Crossroads RI: Housing is Health: Crossroads speaks at 2018 Health Equity Summit
This week, Crossroads' President Karen Santilli and Board Member (and recent author) Dr. Michael Fine spoke on a panel with HousingWorks RI at the Rhode Island Department of Health's 2018 Health Equity Summit.
During their session, Santilli and Fine discussed how housing supports health in the community. Additionally, they identified pressing issues facing Rhode Island residents at the intersection of health and housing and discussed policies that can help different populations stabilize their housing and health.
Santilli emphasized that housing is health: "Provide housing, give support, and people's health will improve."
She went on to explain that when an individual or a family has shelter and can meet their basic needs, they are more able and likely to address larger challenges that prevented them from achieving a stable housing situation. In fact, homeless individuals who were recently housed saw significantly reduced interactions with emergency services, were far less likely to require medication and had improved social relationships and networks.
The Health Equity Summit, put on in part by another Crossroads board member, Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, aims to facilitate discussions on building healthy and resilient communities through eliminating health disparities, assuring healthy childhood development, preventing and controlling disease and disability, and working to make the environment healthy.
During their session, Santilli and Fine discussed how housing supports health in the community. Additionally, they identified pressing issues facing Rhode Island residents at the intersection of health and housing and discussed policies that can help different populations stabilize their housing and health.
Santilli emphasized that housing is health: "Provide housing, give support, and people's health will improve."
She went on to explain that when an individual or a family has shelter and can meet their basic needs, they are more able and likely to address larger challenges that prevented them from achieving a stable housing situation. In fact, homeless individuals who were recently housed saw significantly reduced interactions with emergency services, were far less likely to require medication and had improved social relationships and networks.
The Health Equity Summit, put on in part by another Crossroads board member, Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, aims to facilitate discussions on building healthy and resilient communities through eliminating health disparities, assuring healthy childhood development, preventing and controlling disease and disability, and working to make the environment healthy.
Courtesy of Crossroads RI
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