It’s a little-known fact: For the vast majority of the population, medical care accounts for roughly 20 percent of health outcomes, while 80 percent is determined by external socioeconomic and environmental factors called “Social Determinants of Health” (SDoH). Learn how these factors affect you, as well as the health of your family and community.
Providing health and social services to underserved and at-risk populations can be difficult even in the best of circumstances. But when the area in need is a rural and geographically isolated peninsula, the stakes increase exponentially. In this episode, we hear from Susan and Ben Paganelli, a husband-and-wife team who are working to help improve whole-person health for residents of Washington’s Key Peninsula, commonly referred to as “the KP.”
Like many other communities across the nation, Pierce County, Washington, is caught in a housing dilemma: A booming population, too little housing, and dramatically rising costs. In this 80/20 episode, Bryan Schmid, Pierce County’s Affordable Housing Supervisor, describes why shelter is essential to any community’s health and explains the strategies underway to address the problem.
More than 3,000 people at any point in time are unsheltered in Pierce County, Wash. In this episode of the Elevate Health 80/20 Project, Delmar Algee, III, a social service supervisor who oversees Homeless Programming, explains the range of initiatives aimed at addressing the problem.
Some 61 million adults – or roughly one in four in the United States – live with some form of disability. Nalani Linder, Interim Executive Director of the Tacoma Area Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities (TACID), explains how virtually all social determinants of health may be affected for those who live with disabilities.
The pandemic further exposed the lack of affordable housing across the nation, especially in Pierce County, Washington. With the transition to a post-Covid “new normal” now underway, Pierce County Rental Assistance Lead Valeri Almony explains the ongoing challenges as well as the path forward.
LGBTQ+ youths in Pierce County, Washington often experience marginalization and discrimination, especially in health care settings. In this second episode of a two-part series focused on social determinants of health in the LGBTQ+ community, Oasis Youth Center Executive Director Matthew Wilson describes how SDOH factors can have negative consequences, particularly for those 21 and under.
According to recent polling, an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. population will soon identify as LGBTQ+ or something other than heterosexual, roughly double from just a decade ago. In the first of two episodes geared toward the LGBTQ+ community, Troy Christensen of Tacoma’s Rainbow Center discusses the significance and challenges associated with ensuring equitable access to health care for all in a changing society.
The chasm between haves and have nots is only increasing in many communities, including Pierce County, Washington. Michelle Douglas of the Emergency Food Network explains the growing demands on local food pantries throughout the South Puget Sound region.
Nearly 800,000 people in Washington state are food insecure, according to Feeding America, and more than one-third of those residents are children. Yuni Medlin, a food security and safety activist based in Tacoma, Wash., explains the adverse and unanticipated effects that poor nutrition can have on an entire community, not just individuals.
Health does not mean just going to the doctor. Tune into the launch of our 80/20 Project podcast series to learn about the importance of Social Determinants of Health.
