Latest / Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast / Social Prescribing & Spring Break Travel

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Social Prescribing & Spring Break Travel · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

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  Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
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  public health podcast, where we come together
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  for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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  real conversations. From your local public health
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  team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
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  is your Weekly Minnesota, where we'll provide
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  a brief update on local public health news. Today,
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  we're joined by Jared Olson, the Health Department's
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  Senior Population Epidemiologist, here to talk
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  about social prescribing. Jared, thank you so
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  much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you for
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  having me. So earlier this week, we hosted our
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  annual Community Health Improvement Plan event
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  or CHIP. Can you explain what CHIP is and why
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  we host an annual event? Yeah, absolutely. So
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  every five years, we consult with the community
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  in order to assess community health and identify
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  some key needs that we want to tackle over the
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  next five years. So this current CHIP or this
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  current Community Health Improvement Plan started
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  in 2024. with two needs that were identified
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  by the community. One, to improve access to and
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  help create community building spaces. And then
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  two, at the same time, also increase access to
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  social support across the community. So that's
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  what we were coming together this year. This
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  is our second annual CHIP event, and we had a
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  great time. Awesome. How did the event go? We
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  had about 140 folks from across the county joining
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  us. And we spent a lot of time talking about
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  social prescribing. That was the theme of the
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  event. And we had opportunities to hear from
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  some clinicians and practitioners in the community
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  who are already employing this in their day -to
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  -day work. And we also had an opportunity to
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  share a little bit within our communities, get
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  to know each other better, and think about how
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  we might continue to enhance social connection
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  in Larimer County. What is social prescribing?
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  So social prescribing is a practice that initially
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  came out of the UK. And it basically means that
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  instead of a medication that you might be prescribed
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  by your doctor, you walk away with a prescription
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  for something else in your life, whether that
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  be consultation for employment or resume services,
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  whether that be nutrition advice. It could be
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  a prescription to go join a dance class or do
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  something else in your community. And in the
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  UK, they have a structure where they have clinicians
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  that refer to other kind of social workers in
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  the community. And those folks really address
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  what matters to that individual, that patient,
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  and help target the social activity that would
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  make the most sense for them and be most meaningful
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  to them. You mentioned that this idea started
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  in the UK. What's the history behind social prescribing?
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  So as I mentioned, it did come out initially
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  out of the UK, and it's been used in their health
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  system over there pretty extensively. But it's
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  been an idea that's been adopted in other locations,
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  including across the US as well. And the idea
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  here is we know that we can reduce costs, that
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  we can reduce reliance on the medical system,
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  and that we don't have to necessarily fix every
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  challenge that an individual has with something
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  in the doctor's office. It really increases the
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  agency that individuals have. and improves their
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  ability to make positive changes in their own
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  life in ways that we can't always rely on the
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  doctor to do everything for us. Has there been
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  any research done around the effectiveness of
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  social prescribing? Yeah, there's been some research,
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  some case studies, some small studies about social
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  prescribing. And typically what we've found or
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  what individuals have found is that It increases
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  agency for folks who are engaged in it. It can
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  reduce loneliness and improve social connection.
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  It can improve health literacy overall, so someone's
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  ability to not just implement the changes that
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  they want to see, the lifestyle changes they
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  want to see in their lives, but also to understand
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  why those are important to them. And it can reduce
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  the burden on the overall health care system
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  because we're using the doctor's office for what
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  it's most effective with and using other resources
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  within the community to address other needs,
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  housing, employment, loneliness, things like
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  that. So you mentioned improving health agency
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  and literacy. That's sort of being able to identify
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  and address your health needs kind of on your
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  own. Is that sort of the idea there? Yeah, absolutely.
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  Just like literacy in general, we all have to
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  have some sort of understanding about what it
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  means for us to be healthy, right? So taking
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  care of those basic needs, whether that's sleep,
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  proper nutrition, physical activity, being outside,
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  taking care of your social and emotional needs
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  as well. So if we can do those sorts of things
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  more broadly within our life, and maybe sometimes
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  we need a medical practitioner to point this
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  out to us. that, hey, some of your medical challenges
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  might be improved by some lifestyle changes,
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  whether that's spending more time with other
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  individuals and reducing your loneliness or perhaps
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  doing more cooking at home. What does social
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  prescribing look like here in Larimer County?
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  So as I mentioned, it's not necessarily something
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  that's broadly. accepted and broadly integrated
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  into day -to -day practice but we do have some
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  agencies and organizations that are already using
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  this orientation and framework so for example
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  sunrise health center we were fortunate enough
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  to have dr mark wallace join us at the chip event
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  and he spoke about how his organization in in
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  the doctor's office is able to use social prescribing
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  as a framework and a template and they're referring
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  patients to all sorts of community organizations
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  that might help address some of those needs at
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  home. We also know that within the VA, this is
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  a common practice as well, and that when we're
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  serving our veterans, there are lots of organizations
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  that can meet different needs, whether that be
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  housing or need for social connection. So those
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  are a couple of opportunities we already know
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  are going on in our community. And what we're
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  hoping is that social prescribing can be something
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  that folks across lots of different organizations
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  take on as a way of looking to address needs
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  for their clients and patients. You've touched
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  on this a bit, but how does social prescribing
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  impact or address the social determinants of
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  health? Yeah, so, you know, I think we're living
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  in a time where there's lots of distraction and
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  lots of disconnection, right? So if you have
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  a long commute driving to work, or perhaps you
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  work from home, busy lives, requirements for
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  your employment, for your kids, for your family.
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  you may not have as much opportunity for social
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  connection. You may face other barriers, whether
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  those are language barriers or financial barriers
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  or geographic and travel barriers. So there's
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  lots of reasons why we're particularly challenged
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  with disconnection today. Social prescribing
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  is a way of maybe formalizing and more intentionally
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  looking at our own lives and also the lives of
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  those we work with and serve to say, what are
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  those needs that we have right now that aren't
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  being met? And what are those opportunities we
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  have to increase our social connection, reduce
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  our isolation and loneliness in the community?
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  Who can practice social prescribing? So obviously
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  coming out of the UK, they're initially developed
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  within doctor's offices and within medical providers,
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  and it still has a ton of value there. So social
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  prescribing can be that opportunity to have a
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  trusted resource such as a medical provider,
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  be able to say, here's some other opportunities
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  that you could take in order to improve your
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  health. But at the same time, these aren't medical
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  practices, right? So anybody could potentially
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  be a social prescriber, right? It doesn't require
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  any particular expertise except understanding
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  the resources that are available in your community
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  and being a trusted individual who could make
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  a recommendation to someone. So we're hoping
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  that some of our nonprofit organizations, some
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  of our agencies within Larimer County can start
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  to see this opportunity. And if we can provide
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  the informational... support and informational
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  resources necessary to them, then they may be
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  able to make recommendations to their clients
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  to say, hey, there are all these opportunities
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  in our community. Let's try and take advantage
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  of them and kind of build back that connection
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  piece by piece. How does social prescribing fit
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  into our two current CHIP goals that you mentioned
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  at the beginning? Right. So as you mentioned,
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  with social determinants of health, you can do
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  social prescribing to address housing needs or
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  food needs or employment needs. But at the same
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  time, our CHIP focus has been on social support
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  and community building community building spaces
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  specifically so when we talk about social support
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  one of the opportunities there is emotional social
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  support so the idea that if you're having a rough
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  day if something's gone poorly for you there's
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  somebody there that you can talk to somebody
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  that you can share your problems with somebody
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  to make it feel a little better lots of people
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  are blessed with that in our community but There
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  are unfortunately a lot of isolated and lonely
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  individuals too, and we know this is a growing
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  problem. So we can use social support as an opportunity
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  to increase that network of individuals that
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  you can rely on, and social prescribing might
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  be one way that we can help individuals find
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  folks in their lives to fill that role. At the
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  same time, informational social support is another
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  key element that we look at, and that means being
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  able to navigate systems and find the resources
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  that you could use. So sometimes you might not
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  know that a particular resource exists to identify
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  housing or to find other opportunities to connect.
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  We have an office on aging in the county. We
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  have senior centers within our communities. Those
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  may not always be front of mind for folks. So
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  that informational social support where we can
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  help individuals navigate and find those resources
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  can be really beneficial as well. On a personal
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  note, is there a way that you really love connecting
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  with community that this kind of shows up for
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  you in your own life? Yeah, absolutely. So I
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  definitely, much like many of us today, screens
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  can be a distraction for me. I know that there's
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  limited time just because of work and family.
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  But at the same time, I really enjoy spending
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  time with my kids. And I really enjoy the social
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  life that revolves around their school. because
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  I get to spend time with parents. My children
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  get to spend time with other children that they
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  enjoy spending time with. I've been coaching
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  basketball, and that's been a real pleasure to
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  be able to coach my daughter's team. So these
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  are some opportunities I'm trying to take advantage
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  of that both fill my cup and also hopefully the
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  cup of my family and my kids. If people want
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  to get involved with CHIP or social prescribing,
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  where can they go to learn more? Absolutely.
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  As I mentioned, this is a developing program.
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  We're looking to spend the next year kind of
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  co -developing this with community and seeing
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  where it can potentially lead us and what benefits
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  we can see. So we would love to hear ideas, to
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  have initiatives, to potentially have partners
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  in this across the community as well. So we would
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  invite anybody to just go to Larimer .org slash
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  CHIP. And on there, there's contact information.
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  You can see what sort of projects we were implementing
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  last year. And we would love to hear from you.
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  Awesome. Thanks so much, Jared. All right. Thank
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  you. Are you traveling this spring break? As
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  you work through your travel to -do list, there's
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  one thing you don't want to forget. Your health.
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  Before you brave the airport, make sure you and
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  your family have the vaccines, medications, and
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  information you need to stay healthy while you
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  travel. The International Travel Clinic here
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  at the Health Department provides health information,
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  immunizations, and medications to prevent illness
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  during travel. Their team helps travelers stay
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  healthy overseas with personalized travel consultations.
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  During your consultation, they will review immunizations
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  that may be required or recommended for your
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  destinations, including things like yellow fever
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  or typhoid. as well as medications to prevent
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  things like malaria or elevation sickness, depending
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  on where you're going. They'll also review information
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  about how to avoid food and waterborne illnesses
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  while you travel. And they can provide all this
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  guidance and answer questions specific to your
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  travel destinations. To learn more or schedule
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  an appointment, call 970 -498 -6700. or visit
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  larimer .gov slash travel clinic. We hope you
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  all have a healthy and memorable spring break
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  adventure. Thanks for listening, Larimer County.
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  Until next week, stay well, stay connected, and
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  remember, we really are healthier together.