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New Milwaukee Health Department plan
Health officials unveiled the plan, the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Thursday, Dec. 14.
MILWAUKEE - Improving the health of everyone around the city is the goal of a new plan from the Milwaukee Health Department.
Health officials unveiled the plan, the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Thursday, Dec. 14.
"I think our brains often default to, 'Am I sick or am I not?' And the way public health really views what that concept of health is more holistically," commissioner Michael Totoraitis said.
Totoraitis and the MKE Elevate team presented their strategic plan to improve the health of the community over the next five years. The theme is closing the gap in racial and health equity.
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It specifically calls for safer and supportive neighborhoods, improving maternal and child health, and creating a healthy "building environment" by supporting homeownership and eliminating food deserts.
"Each of those pieces affects how we interface with the people around us, with systems, with employment and with our community members," Totoraitis said.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson touted the teamwork it took to put the plan together after the city declared racism a public health crisis in 2019.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson
"No one person, no one organization, no government can take on the task of improving the health of our community alone," Johnson said. "Can't do it."
Small business owner Dennis Wren said it’s a start.
"Without a plan, you won't go anywhere," he said.
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He hopes to be part of seeing it through too.
The full plan is available in both English and Spanish on the health department's website.