ANDERSON — Local officials are working to create a plan to make Anderson a healthy community after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected the city as one of 10 in the country to participate in a pilot program.
The Healthy Places for Healthy People planning assistance program connects community leaders with local health care agencies to create health districts in which downtown and neighborhoods will be improved in ways that promote better health and economic development.
Jerrold Bridges, executive director of the Madison County Council of Governments, said much like how neighborhoods used to be centered around grade schools, the districts will focus on making health care organizations, such as the two hospitals in Anderson, the centers of the surrounding community.
“One of the concerns we had is (the question) ‘What is one of the things we can tackle of revitalizing the area?’” Bridges said. “Hospitals seemed like a good point for an area, not only for stimulating the economic activity that is there but improving health and creating better connectivity for better neighborhood.”
The cities selected for the EPA program were announced by the agency Thursday and range in size from Los Angeles, with a population of more than 3.7 million, to the neighboring West Virginia cities of Montgomery and Smithers, which have a combined population of 2,451.
Bridges said the goal for the pilot program is to create programs in the selected cities that can be used in cities all over the country.
Bridges said this program matches many of the goals his organization and other community leaders were already working toward.
“There is a huge interest now in the connectivity between transportation and health for lots of reasons,” he said.
A steering committee is being created, but many partners will be included, such as the Anderson Chamber of Commerce, Buckskin Bikes and additional health organizations, as well as hospitals and community health centers.
Anderson Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr. said there will be events held in the future to gather people’s ideas from the community to see what exactly a plan of this magnitude may need to include.
“The point is ultimately to bring these people together to see what they come up with,” the mayor said.
Bridges said it is also important for the initiative to be health based because organizations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which releases county health rankings each year, directly connect health to not only better quality of life but more interest for other industries to create economic development in a community.
He pointed out that the foundation showed Hamilton County, which borders Madison County, as the No. 1 county in the state for health outcomes in 2016. Madison County is ranked 79th.
Mike Schroyer, regional president of the St. Vincent Northeast Regional, which includes St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital, said Anderson has several health-related areas in which it could improve.
“Our county residents have high incidences of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other health conditions that can be positively impacted by changes in lifestyle and our environment,” he said. “We look forward to seeing the great things we can do when our entire community makes health a priority.”
Tom Bannon, vice president of Community Engagement at Community Hospital Anderson, said he is looking forward to seeing what the community comes up with.
“We love to use our imaginations to see if there are better and more creative ways to serve our community, and we are excited to participate in this program and look forward to hearing ideas on how we can build a health district,” he said.