UW Program Recognizes Community Health

Wisconsin Healthy Communities Designation will be recognizing communities across the state for their work to improve health. There are gold-, silver-, and bronze-level designations available, each with different criteria.

This new program comes from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and it’s been in the works for about a year and a half.

The program awards communities’ efforts to enhance health behaviors, clinical care, physical environment, and social and economic factors. The program also encourages sustainable improvements.

Paula Tran Inzeo directs the Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health group at UW-Madison. She also works with the designation program. She said many communities aren’t as healthy as they want to be, and this will encourage them to keep improving.

“We want to make sure to recognize all the steps it takes along the way to get there because those small steps in the short term are important towards improving those health indicators long-term,” she said.

She also said the program will try new ways to branch out to less affluent communities.

The program has a flexible definition of “community.” It doesn’t have to be a specific ZIP code or city. A neighborhood, chamber of commerce, county, or other similar body can apply for the designation.

Ken Carlson, Vice President of Sauk Prairie Healthcare Planning and Business Development, is an advisor for the program. He said this designation could have more benefits than just an award.

“To have a designation like that would make people notice that this is a community that’s committed to having a healthy environment and that would make it a nice place to live or start a business,” he said.

Letters of interest are being accepted until the end of January 2018. Then, communities are invited to apply for a designation. Communities won’t know if they’ve received a designation until the summer of 2018.

Those that are awarded will also be allowed to use the logo signifying they are a healthy community. They also receive access to the network of other designees.

Tim Size, executive director of Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, has worked with the program since the beginning. He said it’s about more than an award.

“It’s just something tangible, and things tangible help people to focus on what we’re trying to do,” Size said.