Healthiest Manitowoc County (HMC) is striving to unite all health and wellness efforts in the county. Though the organization was first established in 2004, it has recently undergone a revamp in the last 18 months. Based off of numerous community planning sessions, HMC now consists of 6 guiding coalitions: Investing Early, Youth Engagement, Physical Activity and Nutrition, Worksite Wellness, Access to Health Services, and Substance Abuse Prevention and Mental Health. These coalitions are guided by a Steering Committee, which consists of numerous community partners such as the Manitowoc Public School District, Lakeshore CAP, Felician Village, the Health Department, the YMCA, Vision 2022, Kaysun, Aurora, and Holy Family. The organization has evolved from being program based to now being more focused on changing systems and policies. According to Lexi Otis, Health Educator with the Health Department, HMC realized that a lot of great programming was already being done by numerous organizations around the county. What seemed to be lacking was collaborative leadership in uniting these fronts and not a strong enough focus on systemic change. Each of the six coalitions has an success indicator, or goal, that the coalition is trying to achieve. These indicators all fall under the umbrella of Healthiest Manitowoc County’s Vision of “Everyone living longer, better.” After sorting through numerous community health data points and talking with stakeholders in the community, HMC decided to focus on changing the fact that too many Manitowoc residents are dying young or prematurely. By 2015, the number of people dying under the age of 75 had risen 16% since 2002. The best measure of premature death for comparing is Years of Potential Life Lost (YPPL): the number of years between 75 and the age of death. In 2015 Manitowoc County’s rate of YPPL was 6,664 years lost/100,000. After creating this new vision, HMC came up with two initiatives to guide the coalitions: Achieve Healthy 25 and Achieve Healthy 75. The hope is that by focusing on youth under 25 as well as adults under 75, HMC can make more of an impact and help raise Manitowoc’s county health ranking. Currently, Manitowoc is ranked 49 out of 72 counties in Wisconsin in overall health outcomes. On October 18th, HMC hosted a volunteer recruitment session and were pleased with the number of community members who attended and are committed to creating a healthier community. HMC is still looking for others who would like to get involved with this health initiative and are passionate about creating change. For more information on how to get involved, contact heathiestmc@gmail.com or call 920.683.4155. The organization also has a growing Facebook page.
Healthiest Manitowoc County: Everyone Living Longer, Better
Oct 21, 2018 | 9:00 AM
Local News