Kari Mailloux with HEAL Reno County spoke to the Hutchinson City Council on Tuesday about a new grant period that they are entering with money from Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
"We have just been awarded phase two, which is the next four years," Mailloux said. "That will bring another $400,000 total to Hutchinson and Reno County. This time, the pathways are framed around the social determinants of health. We're taking a different approach this time and we're asking that question, what about health, in terms of our environment and our situations that we're in and really taking an equity and neighborhood approach."
The social determinants of health are community and social context, neighborhoods and physical environment, food, health care, education and economic stability.
"We're really eager to get the input from residents of Hutchinson and Reno County on the things that they feel are important to the health of our community and the things they have a passion to get involved in," said Adam Stewart, Pathways Grant Coordinator.
The first of those meetings is Tuesday afternoon at the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center's pavilion at 4 p.m. The goal is to improve access to healthy eating, active living or tobacco cessation.