It is a gray overcast but warm day in Boston. As the clouds of health care reform move across the US, take time to consider what we know about health and healthcare. In Huntsville Alabama there are ongoing battles over public housing. Do you believe that there is a connection between health and where you live? Do you stop to think about how a persons environment shapes their health status including life expectancy?
Huntsville and Madison Alabama have been on many list of “best” in 2009 including:
- Best place to start a new business.
- Best place to raise children.
- Best place to retire.
- Best place to weather the recession
Is Huntsville the best place for health and healthy living? According to the Jarman Mortality index, Huntsville exceeds the national average in mortality in several areas. Housing policy is a determinant of the health of a location.
Consider the following ten things we know about health:
- Health is more than health care.
- Health is tied to distribution of resources.
- Racism imposes an added burden.
- The choices we make are shaped by the choices we have.
- High demand + low control = chronic stress.
- Chronic stress can be toxic.
- Inequality – economic or political – is bad for your health.
- Social policy is health policy.
- Health inequalities are not natural.
- We all pay the price for poor health. Source: unnatural causes.org
Langston Hughes (1932) wrote: “That Justice is a blind goddess is a thing to which we poor are wise; her bandage hides two festering sores that once perhaps were eyes. R Wyatt
