This Year’s Challenge Theme is Creating Wellness

As medical care is moving to value based reimbursement, health care providers have recognized the need to invest in entrepreneurial approaches to resolve what happens outside of hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms.

The Challenge seeks to bridge the development of solutions responsive to public health priorities of equity and community engagement. We embrace The National Wellness Institute’s definition of wellness which promotes six dimensions: emotional, occupational, physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual.

The focus for this year’s Challenge will be on addressing the non-traditional sectors that contribute to overall wellness such as: housing, transportation, education, built environments, criminal justice, financial literacy and community economic development. These are some examples of issues that can have a profound, though less obvious influence on community, population and individual wellness. These areas—and their solutions—play a key role in closing the health gap between the rich and the poor and require innovative approaches.

Our wellness approach is inclusive of all areas of health and medicine. This includes, but is not limited to, chronic and communicable diseases, mental health illnesses, injuries, and disabilities.

The New York State Department of Health Prevention Agenda (2019-24) is a blueprint developed to assist local and state organizations in improving the health of all New Yorkers and reducing health disparities. Our 2019 Challenge theme is inspired by its components.

We are particularly interested in solutions that promote health equity and address the differences in health status that exist by race/ethnicity, class, and geography. Specifically, we are looking for solutions that impact people and communities in New York City, the Long Island Region and the Hudson Valley Region.

In early May, we will be holding a webinar for accepted teams to review the key concepts our theme, discuss its importance to the Challenge, and answer questions on how to incorporate it into the required activities associated with being in the Challenge.