Innovation in...Health & Well-Being

The Manchester Health Department (MHD) completed an update to the City’s Health Needs Assessment in June 2019. In it, the MHD identified several priorities aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the residents of Manchester. Among them are strategies related to the built environment. Innovative ways to link people to healthcare and otherwise support healthy living through quality education, living-wage employment, housing choices, and active transportation are being tested in communities throughout the U.S. Manchester has an opportunity to examine the development pattern and modify the mix of uses and form of development to effect change for better health.

• Focus on providing programs and places that support people’s ability to build and strengthen social networks. According to the results of the Health Needs Assessment, two of the primary health outcomes examined— length of life and quality of life and poverty—can be affected by social connections. With an aging population in Manchester, this is especially important for seniors as they become less mobile. In addition, seek ways through transit service or safe pedestrian facilities to help people access parks, community centers, and other venues where programs, events, and other activities are available.

• Utilize technology to help improve community health. In addition to enhancing access to education and employment opportunities in an effort to address socioeconomic conditions correlated to health disparities, the City can use technology to collect data about and evaluate conditions in the City that affect health. By focusing on the determinants of poor health, the City can consider strategies that employ technology to understand better the circumstances that contribute to identified health problems.

• Adopt a Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach to community development. This approach, first formally addressed as the theme of the Eighth International Conference on Health Promotion held in 2013 by the World Health Organization,

encourages government bodies to take multisectoral action when addressing health issues.

• “HiAP is founded on health-related rights and obligations, and contributes to strengthening the accountability of policymakers for health impacts at all levels of policy-making. It emphasizes the consequences of public policies on health systems, determinants of health, and wellbeing. It also contributes to sustainable development. It is recognized that governments are faced with a range of priorities and that health and equity may not automatically gain precedence over other policy objectives. Nonetheless, health considerations do need to be taken into account in policy-making. Efforts must be made to capitalize on opportunities for co-benefits across sectors and for society at large. Effective safeguards to protect policies from distortion by commercial and vested interests and influence also need to be established.”

Source: WHO Framework for

Country Action.

• Work with public health officials and area agencies to raise awareness among City leaders of opportunities to improve community health—and the many benefits of doing so the community’s health becomes a key consideration in the formulation of local policies. Pursue opportunities, such as training and orientation programs, to educate City officials and employees, especially those who play a key role in developing

City budgets, about how the built environment affects health and physical activity.

• Consider changes in the built environment to accommodate programs and services identified as needs in Manchester or to facilitate healthier living. Changes with new development or redevelopment could help accomplish the following:

• Establish centers that provide integrated services in places that are convenient to access.

For example, offer integrated mental health and primary health services to people in their homes, in schools, and at community policing substations.

• Promote alternative forms of transportation, like biking or walking to work, with a development pattern that is conducive to various modes. • Implement a traveling farmers market that comes to designated locations in specific neighborhoods in accordance with a regular schedule. One such example of this is the

ORIS Fresh Start Food Cart 2019 was the pilot year for the

ORIS Fresh Start Food Cart.

The cart offers fruit, vegetables, and other local products for purchase at various stops in southern NH. A Mobile Market is a farm stand on wheels that delivers food to the places that need it most. It serves as a link between New Hampshire farmers and the communities with limited access to locallygrown produce and healthy food. Instead of consumers commuting to the farm, farmer’s market, or even a grocery store, mobile markets travel directly into communities to make food more convenient and affordable to access.

• Update parks with AARP exercise equipment stations.

One such station already exists at Derryfield Park.