Health promotion programs have long focused on education about personal health behaviors like tobacco and alcohol use, diet, and physical activity. Health behaviors play an important role in health, but they are not the whole story. The conditions in the environments where people live, work, learn, and play have an even greater influence on the quality and number of years of life. These conditions include social and environmental factors such as housing, access to and quality of health care, education, social support, and income.  

According to the County Health Rankings, Carter County ranks slightly worse than the Kentucky average and worse than average for the United States for health factors in Kentucky. Some opportunities to improve the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play in Carter County are to improve partnerships in agencies, identify resources already available to improve overall health, and work together as a whole county to share resources with those in need.

In response to the need for programming that supports individuals where they live, work, learn, and play, the Carter County Extension Service started an Interagency Coalition, due to the lack of a current group and collaboration.  The Family and Consumer Sciences Advisory Council identified this as the greatest need in 2023 so in April 2024 the coalition was formed, and the first meeting was held at the Carter County Extension Service.   After the initial introductory meeting, the group began to meet quarterly. The FCS Agent presented Pathways to Wellness in 2024-2025 to the Interagency Coalition. 

Pathways to Wellness bridges individual-focused health promotion programming with policy, systems, and environmental efforts by generating conversations and big and small ideas about changing factors that influence health of people in the community. Twenty-five people took part in this series of four interactive lessons. Participants in the program represented the health department, early childhood, education, healthcare, mental health, the library, veterans, substance use and recovery, clergy, Family Resource/Youth Service Centers, food pantries, DCBS, and local government.  

The goal of Pathways to Wellness is to prompt action to promote a culture of health through increasing knowledge about social determinants of health and increasing beliefs in the ability of individuals and the community to take action to change factors in the environment that promote health for all people. Of those who completed surveys, XX percent reported increased understanding of social determinants of health. Participants also reported increased understanding of the influence of the conditions of the environments where people live, work, and play have on individual (XX percent) and community (XX percent) health. Participants also reported confidence in their (XX percent) or their community’s (XX percent) ability to support changes that make healthy choices easier and accessible in the community. 

The participants took action to work together to make a small change to promote health in the community. They developed a community resource guide for the county.  It’s a live online flip book of all the available resources available in the county. Magnets and cards were printed with a QR code of the guide.  They are being passed out in all the agencies/offices and were handed out at a community health fair that many of the participants attended and sponsored. The coalition will continue to meet and work together to educate and make environmental changes in the community in which they live, work, and play.