals, our county health programs need to be integrated into our lives and integrated with other county obligations and business processes.
As I read the recent publication, Healthy Counties: Fostering Better Health Outcomes in Children and Older Adults, I noticed that each case study described the interweaving of several activities, programs and multiple executive departments in their attempt to address the health and well-being of individuals within their community. Each of the seven case studies connected multiple agencies and funding sources. It is this interweaving or integration that I’d like to address today and perhaps identify an object lesson that we might build upon.
In the health field, one often talks about Social Determinants of Health, as these are the causal factors that predict a person’s viability and prospects. Significant focus has been placed on these data. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute take some of these indicators to develop County Health Rankings. See map. What is lacking with both of these valuable and impressive efforts is integration. How do we build from these information sets? How do we integrate these data with data collected by the numerous programs across many agencies within our county? The short answer that I’d like to propose is integration. There are ways to bring these data into meaningful context by appropriately integrating these national datasets and our county’s local operational health data collected through our regular work patterns. The context is geography.
A geography information system creates, manages, analyzes and maps all types of data, integrating where things are to what is happening there. Geographic information systems help you understand patterns and relationships in a geographic context. The result is improved communication with your citizens and better decision-making.
Learn about some of Esri’s technology opportunities to Healthy Counties.
Healthy Counties 2021 sponsor Esri was founded to help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. They do so by supporting users’ important work committed to science, sustainability, community, education, research and positive change. They’re committed to serving their users and customers and seek a deep understanding of their challenges and opportunities and work together toward viable solutions. They spend more than 30 percent of their annual revenue on research and development. That’s how much they believe in advancing and shaping the future of geographic information systems (GIS).
Health and human services professionals benefit from insights that the power of place brings to their work. Spatial data and GIS technology can underscore coverage gaps in the populations we hope to reach, the opportunities to improve workflows and the ability to plan for and mitigate against unforeseen events. Learn more about how GIS can help counties address health equity by listening to the recording of last month’s webinar on Addressing Health Equity: Three GIS Essentials.
NACo’s Opioid Solutions Center empowers local leaders to invest resources in effective treatment, recovery, prevention and harm reduction practices that save lives and address the underlying causes of substance use disorder.
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