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WEST JORDAN — Healthy communities are much more than the healthy people who live in them.
And while Salt Lake County is the 12th healthiest in the state, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation county health rankings, county leaders in education, business, health and other areas came together Thursday to discuss what could be done to be better.
"We are trying to get the community to understand that we all have a role in the health of our community," said Gary Edwards, director of the Salt Lake County Health Department. "We all need to take a collective responsibility."
Education, housing, income levels, and many more social and economic factors of a community are critical to the health of a community, even if it isn't apparent, Edwards said.
As an after-school program manager for Salt Lake County Youth Services, Kelly Riding has seen firsthand the impact participation in simple programs can have on a young student's overall health. She oversees programs that bring health services to children and families who need it but might not otherwise have access.
"You end up with happier kids and kids who are more motivated to succeed," Riding said. "There's no way kids can concentrate when they have a toothache or when they're not feeling well."
Taking care of a child's basic needs is sometimes overlooked in homes where both parents work or other things take priority, she said.
Riding was a panelist in one of five discussion groups during the one-day Building Healthy Communities Conference held in partnership with the National Association of Counties at the Viridian Center. She helped lead a discussion on how supporting kids from early development through job readiness means better outcomes for their health, education and futures.
Janis Dubno, of Voices for Utah Children, said intervention of healthy behaviors from birth to age 5 is proven to lead to better high school graduation rates and health outcomes.
The conference focused on the social determinants of health — the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, as well as the systems put in place to deal with illness — and how those determinants are shaped by economics, social policies and politics.
Edwards said some areas of the county are healthier than others, based on various demographics.
"An individual's health and longevity is determined more by his or her ZIP code than genetic code," he said.
"This conference is about us, as a community, coming together to work on positively influencing health by improving the social determinants," Edwards said.
Overall, he said, Utah is a healthy state and Salt Lake County is a healthy county, "but there are opportunities for us to do better."
County leaders have a vision to become the healthiest county in the nation.
"We choose a future where our residents are healthy, where they're active, where they can enjoy outdoor recreation because we've preserved open spaces, and because we've accommodated active transportation and bicycling and hiking and walking," Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said in a podcast created by the National Association of Counties. "All of those aspects of the future we choose requires us to be actively engaged today, to lay the groundwork and to take the steps to protect, preserve and achieve the future of our choosing."
Salt Lake County struggles with access to opportunities for activity for all residents, teen pregnancy rates and the number of physicians — all things that Edwards said could be remedied with the collective impact model that brings many organizations together to solve a problem.
"It doesn't have to be huge. Small steps can make a difference," he said.
An individual's health and longevity is determined more by his or her ZIP code than genetic code.
–Gary Edwards
In addition to preschool and early education, city planners, local nonprofit groups, law enforcement and others can impact the health of a community.
"The contributions of our community partners are essential to our goals," said Lori Bays, director of human services for Salt Lake County and an organizer of the conference. "A lot of people don't relate these things to health."
Salt Lake County is one of six in the nation to win a grant that helped fund Thursday's discussion that Bays said she hopes leads to more involvement from all sectors.
The county is working to improve alternative forms of transportation, including connecting east-to-west bike trails to those that run north-to-south. A tunnel connecting Sugar House Park to the shopping center across the street is nearly complete, allowing for a more walkable community.
Residents who want to help effect healthy changes in their communities are encouraged to join a community health group, offered in Sandy, South Jordan, Taylorsville, West Jordan, Draper, Herriman, Holladay and Magna in Salt Lake County and in other municipalities throughout Utah. Visit www.slcohealth.org for more information.
"We are all in this together. It is all of our issue and all of our responsibility," Riding said. "We live in this valley, so it is our problem."
