New Douglas County Health Website Unveiled

A new on-line web portal Health Matters in Douglas County, Nebraska was unveiled Wednesday, Nov. 30, during the Live Well Omaha Health Summit.

“This new website is unique in that it combines the most current local Douglas County data  (health, education, environment, economy, public safety, social environment, government & policies, and transportation) with the latest news and best practices, all organized by topic area,” said Douglas County Health Director Dr. Adi Pour. “This makes it easy for the user to connect a need with a possible solution.”

Health Matters in Douglas County, Nebraska can be found at www.douglascohealth.org and is sponsored by the Douglas County Health Department, Live Well Omaha and the three hospital systems, Alegent Health, Methodist and The Nebraska Medical Center.

The site provides:

·         A dashboard with more than 100 health and quality of life indicators that shows trends, and breaks down some of the data by county region gender, age and other factors.

·         More than 1,800 promising practices, which are programs that have proven to work around the nation, including contact information to make it easy to potentially discuss the practices further before adapting.

·         National news articles related to important topics updated three times a week

·         A link to other local reports

·         Up-to-date air quality data and several other features.

“One of the cool tools is a walking score,” Dr. Pour said. “By putting in your home address it provides you a walking score between 0 – 100, based on if you require a car or if you live in ‘walker’s paradise’ (score 90 – 100) where the daily errands can be done without a car.”

 This has importance for community planners, Dr. Pour said, since research tells us that the average resident of a walkable neighborhood weighs 6 – 10 lbs. less than one who lives in a sprawling neighborhood.

“I also should mention that feet are zero pollution transportation machines,” Dr. Pour pointed out.  “Other communities have calculated that property values increase with higher walking scores.”

The website is updated by the Healthy Communities Institute which was started by the University of California at Berkley. Local data and reports will be added to the website by the Douglas County Health Department and Live Well Omaha.

“At the end of the day, I am urging residents to use Health Matters in Douglas County, Nebraska as a platform from which to gain knowledge and simultaneously encourage action” says Dr. Pour.  “Informed residents are their own best health advocates and the best voices for a healthy community and more importantly, an engaged community becomes part of the solution to improve public health.”