Our Vision: The Healthy Community Concept¹

The "healthy town" concept is a process not just an outcome. A healthy town is not necessarily one that has achieved a particular health status. It is conscious of health as an urban issue and is striving to improve it. Any town can be a healthy town if it is committed to health and has a structure and process to work for its improvement.

Healthy Communities have six characteristics in common:

• Commitment to Health
  They are based upon a commitment to health.
  Healthy communities affirm the holistic nature of health, recognizing the interaction between its physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions. Promotion of health and prevention of disease are their priorities. They assume that health can be created through the cooperative efforts of individuals and groups in the town.

• Political Decision-making
  They require political decision-making for public health.
  Housing, environment, education, social service and other programs of town and regional government have a major effect on the state of health of towns. Our Community Health and Wellness project strengthens the contribution of such programs to health by influencing the political decision making of the Town and Regional Councils.
• Intersectoral Action
  They generate intersectoral action.
  The term "intersectoral action" describes the process through which organizations working outside the health sector change their activities so that they contribute more to health. Urban planning which supports physical fitness by providing ample space for recreation in our town is an example of intersectoral action. Our Community Health and Wellness project creates organizational mechanism through which city departments and other bodies come together to negotiate their contribution to such action.
• Community Participation
  They emphasize community participation.
  People participate in health through their lifestyle choices, their use of health services, their views on health issues and their work in community groups. Our Community Health and Wellness project promotes more active roles for people in all these areas. They provide means by which people have a direct influence on project decisions and, through the project on the activities of town departments and other organizations.
• Innovation
  They work through processes of innovation.
  Promoting health and preventing disease through intersectoral action requires a constant search for new ideas and methods. The success of our Community Health and Wellness project depends on our ability to create opportunities for innovation within the climate that supports change. Projects do this by spreading knowledge of innovative methods, creating incentives for innovation and recognizing the achievements of those who experiment with new approaches
• Healthy Public Policy
  Their outcome is a health public policy.
  The success of our Community Health and Wellness is reflected in the degree to which policies that create settings for health are in effect through our Municipal Plan. Projects achieve their goals when homes, schools, workplaces and other parts of the Town's environment become healthier settings in which to live. Political decisions, intersectoral action, community participation and innovation promoted through our Community Health and Wellness project work together to achieve a healthy public policy for Fort Erie.

¹World Health Organization, 1995. Twenty steps for developing a Health Cities project
(2nd Edition) Geneva: World Health Organization.