The American Hospital Association’s Community Health Improvement sector’s mission is “To advance healthy communities by providing our members with education, professional development, resources and engagement opportunities in the fields of community health, population health and community benefit”.
Every year they host a Community Health Improvement Week that is meant to celebrate those working in this field, and also to bring awareness to meaningful issues related to community health.
This year, they have highlighted the following three themes in honor of moving towards recovery from the global pandemic:
- Reflect on community health needs and opportunities illuminated by the pandemic and consider further actions needed to improve the health and well-being of all people.
- Renew commitment to community health improvement, including working with cross-sector partners to better serve our communities.
- Rise Together to strengthen our communities through collaborative and creative work and investment in our neighborhoods and one another.
What we love about this year’s themes is the focus on first understanding the problem, then committing to fixing it and taking action. One of the things that the pandemic illuminated was the disparities between health care access and opportunities across different communities.
The unfortunate reality is that many people in marginalized communities, including those in low-income neighborhoods and people of color, who needed access to good healthcare when the pandemic began didn’t get it, and sadly this trend continues. This article on The Kaiser Family Foundation website offers valuable information on the status of these disparities, as well as their origin.
Did you know that there is data that shows people of color fared worse than white people in the pandemic? Did you know their life expectancy is four years lower? The reality of the situation is that this problem is not new; such disparities have been brought to light many times. We can only hope that in light of the social injustices that have come to the forefront of our nation’s collective consciousness recently, real lasting change is made, and all of us need to do our part to make it happen.
With that said, at Healing Hands we are consistently working to bring the most value to our wellness programs while keeping costs low so that ANY business owner can afford to care for the wellness of their employees, and anyone can get a massage at our studio. We want to educate people to empower them with ways to improve their own wellbeing. That’s our commitment to equality and how we’re improving the health of our own community!