Our Neighborhoods and Our Health DVD

Our Neighborhoods and Our Health features highlights from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation's 4th Annual Upstream Health Leadership Award and Policy Program held on October 30, 2009, in St. Paul.  

The event spotlighted collaborative leadership for advancing green, energy-efficient, healthy and affordable housing with a long-term impact on the health of children and adults.

Program Features
Pat Geraghty, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and chair of the Blue Cross Foundation board, honored Minnesota Green Communities (MGC) for its work to improve health as the state's largest green building program.

David Jacobs, PhD, CIH, National Center for Healthy Housing, was recognized for his national leadership on healthy housing as well as evaluation of the health effects of a green rehabilitation of an affordable apartment complex in Worthington, MN.

In her keynote address, Beyond Individuals, How and why neighborhoods matter for health, Ana Diez Roux, professor of epidemiology and director, Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities at the University of Michigan, presented evidence on how housing, social policies and community conditions affect the health of residents in powerful ways. 

The program concluded with a panel discussion on the policy implications of the links between health, housing and neighborhoods.