Exploring a Culture of Health: Creating a Roadmap to Community Health

Creating roadmaps to healthy communities with County Health Rankings(Image: Shutterstock/Izf) This post is part of Exploring a Culture of Health, a citizen science series brought to you by Discover Magazine, SciStarter and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, serving as an ally to help Americans work together to build a national Culture of Health that enables everyone to lead healthier lives now and for generations to come. At first glance, Gem County in Idaho seems like it has everything made. Its county seat, Emmett was named “the best small city in Idaho,” and it will soon be launching a $53 million hydroelectric project destined to expand capacity to power 9,359 homes a year. But health data told another story when the community placed last in Idaho for healthy behaviors in the 2010 County Health Rankings. News of the Rankings was a wake-up call for Bill Butticci, the mayor of Emmett, and ...