Event examines the "State of Health" in Washtenaw County

More than 150 community members came together to address Washtenaw County's public health strategies at the second annual State of Health symposium Oct. 28 at Washtenaw Community College's Morris Lawrence Building. The day included a panel discussion with health leaders and breakout sessions addressing three key areas identified in a community health assessment in 2023: access to healthy food, mental health, and health care access and navigation.

Washtenaw County Health Department Health Officer Jimena Loveluck was on hand to introduce a panel of health leaders. Former health department head Ellen Rabinowitz moderated the panel, which included public health leaders with more than 65 years' experience in public health, nursing, epidemiology, and other public health roles.

They discussed how health department work has changed over the last few decades, the health department's biggest wins, and its biggest challenges.

Community Health Promotion Supervisor Charles Wilson recently retired after working for the county health department for 28 years. He says he's proud of the effort the health department has made not just to give lip service to equity but in finding ways to "operationalize equity, internally and externally."

He encouraged the health department to continue to work on equity even when community members have negative feedback.

"We want to be lauded for the work we do, and that's just human nature. But often, when working with community members, you don't always get lauded. Often you're challenged, and you're challenged in ways that don't always feel good," Wilson says. "So I'd like to see us move toward being more comfortable with being uncomfortable in our community engagement and health equity and racial equity."

Though COVID-19 was a common theme, many other health department wins were related to other health issues, such as using education and policy changes to reduce smoking rates in the county from 23% to 9% over 20 years.

Breakout sessions included panels with practitioners discussing how the three major focus areas impact what they do. In the healthy food access breakout session, Bridget Herrmann, senior director of collective impact for the United Way of Southeastern Michigan, asked panelists to discuss why food access was important to them and the work they do.

Najma Treadwell, an Ypsilanti-based doula and a member of the health department's community voices team, answered by saying that people can't take other steps to better their situation "with an empty belly … or a belly that's filled with sugar and carbs and grease."

Learn more about the community health assessment and the three focus areas here.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.

Photo by Sarah Rigg.