EX EC UT IVE SUM MA RY
Executive Summary Achieve Healthy EscaRosa (AHER) began in 2019 to continue the work of the former LiveWell Partnership. AHER’s Mission is to unite and align resources to improve the health and well-being of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties so that everyone can live well and thrive. This broad-based collaborative has engaged hundreds of key stakeholders throughout the two-county area and is a collective impact effort that seeks to apply the following collective impact principles in the work: • Provide a common agenda • Establish shared measurements, fosters mutually reinforcing activities • Encourage continued communication • Build strong community support across multiple sectors including health, business, military, education, faith, non-profit, government, and civic partners.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted our community and world in ways we never anticipated. AHER partners recognized that never has our community needed a coordinated approach to community health improvements more, so the team continued to work diligently using virtual platforms to move the work forward. The pandemic has highlighted health inequities and calls the community to collectively work on the community’s health with an equity-focused lens. Every three years, community organizations in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County work collaboratively on a two-step process to understand and respond to health problems within our community. The first phase of this process involves identifying local health issues and resources through a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The second phase, which will launch in early 2022, will outline the actions that the community will take to improve the health status of residents. An overview of the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) is provided in the Next Steps section. A CHNA examines the health of community residents and answers the questions:
What are the top ten causes of death in the community?
What health issues and behaviors are most concerning to local citizens and community leaders? What resources exist for residents to achieve better health?
