Thrive Allen County Executive Director David Toland recently spoke at the Connecting to Transform Communities Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which convenes national speakers and participants to share and discuss effective community approaches to creating better health.
The conference featured innovative thinkers who are doing groundbreaking work in community and population health. By convening leaders from across the country, showcasing diverse collaborations, and exploring nontraditional innovative community health approaches, conference organizers hope to build momentum for creating healthier communities and environments regionally and nationally.
Toland led a breakout session on day one of the conference, which highlighted Thrive’s work in community organizing, county health rankings, collaborative networks, peer education and the large-scale community health improvement efforts in Allen County, Kansas.
Rural settings are famously challenging environments for community-wide health initiatives. One successful rural health initiative is Thrive Allen County, a Kansas-based coalition that focuses on wellness, healthcare access and the built environment in its quest to improve the county’s health ranking from the bottom tenth of Kansas counties. The Thrive coalition has mobilized a countywide force to build trails, recruit providers, and address social determinants of poverty in a county of 13,000 located in the poorest region of Kansas. Thrive executive director David Toland will discuss the strategies their coalition has developed to meaningfully change the culture—and the health–of this long-struggling rural community and the lessons their experience holds for communities across rural America.
A few Twitter comments from attendees:
David Toland of @ThriveAllen speaks on the differences in rural populations and how to improve health there. #Connecting15
— MHIF (@MHIF_Heart) November 16, 2015
When it comes to health, zip code matters more than genetic code. –@ThriveAllen #Connecting15
— MHIF (@MHIF_Heart) November 16, 2015
Focus on the community – preserving that community for the next generation. Health will follow. @ThriveAllen #Connecting15
— Heart of New Ulm (@HeartofNewUlm) November 16, 2015
Toland: Oral health is a pragmatic starting place in community health because it is visible – especially in children. #Connecting15
— Seth and friends (@iluvKCLI) November 16, 2015
Toland: If you think decline is inevitable, it is that much harder to give up behaviors that you are used to and enjoy. #Connecting15
— Seth and friends (@iluvKCLI) November 16, 2015
Toland: The middle finger to larger, more urban society is part of rural culture – & also a barrier to health. #Connecting15 (@ThriveAllen)
— Seth and friends (@iluvKCLI) November 16, 2015
Thrive Allen County #connecting15 pic.twitter.com/lcR2VHKfUg
— Kristine Fortman (@KristineFortman) November 16, 2015
