The following message has been copied from the WebNetworks conference: act.kids.ca for
distribution to click4HP listserv recipients. As one of the co-facilitators of
act.kids.ca and a participant on Click4HP, I thought the topic may be of interest to
some of you.
Hello all act.kids.ca participants. I thought I'd respond to one of our new conference
participants here given his interesting introduction as a paediatrician.
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> My name is Karl Hess. I'm a pediatrician in Cleveland, OH.
> Locally I think the best thing that I can do for my patients
> out of the office is to get employment for their parents, so I'm
> working with an organization which is using Hunger Project methodology
> in Cleveland. We are making a dent in getting people to think about
> the big picture - ending hunger, employing everyone - rather than doing
> a little here and there.
>
> From the conference I would like ideas about how to get the job done.
> I am also interested in early education, teaching mothers how to
> stimulate their kids' development. Its a disaster in most cities here.
>
> Karl
Thanks for posting Karl and Welcome!
Congratulations on trying to make a difference in a way that breaks the often
ineffective medical-service-delivery-to-passive-recipient tradition.
Personally, I think you hit the nail on the head and show a great understanding of how
the determinants of health lie in those sectors traditionally not recognized as
health-realted. As the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the World Health
Organization stated in so many ways: peace, shelter, food, education, income,
sustainable resources a stable ecosystem, social justice and equity all have direct
impact on the health of communities and individuals.
When it comes to the healthy development of children and youth, many people would agree
with you that it is difficult for parents to "do the best they can" when they're out of
a job, or I would add: b) being beaten by their partner, or c) live in a war torn
country, or d) cannot put good food on the table, or e) only have pollutted water to
drink, or f) you get the picture I think...
Many of us in health promotion (and other) circles here in Canada have been interested
in supporting multisectoral approaches to addressing community health issues. The
Healthy Cities/Communities movement for example is seen by some as a practical way to
operationalize the rhetoric around how to implement approaches that address the
determinants of health being in multiple sectors. I would be happy to share more
thoughts on the Healthy City (HC) approach to anyone who may be interested. There are
also a number of Internet sites which deal with the Healthy City movement, in Canada and
internationally. You can try WHO's site at http://www.who.dk/tech/hcp/index.htm for
links to other HC home pages around the world including in Canada.
Thanks again Karl for sharing your approach and welcome to act.kids.ca on Web Networks.
Jean-Marc (JM) Dupont
Conference Co-facilitator
act.kids.ca
<[log in to unmask] soon to be: [log in to unmask]> & <http://www.web.net/~comsys>
"We did not inherit the earth for our ancestors, we are merely borrowing it from our
children"
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