True health care reform cannot happen from Washington DC. It has to happen in our kitchens, in our homes, in our communities. All health care is personal.
-Dr. Mehmet Oz
Over the last few weeks, I had the good fortune of spending time with our friends from Pend Oreille, Ferry, and Stevens counties. After watching these local communities take ownership of their community health, especially in contrast with rhetoric coming from our Presidential hopefuls, I’m more convinced than ever that health transformation happens in our kitchens, our homes, and our communities.
When we first launched our ACH work, it was a hard concept to wrap our heads around. We aren’t government, we don’t have any power to make people do things, we aren’t a risk bearing entity. But we are a compilation of community members who care deeply about the health of our community, with a strong bias towards action that improves health.
Fast forward a year to now and we are on our way! In January, we hosted a fabulous gathering of 80+ people who helped us launch our Community Linkage Mapping and Idealized Design efforts. We have now recruited another 80 folks to help refine our Community Linkage Maps and define the functions necessary for effective action. From there, we’ll start to build our Regional Health Improvement Plan and select our ACH Regional Projects.
It’s good work happening! Thanks for being part of the team that is radically improving the health of our region.
ACW
If you missed Monday’s “What Is Possible” webinar, you can view a recording and read through the slides here.
