LouisvilleKY Earns Bronze Medal on Policies that Improve Residents’ Health and Quality of Life

Louisville makes progress in promoting health and quality of life, according to new CityHealth report

Louisville, KY., – Louisville earned a bronze medal in an evaluation of whether its policies improve residents’ health and quality of life, according to the CityHealth initiative’s updated city ratings.

CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, offers a close look at whether the nation’s 40 largest cities have nine key policies in place that experts say help residents lead healthier lives and make communities thrive. For each of these nine policies, CityHealth awarded each city a gold, silver, bronze, or no medal, according to the quality of that policy. The group also awarded an overall medal to each city based on how many policy medals were earned.

The report shows which cities are leading the way on implementing policies shown to improve people’s health and quality of life. Louisville earned a bronze medal overall, meaning the city has a bronze, silver or gold medal in four of the nine CityHealth policies. Louisville is one of only five cities nationwide that increased its overall medal status in 2018. For more details on how Louisville performed in each policy area, please see the table below.

“Louisville has taken commendable steps toward giving everyone a fair shot at having a healthy, thriving life,” said Shelley Hearne, CityHealth’s president. “We hope this leadership continues. By adopting the gold standards of proven policies, Louisville can become the healthiest, most thriving place possible.”

CityHealth’s assessment provides more opportunities for Louisville to put policies in place to help make the city a more vibrant, prosperous place to live, and join 14 cities nationwide who have already earned a gold or silver medal. Louisville can show leadership by implementing these evidence-based policies that improve the well-being and quality of life for its residents.

CityHealth will update its ratings again next year. For more details on how Louisville stacks up against the other 40 cities, go to www.cityhealth.org.

CityHealth’s nine evidence-based policies address ways that cities can improve the health of their residents in areas of everyday life – from the workplace and school to housing and public transportation. Each policy is backed by evidence, supported by experts, and has a track record of bipartisan support. In addition to the medal ratings, CityHealth is available to provide technical assistance and support to cities as they advance these policies.

The nine CityHealth policies are:

Affordable Housing
Affordable housing promotes diverse, inclusive neighborhoods and positive mental health, reduces crowding and exposure to environmental hazards, and frees up household resources to pay for health care and healthy food.

Alcohol Sales Control
Neighborhoods with high concentrations of alcohol outlets are linked to more drinking and higher rates of violence and driving under the influence. Policies that address a high density of alcohol outlets can reduce crime, increase safety and may reduce spending on health care and criminal justice costs.

Complete Streets
Complete streets policies safely combine all forms of transportation, such as walking, biking, driving or taking the bus. These policies can expand economic growth, improve individuals’ health, and save lives.

Earned Sick Leave
Earned sick leave policies reduce the spread of contagious illnesses, increase employment and income stability, and can save cities money in health care costs.

Food Safety
Policies that require food establishments to publicly post food safety inspection grades empower consumers, promote transparency, and reduce foodborne illness.

Healthy Food Procurement
Policies that ensure food sold and served in city buildings meets basic nutritional standards provide more residents with affordable and healthy food choices and can reduce some of the high medical costs associated with obesity.

High-Quality, Universal Pre-Kindergarten
Access to high-quality Pre-K benefits children and their communities throughout the course of their entire lives – it raises children’s lifetime wages, high-school graduation rates and years of education completed, reduces crime and teen pregnancy, and improves health outcomes.

Smoke-Free Indoor Air
These policies protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco – which is the largest preventable cause of death – and they reduce smokers’ consumption of tobacco at the same time.

Tobacco 21
Policies that raise the minimum legal age for the sale of tobacco products to 21 reduce the number of young people using these products, which greatly decreases their risk for addiction and disease.

CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, provides leaders with a package of evidence-based policy solutions that will help millions of people live longer, better lives in vibrant, prosperous communities. CityHealth will regularly evaluate cities on the number and strength of their policies. http://www.cityhealth.org/

The de Beaumont Foundation is dedicated to improving the capacity and performance of the U.S. public health system, and equipping public health agencies to thrive in a transforming health landscape. In so doing, we aspire to improve the health of the populations of the communities they serve across the U.S. http://www.debeaumont.org/

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 12.2 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/share.