At Aurora Health Access (AHA) we believe we need to stop thinking of health as something we get at the doctor’s office or a health center but instead as something that starts in our families, in our schools and workplaces, in our playgrounds and parks, and in the air we breathe and the water we drink.
The more we broaden our thinking about health, the more opportunities we have to improve it. Scientists have found that the conditions in which we live and work have an enormous impact on our health, long before we ever see a doctor.
Fostering a robust culture of health and wellness in the community is a key part of developing a strong health care system in Aurora. Individual residents, businesses, local agencies, and civic institutions all have a role to play. AHA believes the more Aurora embraces a community ethic of wellness and healthy living, the less overall demand we’ll have on our limited health care system.
Our Create a Culture of Health and Wellness Workgroup is focused on this sort of health education. Our goal is to promote a culture of physical, mental, social and spiritual community health in Aurora. Some of the things the group is working on include:
- Wellness Wire, the Workgroup’s newsletter, aiming to facilitate a culture of health and wellness in Aurora and to connect local business to local community health resources—specifically health insurance resources for their employees.
- Support for the Aurora Residents for Recreation Taskforce, working towards more productive and positive opportunities for Aurora’s youth through safe places and community recreation centers.
