Health

United Way Works to Promote Healthy Lifestyles and Relationships

Whether it is a neighbor without health insurance, a victim of abuse, or someone struggling with mental illness or an addiction, United Ways are working to ensure everyone has access to affordable and quality care.

Our Goal

Global Outcomes: Individuals and families in Oconee have access to training, mentoring, and other resources that contribute to self-sufficiency, positive parenting, and healthy relationships. All seniors in Oconee County have quality of life.

Objectives

  • Expand the number of families completing parenting and life skills classes to 350 families in 2024.
  • Develop and implement healthy lifestyle education for middle and high school aged students.
  • Coordinate home repair projects for seniors each year, completing 15 home repair projects in 2024.
  • Expand seniors' access to affordable fresh produce each year, serving 900 seniors in 2024.
  • Increase the number of seniors receiving home-delivered meals each year, to 300 seniors in 2024.
  • Expand access to hearing services for seniors each year, serving 200 seniors in 2024.
  • Develop and increase opportunities for inter-generational programming (i.e., between seniors and children) each year.

Our Strategy

Achieving our goal requires us all to become more aware of health risks and the potential effects they have on ourselves and others, starting from before birth. Working to change policies and practices, such as extending health care coverage, will enable more people to live healthier lives.

Health Facts

  • More than 33% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. That’s 25 million kids and teenagers.
  • Children with health coverage are better prepared to learn in school and succeed in life.1
  • The number of Americans without health insurance has increased steadily since the beginning of the century, now totaling about 47 million. More than 80% are working families.2
  • 8.7 million children live without health insurance – more than the total number enrolled in the first and second grades in U.S. public schools.3

 

 

1Institute of Medicine. From Neurons to Neighborhood: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Washington DC: National Academies Press, 2000.)
2Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates from the March Current Population Survey, 2007 Supplement.
3Compiled by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), University of Minnesota School of Public Health, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey 2007.