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  Health and Human Services Focus Group Orientation Binder

  Ten Input Ideas for Health and Human Services Thousands of ideas were generated and all will be considered by the Focus Group.
  
  1  King Lincoln - Neighborhood Survey.
  There needs to be more organization put around nonprofits to restructure and collaborate under one umbrella to give more and better services to better combat social issues within the community. Many times, duplicative services are being provided and no coordination exists between entities.
  2  Ann - Latino Festival.
  Address homelessness and mental health populations’ needs. This population is more visible. Make sure their is programming available downtown so that persons have some where to be other than on the streets.
  3  Lezalita - Latino Festival.
  By regulating school lunches and banning vending machines. Offering more health care options for the working class who might not have employer provided comprehensive coverage.
  4  Clint - Arts Festival.
  Employers need to make it more of a focal point. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that unhealthy lifestyles and obesity cost employers more money (insurance for employees, lost days of work due to illness. No one should be discriminated against but exercise programs could be pushed harder by employers.
  5  Dave - Gay Pride Festival.
  The cost of health care is outpacing the income of most residents. While the poorest of the poor and the wealthiest get or can afford health care, the middle class is not using the systems available or going elsewhere.
  6  Melanie - Arts Festival.
  San Francisco, CA established universal health for all its residents. Since Columbus has been one of the more progressive cities in the country, would it not be innovative and ground breaking (not to mention critical to the health of our residents) to be one of the leaders reducing health disparities and improving access to care?
  7  Guy - Jazz & Rib Fest.
  I would like to see more accessibility for handicapped citizens’ downtown and in other high volume areas. For example during the 4th of July, a shuttle to take handicapped citizens to and from the events. Make the Olentangy bike trail more accessible to handicapped individuals.
  8  Brian - Arts Festival.
  Encourage grocery stores and other retail food outlets to offer healthier choices, and offer incentives to organic and natural food stores so they’ll establish outlets in places besides the northern suburbs (without competing with the North Market).
  9  Chris P. - Arts Festival.
  Ban trans-fats. Give tax credits for gym/health club subscriptions. Allow more time at recess in schools & more time in Gym -- get the kids moving! Give tax credits for businesses that give their employees “health breaks” (20/30 min a day for walking/ stretching/some type of get-out-of-the chair activity)
  10  Ed Leonard - Greek Festival.
  Greater access to public health facilities and improving information about preventive health measures.

Health and Human Services

Focus Area Members:

Member	Organization
Janet Jackson (Chair)	United Way
Karen Morrison (Chair)	Ohio Health
Angela Mingo	Nationwide Children's Hospital
Barbara Poppe	Community Shelter Board
Claus von Zichlin	Mt. Carmel
Commissioner Paula Brooks	Franklin County Board of Commissioners
Cora Munoz	Capital University
Councilwoman Charleta Tavares	Columbus City Council
David Blom	OhioHealth
Dr. Teresa Long	Columbus Health Department
Jeff Biehl	Access Health Columbus
Jennifer Carlson	Ohio State Medical Center
Matt Habash	Mid Ohio Food Bank
Michelle Mills	St. Stephen's Comm. House
Nancy Rini	Columbus City Schools
Pete Geier	OSU Health System
Phil Cass	Columbus Medical Association
Rick Vincent	Osteopathic Heritage Foundation
Russ Kennedy	Mount Carmel Health Systems

Meetings:	Work Session 1 - Notes
	Work Session 2 - Notes
	Work Session 3 - Notes

Focus Area Description: Ensuring public health and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves, is critical to our long term wellbeing. Community health and social service issues will be the focus of this group, including childhood obesity, adult diabetes and health concerns. The relationship between the built environment and health may also be addressed.

Key Question: How can Columbus become the healthiest community in America?

Public Input about the Focus Area: Citizens felt that affordable, accessible health care was an important goal for our city. The two most important factors respondents believe lead to improved health in the community were better nutrition and more physical activity. By employers or schools prioritizing wellness through and increased effort to allow children or employees to exercise, physical activity in the city would naturally increase. Additionally, comments discussed providing more opportunities to exercise through building more recreation centers, bike trails, or other places throughout the city. In addition, many see the needs of specialized groups of people like the mentally ill, the homeless or elderly as critical issues for our city to address.

Public Input Themes for the Focus Area:

1. Provide more accessible and affordable citywide health care. Respondents were universal in their desire for more affordable and accessible health care options. Comments discussed difficulties financially in accessing health care services while others simply wanted additional resources brought closer to their community. Several contributors also mentioned the need for more preventive health care options to identify issues before they became major health impediments.
2. Promote fitness through recreational activities, the workplace and public events. Youth and adults have a need for better opportunities to pursue their physical fitness through more bike and walking trails, better school physical education programs, and employers encouraging physical fitness in the workplace. Increased exercise can reduce sick time for employees and students as well as improve their productivity.
3. Provide nutritional food options by promoting healthy food choices, particularly in schools. The importance of available, affordable healthy food options is an important way to improve the health of the residents. Several respondents cited the need for regular farmers markets in every community, like those offered through the Columbus Health Department over the summer. Also, contributors wanted better nutritional options in schools. Finally, many comments discussed the need to limit the amount of fast food restaurants that are available in the city.
4. Improve overall health by reducing air pollution and encouraging community clean ups. People cited air quality conditions as an important health factor in our community. Numerous comments talked about the positive affects of the smoking ban and the need to continue to enforce that. Also, similar to the Green community category for air quality, contributors saw the auto oriented region and transportation industry as a major source of air pollution. In addition, respondents pointed to community oriented clean ups as a means of ensuring a healthier immediate environment for all community members.
5. Provide outreach services to minority populations, the homeless, the elderly, the mentally ill, single mothers and youth. Contributors saw a set of specialized health needs within the community. Groups like the homeless, handicapped and mentally ill have health needs that significantly affect their ability to operate on a daily basis. Also, respondents talked about minority populations, youth, and elderly citizens as groups who have specialized health needs that need to be addressed.

Think Outside the Box...