Building healthier communities

As a part of the Healthy Families BC Communities initiative, Fraser Health is partnering with communities to develop plans to make their city or town healthier. Supporting families to live healthier lifestyles will help prevent chronic disease and reduce the health-care cost burden.

Promoting healthy solutions at a grass root level

Plans with communities will take place in such areas as

• physical activity
• healthy eating
• tobacco reduction
• healthy-built environments
• priority populations

Comprehensive consultations will take place with local governments around BC over the next few months with the intent to launch Healthy Families BC Communities in early 2012.

Some of the topics to be discussed will include:

• Partnerships between the Province, local governments and health authorities
• Development of community health profiles and community baseline assessments to identify priority actions
• Recognition of communities that have made a commitment to develop priority actions to improve the health of citizens
• Targeted health authority intervention to support local actions to address measurable improvements in the health of communities
• Community events to celebrate success

Chronic disease and obesity not only result in direct costs to the health-care system, but indirect ones as well. These include increased absenteeism and decreased productivity at work, as well as a lower quality of life.

Learn more

Healthy Families BC