Community leaders gather for public health round table
The Manchester Health Department invited leaders from various non-profit organizations as well as other city government departments to a luncheon meeting on Monday discussing steps taken in recent years to address the city’s overall health along with best practices to improve local health moving for
MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Health Department invited leaders from various non-profit organizations as well as other city government departments to a luncheon meeting on Monday discussing steps taken in recent years to address the city’s overall health along with best practices to improve local health moving forward.
The event was part of leadup to a revised community health improvement plan coming in 2025, an assessment of the city’s health that is taken every three years. Manchester Health Department Director Anna Thomas said that social and economic factors actually make up 40 percent of the impact on an individual’s health in Manchester, with other factors examined including trauma and health outcomes, healthy homes, food and nutrition security, health behaviors and access to clinical care.
While Thomas looked back at progress made during her tenure on a variety of topics impacting residents’ health such as teenage pregnancies, water fluoridation, lead paint exposure and opioid abuse by both the city and local non-profit groups.
“For those of you who have invested your resources, your money, into these neighborhoods and into this work, for those of you who change the mission of your organization to co-locate in these neighborhoods, I need you to know it was worth it,” she said. “It doesn’t mean we’re done, it just means that we are progressing, we are getting there. We’ve got to stay on top of it and we’ve got to do it.”
Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. Jenn Gillis also provided a brief presentation connected to Thomas’ update discussing how Manchester’s public schools have reached out to families on various topics relating to student health and well-being.
Members of the audience chimed in with their own concerns following the pair of presentations. Event Emcee Scott Spradling asked if non-profit groups could create a coordinated platform to avoid redundancy in grant applications. Ward 4 Aldermwoman Christine Fajardo said she was interested in figuring how to provide more housing without gentrification. Manchester Police Department Chief Allen Aldenberg asked for ideas on how to make housing more affordable for incoming officers so Manchester’s police force can look more like the community it serves. Ward 6 Alderman Crissy Kantor stated her skepticism about vaccines and felt more needed to be done for the mental health of students. And these were just a few of the comments made.
Thomas was pleased with the information exchanged and given at the event and is looking to get more input on public health initiatives from the community at large, beginning with a similar event to Monday’s roundtable on June 27, with a time and location yet to be determined.
“We want to keep forging ahead, getting the community organized around needs and getting people with similar minds to the table for problem solving,” said Thomas. “Right now I think the bar is so high, we’ve always had an amazing group of non-profits and city leaders working together around issues, and I think what we need to do is get everyone back together and focus on common goals.”
