Residents of Allen County have held their own health-wise over the past few years as the 2021 community health assessment statistics are released.
Activate Allen County presenting the report that shows more people have health insurance in 2021. The uninsured are now at 4%, down from 9% in 2017. The report also shows that chronic illness has remained stable and that more adults are getting routine check-ups at 71% compared to only 63%. Activate in part credits education as part of the success in certain programs for adults and youth.
Kayla Monfort with Activate Allen County explains, "There's just so many partners and so many collaborators are coming to the table to really look at these issues and that's really a testament too the work of Activate but also the work of so many community partners that are willing to come to that table, willing to have those conversations and put the work in to what it takes to improve the health of our youth and our entire community."
Monfort says that the use of tobacco and alcohol by teens has dropped as well. Mental health continues to be a concern and there are other issues that will need additional work.
Monfort adds, Those things like poverty, housing, transportation, continue to be a concern for our community. So, we'll continue to work with the city and our partners to look at housing initiatives, transportation initiatives, and also looking at how we can do better economically in our community to make sure that folks have the resources that they need to live their healthiest life."
One of their goals is to work on making access to healthy environments available to all residents across the board.
