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The
Healthy Communities movement began in the mid-1980s, aiming
to spread positive change across the country. Its ambitious
goal is to measurably improve residents' health and long-term
quality of life.
Healthy
Communities of LaPorte County (HCLC) takes a broad view of
health, forming new collaborative efforts with individual
and organizational partners, and sharing resources to address
unmet needs and to build stronger communities.
The
group organized in late 1996 with leadership from LaPorte
Regional Health System (LRHS) and LaPorte Hospital Foundation.
Saint Anthony Memorial was invited to join the effort, and
the two health systems continue to be major supporters of
the organization.
The
next year, public meetings were sponsored to introduce the
Healthy Communities concept and invite participation in the
process. The Healthy Communities Initiative advanced to identify
unmet health-related needs.
In
April of 2000 the group formed plans to expand to a countywide
"quality of life" organization and recruited dozens
of community leaders to help redefine its direction.
A
year later, a full-time director was hired. That fall, "visioning"
sessions were held throughout the county to find out what
area residents felt were the most important unmet needs. At
a countywide meeting in November 2001, results of these meetings
and other research assessments were presented, and new priority
issues were adopted for the organization.
Since its inception,
the number of Healthy Communities' issue councils has quadrupled,
to include the important quality of life efforts listed in
the column at right. |
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- In its early years, Healthy Communities
collaborated with 13 organizations and agencies, with major
contributions from LaPorte County Public Library, to develop
a computer-based Community Information Resource to help
people locate needed human services. You can access this
database by clicking on the LaPorte County "helping
services " box in the upper left corner of this page.
- HCLC also coordinated development of
a dental clinic, located within Community Health Center
at 400 Teegarden Street, LaPorte, to provide basic dental
care for Medicaid beneficiaries, low-income and uninsured
county residents.
HCLC
currently focuses on the following important areas, tackling
these topics through a collaborative council structure:
The
mission statement of Healthy Communities of LaPorte County
is to initiate and support a dynamic community-wide change
process that will enable LaPorte County residents to identify,
take ownership of, and find solutions to critical issues that
impact their emotional, physical and spiritual health, and
hence, the overall quality of life in LaPorte County.
Call 326-6260 to find
out how you can contribute to Healthy Communities' vision.
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