This article is part of a project of the local Community Health Improvement Council (CHIC). CHICs were created statewide in conjunction with the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) with the goal of getting local citizens and county governments more involved in the manner in which health might be improved in each of their communities. The local CHIC is conducting an on-going awareness campaign addressing all the areas that can potentially affect a person’s health. May has been designated by the CHIC as the month to bring awareness to the San Juan Community PLACE MATTERS.

 

San Juan Community PLACE MATTERS (SJCPM) is a group of organizations and citizens from throughout San Juan County joining together to make the places where we live, learn, work and play healthier for ALL members of the community. It addresses health in a broader way than health is normally viewed.  SJCPM doesn’t just look at medical and physical health of the community, but also aspects of the community such as environmental, educational, economical and the ways those issues can affect the health of San Juan County.

 

Through partnerships with New Mexico Health Equity Partnership and the National Collaborative for Health Equity and the Kellogg Foundation SJCPM looks at the disparities around these issues to determine how to make health more equitable for ALL people through policy change. 

 

Mission:  To promote healthy living and life-long learning through improved educational opportunities

 

Vision:  To create and sustain through universal collaboration and access, a vibrant, equitable community that respects, supports and honors all individuals where healthy economic opportunities are diversified, and quality education is meaningful and valued.

 

Some of the current projects that PLACE MATTERS is working on include:

 

San Juan College Student Housing Taskforce - SJCPM is participating in a process to create policies around student housing and ensure a healthy focus for any housing that is built on San Juan College campus.

 

Metropolitan Planning Organization - SJCPM is helping to integrate health into street design and policy around street and sidewalk infrastructure.

 

Totah Behavioral Health - SJCPM is working to include health in the planning and implementation policies for the new Sobering House.

 

Health in All Policies

Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach that integrates and articulates health considerations into policymaking across sectors, and at all levels, to improve the health of all communities and people. It helps decision makers take health into consideration so they can help make the people they are working with as healthy as possible.

 

Community Conversations

Community conversations are small groups brought together to discuss community issues and determine how those issues are affecting the population of our community. Using the information gained from these community conversations SJCPM attempts to find solutions to issues and bring people together to work on making changes throughout the community.

 

For more information go to www.sjcplacematters.org or to become part of San Juan Community PLACE MATTERS, contact Pam Valencia, Coordinator, at 566-5871 or valenciap@sjcpartnership.org.