Cone Health Vows to Increase Life Expectancy
Where you live determines how long you may live, and The Cone Health Center for Health Equity aims to erase the differences.
Greensboro – Hop in a car at The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital and head 5 miles up North Elm Street. There, the life expectancy is 85 years. Now travel 5 miles south from Moses Cone Hospital. You will be in a neighborhood where people, on average, live for only 70 years. Similar differences in life expectancy exist in Burlington and Reidsville. The Cone Health Center for Health Equity has begun an effort it says will close those gaps by 5 years in 5 years.
“Disparities in life expectancy point to areas where issues of health equity must be addressed. These findings compel us to do the hard work needed to reduce these disparities, to create stronger and healthier communities and to improve and preserve human life,” says Dr. Olu Jegede, vice president of the Cone Health Center for Health Equity. 
Jegede says the reasons for the health gaps are well-known. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity and smoking take years off people’s lives. Yet preventing or controlling these health problems isn’t happening in many parts of Cone Health’s service area and hasn’t for decades.
The Cone Health Center for Health Equity has identified several reasons why through a recent community health assessment. Shortfalls in housing, education, food, access to broadband and how easy it is to get preventative health care all influence the health of those areas.
The community health assessment has been posted online. It compiles data from recent county health assessments and information from numerous other health partners. The report focuses on the health of people living in Alamance, Guilford and Rockingham Counties.
The Center already coordinates several initiatives. These include a school-based telehealth program for students in Guilford County, a mobile medicine program and efforts to improve communications between patients and their providers.
Given the wide range of probable causes, The Center for Health Equity will set Cone Health’s priorities for improving community health and serve as a connection point for agencies, grassroots organizations, subject matter experts, influencers and others to join in closing those health gaps.
Public input will be essential. The Center has partnered with Guilford County on creating teams that use community-based design principles to determine community needs and spark innovative ways of meeting them. The Center will embark on a series of town halls in the coming months.
“We know where we are going. Everything we want to do is proven to improve health,” says Dr. Marlon Priest, chief clinical officer, Cone Health. “By building partnerships, concentrating and coordinating efforts, we will add years of life and move closer to our audacious goal of removing poor health as an obstacle to achieving one’s dreams and ambitions.”
