A friend of mine, Jon Comola, recently started a national health care initiative called Leading Healthy Communities. See www.leadinghealthycommunities.com. The site contains great examples of what others have done to become a healthy community. The question is, “What does Charles Town need to do to become known as a healthy community?” For starters, let me suggest three areas for consideration:
- Health and wellness. While some illness is clearly unavoidable, most of us are in much greater control of our health than we think. Poor diet, lack of exercise, and excessive use of tobacco and alcohol all are associated with the onset of chronic illness. What if our city got serious about cleaning up our water supply, fixing up our parks and recreational equipment, expanding our farmer’s market, and working with local grocery stores and restaurants to provide healthy food and education? Wouldn’t that be a good place to start?
- Quality medical care. We have a number of fine doctors in town and Jefferson Memorial has provided important hospital services to this community for years. But, many in Charles Town find it necessary to go elsewhere for their medical care. For several years now, WVUH-East hospital has been looking for a new home. Periodically, our Free Clinic has had to turn people away for lack of resources. The nearest medical clinic is located in Harpers Ferry. What if the City got serious about helping develop a new hospital complex, with an adjacent medical clinic and ancillary services…for all income groups? Wouldn’t that be a nice place to start?
- Chronic care services. Most of us don’t want to think about it, but all of us are going to get old some day and many of us are going to spend more time than we would like being frail, disabled, and a little confused. Some of us have children or will give birth to a child with disabilities. Others are permanently disabled or chronically ill for other reasons. Wouldn’t it be nice if you or your mother didn’t have to leave town to visit your father or her husband in an assisted living facility or drive miles and miles each month to get the special care you need?
Most people don’t think about their City Council as health care leaders, but what if we decided to become known as a model healthy community? Wouldn’t that be a good thing to do? It seems to me that given the cost of health care these days, we can’t afford to do otherwise.
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