Our speaker at Lincoln South Rotary Club on January 31 was Lori Seibel of the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln. She presented Place Matters 3.0, an update of community mapping that shows health factors and outcomes across Lincoln.
The Community Health Endowment (CHE) was established to provide funding for public health and health-related initiatives that further the health, safety, or welfare of Lincoln residents. The purpose is to transform Lincoln so it is a healthier community - perhaps the healthiest city in the nation.
In order to create a healthier Lincoln, we need data about where we are now. CHE initiated the Place Matters Community Mapping Project to answer this question - How does where we live, learn, work and play affect our health. By mapping factors such as poverty, obesity, access to health care, and more, we can get a more complete picture of health in Lincoln.
Lori explained that there are many meetings and a great deal of input to determine how money will be used in the community - where it will do the most good and h ave the greatest impact.
There have now been three studies with complete data collected and mapping done. with three we can see a true trend.
We then reviewed some of the maps. The poverty map shows that the primary areas of poverty in Lincoln are in the city core. But, when we compared the maps over the various census analysis we see the poverty areas spreading through the city - there are more pockets emerging.
Why does poverty affect health? Poverty in itself can affect the stress level of an individual. The concern over providing for your family has a major impact on stress which affects a person's health. Living in an area with a high level of poverty indicates there is more likelihood of something bad happening to you (such as crime) and that also increases the stress.
A look at the statistics on preventive care shows a great improvement in this area. The number of insured individuals has increased. A major success is in health of pregnant women. We want babies to be born healthy. So making sure mothers have access to prenatal checks, stop smoking and drinking and take vitamins, is important. The change in the maps shows a dramatic increase in this area.
Childhood obesity has mixed results. Overall the childhood obesity has been reduced. But, when you look at the tracts, we did not meet our goal in reduction in any of the tracts. One way that CHE is helping is by providing healthy foods. Working with the Food Bank of Lincoln and Lancaster County they have a truck with fresh fruits and vegetables that delivers to target markets - Lincoln Fresh. They deliver to the schools for kids to take the items. They also place in convenience and grocery stores.
Lori said that we need to eliminate the conception that poor people cannot afford fresh fruits and vegetables. By going into neighborhoods with the Lincoln Fresh truck we are making those healthy items available.
The life expectancy map showed a difference of 20 years, depending on where you live. West O - 75.7 years, East O - 85.8 years and in the center of town where we have the highest poverty rates - 69.3 years.
See more at https://www.chelincoln.org/.