This story is taken from Sacbee / Opinion .
Editorial: A 'Healthy Living Map'
Check out your ZIP code for health status
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Published 12:00 am PST Monday, November 5, 2007
To many Californians, the debate over health care may seem arcane and remote, especially when wonks
throw out terms like "individual mandate" and "guaranteed issue."
Yet at its heart, this debate involves everyday questions for regular people: How can I gain access to health
insurance? How can I help my child avoid diabetes? Why are there no clinics in my neighborhood? Why are
the emergency rooms so full?
Here in Sacramento, health professionals have long known about these disparities. Now their findings are
drawing a wider audience. Thanks to a project of computerized mapping, Sacramento-area residents can go
to the Web and see how their neighborhood stacks up in measurements of health and access to medical
care.
Go to www.healthlivingmap.com and click on the ZIP code map. Soon you'll see the region. By clicking on
various indicators of health, you can see which areas have the largest percentage of residents afflicted by
obesity, diabetes, cancer deaths and other fatal illnesses.
Then click on "ER visits," and you'll see a map of the number of emergency-room, outpatient visits by
residents of that area. Not surprisingly, the ZIP code 98614 has a high percentage of ER visits, possibly
because this section of downtown Sacramento has a large concentration of homeless people and residents
without health insurance.
Known as the "Healthy Living Map," the project is a collaboration of four nonprofit providers - Catholic
Health Care West, Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente and UC Davis Health System. Every three years, those
hospitals are required to develop a "community needs assessment." Usually the assessments end up in a
binder. This year, the four hospitals agreed to create a Web version with the help of a community group,
Valley Vision.
Be careful not to draw broad conclusions. Health data can be misleading. But the maps are a good place to
start asking questions. The biggest one is: How long must we wait for health care reform?
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