As Albuquerque continues toward urbanization it will be important to develop local models of Urban Health Promotion. Unfortunately we often look for cookie cutter approaches, or because of funding are pushed toward pre-fabricated efforts. There are some principles that are important and can be the foundation for work in various communities. For New Mexico it will be important to also develop methods for regional health promotion work that includes cities and rural communities in a comprehensive way.
Improving the quality of life of our communities will require that we, those who are staff, work with the community to understand the strengths and needs of the communities. Beyond a typical needs assessment this requires that community members participate. Supplementing the objective demographics, health, education, and job outcomes is the idea of health and well-being as the community members see it themselves. In an urban environment like Albuquerque, this could change as quickly as one block to the next.
Once strengths and needs are identified, we can work to preserve the strengths, and respond to the needs. The community needs to have full access to this information. Other users of the information would be government planners, public health workers, service providers, educational institutions and elected officials. Community activists, such as neighborhood and PTA members, could use the information in their community and school improvement efforts.
While staff may have priorities based on funding or job description, one priority for urban health promotion, and all health promotion, is to support community priorities. This is often difficult for those of us who have seen research and may disagree with the priorities as set by the community.
Creating healthy communities will require work at the very local level and also larger policy changes. In this context population health includes social, economic, and power dynamics at both the societal and community levels that impact the quality of life of communities.
Occasionally the difficulty is that people do not see community-level issues as having health related impacts. We often overlook that connectedness and empowerment have health enhancing effects in and of themselves. Services are often delivered at the local level. And from neighborhood to neighborhood we can see major differences in physical environment. Health promotion can help improve quality of life by being participatory and action-oriented.
Primary to this is respecting the community. This includes being participatory and action-oriented. This means partnering with community, moving at the community's pace, and power sharing. The concepts of the World Health Organization's Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion, and the final report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health support this idea.
With these principles and questions as simple as, “What do you appreciate about your neighborhood?” and “What would you like to see improved about your neighborhood?” we can begin to help communities help themselves to a better quality of life.
Written by Enrique Cardiel, Urban Health Extension Coordinator
