United Way 101: Health

At United Way of Central Florida, we are making lasting, measurable changes in the health of individuals in our community. This includes physical and mental health, as well as addiction and substance abuse prevention. Good health, like a solid educational foundation and financial stability, is one of the building blocks of a good quality of life.

In the past year, we worked with our partner programs to improve the health of 13,053 patients through direct medical care, therapy, or prescription medications. But we didn't stop there. We also provided programs that helped people understand what they could do to improve their own health, because when individuals are educated on the best ways to prevent disease and take responsibility for their personal health, they reduce their risk of hospitalizations, institutionalizations, and in the case of substance abuse, potential incarceration.

But why should you care?

On a personal level, learning how to make healthy choices that prevent disease could keep you out of the hospital and the crushing debt that can accompany a major medical procedure. When you live a healthy lifestyle, your need for expensive medications to treat high blood pressure, cholesterol, and high blood sugar is decreased. If you stop smoking, your chances of developing lung cancer are greatly reduced, meaning that you can live longer with a better quality of life. More immediately, if you are an hourly worker, disease prevention can reduce the amount of time you are missing work, which in turn will keep you from losing income due to illness. Whether you are hourly or salaried, a healthy lifestyle allows you to work longer into your lifetime, and to enjoy a better quality of life in your later years.

If you are a business owner, the loss of productivity resulting from a chronically ill employee can be staggering. According to the CDC, "In fact, indirect costs of poor health including absenteeism, disability, or reduced work output may be several times higher than direct medical costs. Productivity losses related to personal and family health problems cost U.S. employers $1,685 per employee per year, or $225.8 billion annually. These indirect costs affect all employers, even those who avoid direct medical costs by not funding insurance." (http://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/businesscase/reasons/productivity.html)

Collectively, when more people are unhealthy, it costs us all more! "The American Medical Association recently revealed that at least 25 cents of every health care dollar is spent on the treatment of diseases or disabilities that result from potentially changeable behaviors." (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v6n1/voluntary.html) Because insurance companies determine the cost to consumers by averaging the risks, the more people who are at risk of serious or chronic medical treatment, the higher the cost of our premiums.

What we are doing about it:

At United Way of Central Florida, we bring together the people with the passion, resources, and expertise to get things done. In 2011, a group of local experts and people with a passion for improving health formed our Health Steering Team and helped us determine which issues were most pressing in Polk, Hardee, and Highlands Counties. This group included doctors, hospital administrators, Health Department directors, and nurses. From those discussions, they identified the target issue, outcomes, and indicators used to evaluate all UWCF health programs.

Our target issue is to improve accountability for personal health. When we do this, the intended result will be threefold: that people will have access to a medical home and use its health services; that people will take accountability for their health and take action to improve it; and that individuals, partner programs, and the community will commit to promoting an increase in healthy life behaviors and to attacking health problems including, but not limited to, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, tobacco use, and substance abuse.

The intended goal of our combined efforts is that patients of all ages who meet participation requirements of our health programs will maintain or improve health and/or reduce avoidable hospitalizations or institutionalizations. To find out if our programs are reaching that goal, they must show that their patients or clients have a measurable reduction in avoidable emergency room visits, hospitalizations, institutionalizations, or incarcerations, or they must show measurable, maintained improvements in condition-specific health indicators such as weight, body mass, blood pressure, or blood sugar levels.

By improving the health of our community, we can create a better, more productive quality of life for all of us. Fewer people using the emergency room as primary care means shorter waits when there is a true emergency. Physically and emotionally healthier people are able to work more consistently, meaning that fewer people need to rely on disability and other government subsidies for extended periods of time. And individuals who are able to break the cycle of addiction reduce their chances of being incarcerated or homeless.

There are three ways you can help:

• You can give. -- Because we partner with programs that show measurable improvements in the health of people they touch, you can rest assured that your donation to the United Way of Central Florida is being put to good use. More than 240 community volunteers scrutinize our programs to determine their effectiveness. And money that is raised here, stays here, giving you the confidence that your contribution directly helps the citizens of Polk, Hardee, and Highlands counties. Donate now!
• You can advocate. -- Talk about United Way and the good that we do for the people in our community. Share our success stories with your friends and encourage them to become a part of our efforts. Share your knowledge of healthy lifestyle behaviors with someone who may need the extra support to make permanent change in his or her life. Encourage friends and family to set and reach health goals.
• You can volunteer. -- Become involved with one of our partner health clinics, or a program that helps former addicts get back on their feet. Work with an organization that helps people find medical care, or one that helps the elderly or disabled get to medical appointments. There are so many ways you can help! When we work together, we can do more than an individual can do on his or her own.

We invite you to be part of improving the health of our community. Join with us and Live United!