Healthy Communities Wyandotte

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Healthy Communities Wyandotte

"Mobilizing the community to improve health and well-being in Wyandotte County."

Healthy Communities Wyandotte was formed in 2010 as a result of the 2009 County Health Rankings, which ranked Wyandotte County as having the worst health in the state. Then Mayor Joe Reardon challenged leaders to act collectively to improve our dire health status. The initial planning group became an official Steering Committee, which guides initiative and its seven active teams to this day. Mayor Mark Holland and the Unified Government continue to provide significant support.

Our vision is that the county wide coalition aims to help Wyandotte become the most improved county for health in the state of Kansas through innovative leadership and community partnerships. Our mission is to mobilize the community to improve health and well-being in Wyandotte County through increased coordination, communication, and culture change. Our founding document, Recommendations for a Better Future, has guided our work and helped establish a steering committee for the coalition.

What We Do

The coalition convenes "Action Teams" in select focus areas to plan and implement recommended strategies to improve health. These Teams are made up of leaders from many sectors in our community. Most of the teams meet monthly and work on large, collaborative health improvement projects. These projects are bigger than any one organization could do alone, and often focus on big-picture policy or system changes. Staff support for the coalition is provided by the Unified Government Health Department and the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County.

+ Communications (CAT)

The mission of the Communication Action Team (CAT) is to create a healthier Wyandotte County by sharing information and stimulating discussion to change behavior.
The CAT has recently launched the Wyandotte Health News Room to keep our commuity infomred of significant health-related stories. See our most recent articles here.
For more information or to join this action team or the News Room, contact Randy Lopez at rlopez@wyhealthfdn.org.
Visit our page here.

+ Drive Wisely Wyandotte

The U.G. Public Health dept. sponsors a traffic safety coalition focused on identifying and carrying out solutions to combat and improve various traffic safety concerns.
Coordinator: Donald Paul Jones, dpjones@wycokck.org
Visit our page here.

+ Education (EAT)

The mission of the Education Action Team is to ensure that all students and their families have access to quality education and support services that promote readiness for school, future education and subsequent careers.
Coordinator: Alyssa Carodine, acarodine@wycokck.org
Visit our page here.

+ Fetal Infant Mortality Review - Community Action Team (FIMR-CAT)

Fetal and Infant Mortality Review - Community Action Team (FIMR) is an action-oriented community process that continually assesses, monitors, and works to improve service systems and community resources for women, infants, and families. The Team is a diverse group of community leaders that prioritize identified issues. They design and implement change in the community.
Coordinator: Alyssa Carodine, acarodine@wycokck.org
Visit our page here.

+ Food Systems (FSAT)

The mission of the Nutrition Action Team (NAT) is to improve Wyandotte County's food environment so that all residents can and want to eat healthy food.
Coordinator: Alyssa Carodine, acarodine@wycokck.org
Visit our page here.

+ Health Services

This team is now housed with the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County. Visit their website here.

+ Infrastructure (IAT)

The mission of the Infrastructure Action Team (IAT) is to build, redesign, and better utilize Wyandotte County's environmental infrastructure to provide opportunities for healthy and active living.
Coordinator: Wesley McKain, wmckain@wycokck.org
Visit our page here.

+ Policy

Healthy Communities Wyandotte recognizes that many, if not most determinants of health are related to policies created at the federal, state, and local level. Policy change is needed to create the conditions in which our community can thrive and HCW cannot ignore the need to advocate for positive health policy. The HCW Policy Committee was created to fill this gap and create one cohesive policy agenda for the entire coalition.
Coordinator: Rebecca Garza, rgarza@wycokck.org
View our page here.

+ Tobacco Free Wyandotte (TFW)

WyCo has one of the highest rates of tobacco use in Kansas which is a major factor in our poor health outcomes. The Tobacco Free Wyandotte Action Team (TFW) seeks to pull together partners and residents to work together to improve access to resources that help people quit tobacco, prevent youth from starting to use tobacco, protect residents from secondhand smoke, and ensure support for populations that are targeted by tobacco companies.
Coordinator: Rebecca Garza, rgarza@wycokck.org
View our page here.

+ Workwell Wyandotte

WorkWell Wyandotte is based on the idea that what's good for employee health is also good for business. This isn't your typical worksite wellness program. We use a comprehensive approach, addressing wellness from multiple angles, with particular focus on the organization rather than individual employees. Through trainings and technical assistance, we help worksites develop comprehensive plans that make the healthy behavior the easy behavior.
Resources for working breastfeeding moms.
Coordinator: Janell Friesen, jfriesen@wycokck.org
Visit the website here.

Campaigns We Support

As a coalition based organization, we work closely with community partners and other organizations on various projects that aren't housed solely with Healthy Communities. Below are several campaigns we work on, click each image to learn more!