Having safe areas to walk and play is one feature of healthy communities.
New report aims to guide community health efforts in Kansas
Kansas extension service eyes opportunities for supporting well being
March 21, 2022
By Pat Melgares, K-State Research and Extension news service
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The nationwide Cooperative Extension System is taking a long view of health in America’s communities.
Elaine Johannes, the Kansas Health Foundation distinguished professor in community health and state extension specialist in Kansas State University’s Department of Applied Human Sciences, said many of her colleagues from land-grant universities across the United States and several national health experts recently formed a task force to develop a framework for improving health and achieving health equity.
Their report, Cooperative Extension’s National Framework for Health Equity and Well Being, is now available to view online. The project was supported by the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, or ECOP.
“One of the things we discovered is that not everything fits every community,” said Johannes, who noted extension has a long history of improving health and well being in communities across the country. “(Differences in communities) make up the health equity piece of the new national approach to extension’s role in health.”
Listen to an interview by Jeff Wichman with Elaine Johannes on the weekly radio program, Sound Living
Johannes said many associate their community’s health only with the availability of health care agencies, medical providers, doctors, hospitals, clinics and similar services.
“But when you consider the whole of our health -- and the health and well being of our neighbors -- health care comprises only about 20% of our overall health,” Johannes said.
“There’s a lot more that makes up our well being. Does the community have safe streets for walking? Does the community have water than we can drink? What’s the overall community air quality? And do we have access to grocery stores, and good jobs to make sure our family has access to food? Those are some of the indicators that make up at least half of our overall health and well being.”
According to Johannes, the task force’s recommendations focus on three themes:
- Health equity, or a condition that exists when everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as health as possible.
- Social determinants of health, or societal factors that influence the health of an individual.
- Coalitions and community health assets, or developing partnerships to expand the reach of existing programs.
While the nation’s extension service has traditionally supported community health with local programs, Johannes said the task force’s work provides a foundation for Kansas State University and other land-grant universities to strategically fill its role in community health.
In Kansas, she added, a “cookie cutter” approach to health likely won’t work. “But stories of innovations that improve everyone’s health, from Gove County to Crawford County or Riley County, may give people an idea that they can try in their own community,” Johannes said.
She said those stories will be shared each month through a regular community health feature on the weekly radio program, Sound Living, which is produced by K-State Research and Extension.
“Sharing examples of community health innovations is one of the roles that I, extension colleagues and others in community health have,” Johannes said. “We recognize the gaps in communities, but we also notice the capacities and assets. We want to fill the gaps together so there are opportunities for well being to occur for all.”
More information on community health efforts is available at local extension offices in Kansas. The full report recently released by ECOP is available online at www.aplu.org/CES-EqHealth.
