Our Picture of Health 1998:
Focusing on Community Health to the Year 2000INTRODUCTION
Uniting to meet needs is the hallmark of a healthy community.
This report is a working document for Mesa County Colorado businesses, agencies, organizations and homes. Please read it, refer to it for strategic planning and let it catalyze your work to improve areas that need your help.
Finding the Missing Link
The health of the community is measured in how well the community works together to maintain its quality of life and resolve problems.
Problems don't occur in isolation. All segments of the community are intricately linked. One broken link in the chain can cause a breakdown. For example, if substance abuse increases, education may be affected, crime can be impacted and physical health can suffer. Substance abuse may be a cause or a result of difficulties in those areas.
Every person in the community is important to its health. We may not solve all problems, but we can individually and collectively work on those issues closest to us. We can be healthy.
Problems do not necessarily indicate that particular segments aren't doing good work, but that more people need to pull together to address a specific challenge.
Trend Benders and the Civic Forum herald agencies, businesses, and citizens that diligently donate time, finances and moral support to improving the community. Any lasting community improvement begins with the decision of one citizen to make one personal change.
A full 25 percent more of Mesa County residents use seat belts today than did three years ago. Safety campaigns increased awareness, but the decrease in deaths from motor vehicle accidents is mainly a result of personal decisions made by individuals every day.
”I may not be able to change the world, but I can surely make a start by changing my own choices.” — Michelle Foster, Project Director
In the appendix you will find:
- Background information on this project
- Glossary of terms used in the report
- Resources for community action
To evaluate indicators, the committee compared current data to:
- Mesa County: Our Picture of Health, 1995
- State and national data
- National goals, when available
The following symbols help summarize comparisons.
Trends favorable. This indicator has seen significant improvement or consistent progress. Mesa County needs to maintain programs and policies that are working.
Partly Sunny. This indicator has either not had significant improvement or decline, or a trend is not yet confirming lasting change. Careful monitoring and preventive action are needed.
Stormy. This indicator needs to be addressed to ensure a healthy community. Its trends are worsening and/or are having an adverse affect on other indicators.
May link to . . .
This phrase is used throughout this report to highlight those issues that have direct connections to other indicators. For example, cigarette smoking links to lung cancer deaths. These issues cannot be addressed or ignored without impacting the other. The links are issues that may be either the cause or the result of the current status.
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