A health plan that aspires to surviving and thriving

This summer, while working on Jefferson County’s Community Health Assessment (CHA) and the subsequent Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), two of Keith Hammonds’ columns in The Monitor piqued my attention.

In “Belonging and civic life in America,” (June 19), Keith wrote, “I’d love to see the county Health Department create a ‘director of community belonging.’” That made me stop and think about how we could make that happen. A sense of belonging and connectedness is a protective factor in our overall health and wellbeing.

In a follow-up column (July 3), Keith spoke with Julia Hotz, author of a new book, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging (Simon & Schuster). He asked Hotz to define the difference between physical and social determinants of health. Her answer resonated with me, and I bought the book. Her answer also aligned with the work I had been immersed in with the CHA and CHIP.