Together for Health & Wellness
For a Healthy and Strong Community
Together for Health & Wellness Workshops are coming January 2024
Together For Health & Wellness is a direct service of UWLS under our health initiative. The program will serve as health advocacy and a connection to resources for our uninsured and underinsured residents.
This initiative presents an integrated strategy and approach by providing individuals who are under or uninsured with physical, dental, and mental health services, aimed at erasing the barriers to payment and access.
United Way of Lake and Sumter Counties is dedicated to meeting the needs of our community. As it stands in Lake and Sumter, there are critical gaps in healthcare access and the broader challenges that support them. Through our program, we strive to turn the tide on health disparities, fostering a healthier, more resilient, and better-connected community.
Social determinants of health have a major impact on people’s health, well-being and quality of life and heavily contribute to wide health disparities and inequities. THW will allow Us to bridge that gap and connect people with wrap around services and increase their quality of life.
Life Expectancy
Life expectancy by race and ethnicity reveals the consequences of health disparities, as the median life expectancy for members of the Black/African American community in Lake & Sumter Counties is nearly three years shorter than the counties average and four years shorter than the statewide average.
Emergency room visits due to diabetes were over two times higher in Lake County residents who identify as Black/African American (538.4) than the Lake County average (241.4).
Inadequate Health Insurance Coverage
Inadequate health insurance coverage is one of the largest barriers to healthcare access, and the unequal distribution of coverage contributes to disparities in health. The consequences of not having health insurance are exacerbated within specific ethnicities. For example, research indicates that people who speak another language besides English are less likely to receive recommendations for preventative health screenings and immunizations. This factor, in addition to a lack of health insurance, only worsens health outcomes over time.
In 2021, people who identified as Hispanic/Latino ethnicity in Lake County were the group with the highest percentage of adults who could not see a doctor at least once in the past year due to cost
Racial and ethnic minorities living in poverty often present more adverse health outcomes compared to the major population in Lake & Sumter Counties. Residents of impoverished communities are at increased risk for mental illness, chronic disease, higher mortality and lower life expectancy. In Lake County, a higher percentage of minority populations are living in poverty – which is also reflected in lower median household income per year.
A Huge Thank You to Our Sponsors
