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Building Healthy, Equitable Communities
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Staff Perspectives

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Monthly Staff Perspective

Each month, Get Healthy San Mateo County staff offer their perspective on a public health issue featured in our monthly newsletters. 

Staff Perspective

Let’s talk data for more telling messages

Dear Get Healthy Partners,

I am excited to share my love of data with you. As an Epidemiologist for the Health Policy and Planning (HPP) team, my job is to explore, compile, analyze, and present data related to housing, neighborhood, school, and economic issues to support HPP’s work to build healthy, equitable communities in San Mateo County. Today, I want to demonstrate how you and anyone you know can (and often should) use data to help communicate issues important to you.

Staff Perspective Will Dominie

The Economics of Health

Hi, Get Healthy Partners,

I’d like to talk about one of the most important but least discussed factors that shape our health – economic security. To start, let’s look at a stark example that clearly shows the relationship between health and economic security in San Mateo County: 19 years. That’s the difference in the average age of death between residents of San Mateo County’s most and least wealthy cities. Let that sink in for a moment… people’s lives are being cut short by nearly two decades based on their income levels and where they live.

Staff Perspective Maeve Johnston

Advancing health in growing communities

Hello, Get Healthy Partners!

I’m a community health planner working to create healthy, equitable environments for people who live and work in San Mateo County.

No doubt over the last few years you’ve noticed new construction underway in San Mateo County. Cranes swinging building materials into place, bulldozers rumbling through construction sites, and homes, offices, and stores rising out of the dust –giving our communities new homes, jobs, and economic opportunities. After our recent building slump, development is back on the Peninsula.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

Getting smart on health

Educators and public health professionals both know that healthier children are better prepared to learn both in and out of school. This makes perfect sense; children affected by health issues are not able to fully focus on their studies and are therefore less likely to perform at their full potential. From the public health perspective, educational attainment is one of the key determinants of lifelong health outcomes; people with higher educational attainment live longer.

Staff Perspective Jasneet Sharma

Meet me on the Front Porch

Dear Get Healthy Partners,

I welcome this opportunity to introduce myself to all of you and share my perspective on how we can build a healthier more equitable San Mateo County together. I work to increase access to healthy, affordable, local and culturally appropriate foods and create well-planned, and safe, built environments that improve health outcomes for everyone.

Staff Perspective Shireen Malekafzali

Supporting a Healthier, More Equitable San Mateo County Together

Hello, Get Healthy Friends and Family – It’s great to have this venue to talk with you directly! I manage the Health Policy and Planning Program and the Get Healthy initiative for the San Mateo County Health System. It’s been a pleasure to meet so many of you in our network who are dedicated to improving the lives of San Mateo County residents and workers. Working with you gives me confidence that our collective impact will help us achieve our shared goals around healthy, equitable communities –a vision that I feel strongly about.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

Do you want to be healthy when you grow up?

Hi, Get Healthy Partners! As a Community Health Planner at Get Healthy San Mateo County, I work to improve student wellness by creating healthy school environments and addressing persistent health inequities amongst our youth. Here is why I’m so dedicated to this work:

Research shows that healthy kids are more likely to be healthy adults. Children and teens spend much of their young lives in school. So, creating healthy school environments is an enormous opportunity to ensure a healthy population.

Commands