This year’s Community Health Forum Summit on health equity will include a data walk with information about Minnesota and Olmsted County’s health disparities, as well as a keynote speaker and a panel of Rochesterites working to address those treatment gaps, said Stacy Sundve, the county’s health assessment and planning director.
The annual community health needs assessment by Olmsted County measures 35 different indicators of health disparities, Sundve said. The county pulled out about 15 to look at and address this year.
"A lot of people go right to racial disparities," she said. "But it’s also things like tobacco use, diabetes, education or finances."
The keynote speaker at the half-day event is Dorothy Bliss, the principal planner for the Minnesota Department of Health.
"She’s going to give the audience a lot of questions to consider," Sundve said. "‘What do health disparities mean? How can we advance to be a county that really addresses equity?’"
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The panel discussion will put together professionals in and out of health care who are working to address the needs of their clients, community members, and congregations.
The Health Forum Summit is an introduction to the needs of Olmsted County members, Sundve said. She hopes those needs will be further addressed in further health forums in the next year.
"This is a catalyst for work that is going to be done later," she said.
What:Community Health Forum Summit: Health Equity
When:8 a.m.-noon. Tuesday
Where:125 LIVE, 125 Elton Hills Drive NW, Rochester
