New Site Provides Information About Montgomery County’s Health
Feb 16, 2011 13:37 - 0 Comments
Only one-third of the adult population in Montgomery County engages in regular moderate physical activity. 17.5% of Montgomery County residents are obese. That’s not very good!
Today a new website, HealthyMontgomery.org, was launched. This site is a one-stop online source for population-based data and community health information. More than 90 topics related to the health and well being of our community can be found in an easy-to-read format. Comparisons to other communities across the nation are a click away.
County Councilmember George Leventhal, left, chair of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee; County Health Officer Ulder Tillman; and Department of Health and Human Services Director Uma Ahluwalia helped the site get off to a healthy start. Photo by Neil Greenberger.
This morning County officials gathered in the Rockville Memorial Library to announce the start of the site which was created by the Healthy Communities Institute, a California-based company that has developed web-based technology to bring health and socioeconomic data together to improve the health and well being of communities across the United States. The site was funded by the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits Program. Funding for the community health improvement process was provided by the five Montgomery County hospitals and the County.
In the press release for the announcement, County Councilmember George Leventhal, chair of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee and co-chair of the Healthy Montgomery Steering Committee commented on the possibilities:
The Healthy Montgomery website is the data pillar of our new community health improvement process. The steering committee is comprised of leaders from across the community. Our ultimate goal is to improve access to health and social services for all residents, to achieve health equity for all, and to enhance the physical and social environment to support optimal health and well-being for all.
Uma Ahluwalia, director of the County’s Department of Health and Human Services added:
Having reliable data on which to base our budget decisions on is critical, especially in these lean budget years. In addition, this website will be a great resource for students, health planners and the public.
In June 2008, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and the Montgomery County Collaboration Council brought together various organizations which work to improve the health and well‐being of Montgomery County residents. The group assessed how well ten essential public health functions are carried out in the County. All the organizations expressed the need to have “valid, reliable and user-friendly data related to health and the social determinants of health.”
The information on the website will assist County policy makers and partners in identifying key priority areas and will help guide decisions about strategies to meet various needs. For example, it costs nearly $70,000 for a family of three to live in Montgomery County without receiving any public subsidy for child care, food, housing or transportation. When officials decide on policies, this type of information will certainly play a part in making educated decisions.
Healthy Montgomery links to other resources in the community and also has a section on Promising Practices for Health, Environment, Economy, Transportation, Government and Politics, Education and Public Safety. Visit and take a look at our new Community Snapshot.
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