LP Spring 2018 - 24

The Prosperity Indicators initiative measures data in six key dimensions: Well-Being
of People, Education, Economic Engine,
Health & Safety, Community & Culture,
and Physical Environment.
The Prosperity Indicators are a part of
important conversations driving partnerships and collaborations that make a real
impact in our community. From how data
can drive important economic decisions
to how clean water impacts our quality of
life, from how STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math) exploration is changing our classrooms to how immigrants are
integrating into our workplaces, and from
how EMTs are addressing opioids to how
a local senior living facility is addressing
housing affordability-the initiative continues to be used as the basis for discussions
on where we are, where we want to go, and
how we get there.
It is critical that the concept of prosperity
encompass one's health and safety. While
the Prosperity Indicators only looks at data
on a few key health measures-percent of
persons without health insurance, ranking
of health outcomes, obesity in adults and
children, and the percentage of low birth
weights-it is these statistics, combined
with the other data being measured in our
community, that start to lead to conversations on how to intervene.
Research demonstrates that income,
employment, housing, education, neighborhood conditions, political dynamics,
and social standing exert a powerful impact
on one's health status and life expectancy.
A community-focused approach allows the
quantitative and qualitative data to intersect,
and it facilitates the connection and continuous
adaptation of health services and interventions
that consider local needs and preferences.
Knowing more about the community can help
with designing and delivering routine services,
as well as responding to health emergencies.
Take, for instance, the heroin and opioid
crisis in Lancaster. The doubling of opioid
and heroin related deaths over the past two
years has touched all demographics in our

Research demonstrates that income,
employment, housing, education,
neighborhood conditions, political
dynamics, and social standing exert
a powerful impact on one's health
status and life expectancy.
County, and a partnership between community groups, coalitions, and task forces
has come together as Joining Forces. The
coalition is unifying and strengthening work
being done separately, while also allowing
for the identification of gaps in services
and treatments to save more lives. These
types of approaches assess needs, create
community collaboratives, deliver systemic
approaches to addressing the needs, and
then do continual evaluation to determine
what is creating the greatest impact.
As we look to the future, there is more
data available about the health of our
community through the needs assessments
done by our non-profit health systems. They
are continually assessing information that
leads to a deep understanding of health
needs, allowing for a strategic approach
to address priority issues. This data will be
linked to the Prosperity Indicators initiative
to ensure that the community has a more
robust understanding of our needs and
how they are being addressed by health
care providers.
The California Endowment, the country's
largest health conversion foundation, has
focused on social and economic determinants for a decade, stating, "We know that
when it comes to your health, your zip
code matters more than your genetic code.
Zip code is shorthand for neighborhoods
and it is there that chronic stress-inducing
conditions shape the present and future of
the residents."

LANCASTER

24

PHYSICIAN

Community engagement recognizes
that people are at the center of any effort
to create better health and that people are
the foundation of resilient health systems
and communities. Embracing improving
health begins in the places where it starts:
where people live, learn, work, and play.
Our community is engaging in incredible work to make real impacts on pressing
issues. We hope that as those impacts
continue, the community will utilize the
new website for Prosperity Indicators data,
lanc.fandm.edu.
On the website, information is available
that shows how Lancaster is measuring
up against other counties in Pennsylvania
and other similar Metropolitan Statistical
Areas across the country. The data is
tracked over previous years and can be
dynamically compared.
The Prosperity Indicators and data are
crucial in discussions on where we are,
where we want to go, and how to get
there. Using these findings for program
actions and policies will move Lancaster
County closer to the goal of being a model
of prosperity.
http://lanc.fandm.edu
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LP Spring 2018
