Press Room
August 6, 2004, One View Opinion, Reno Gazette-Journal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 06, 2004
Contact: Jennifer Sanzi
775-829-2819
jennifer@o-apr.com
Bad news sometimes follows good news.
Last week our community celebrated when this paper reported on Washoe Medical Center receiving the prestigious NOVA community service award from the American Hospital Association. Washoe Medical Center’s honor was one of only five awards made this year and was the first for any Nevada hospital.
The honor came, in large part, from the partnership they formed in 1996 with Truckee Meadows Tomorrow (TMT), a non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to measuring and improving our community’s quality of life indicators which are measurements of how well our community is doing in the areas of economic vitality, health and wellness, education, land use and infrastructure, natural environment, and public safety and welfare. Washoe Medical Center adopted several of the health-related indicators through their partnership with TMT.
The partnership appears to have worked since TMT’s last measurement of these indicators revealed that teen pregnancy rates have declined, immunizations of children under two years of age have steadily increased, and the number of women receiving prenatal care has continued to climb since 1990. Of course many factors can contribute to this progress, but the Washoe Medical Center/TMT partnership was certainly a major player.
Washoe Medical Center made a significant financial commitment to the entire community indicators concept when they provided a five-year grant to TMT. It is not an exaggeration to say that this generous gift back in 1996 provided TMT with a foundation from which to improve our community’s quality of life. Nearly $500,000 of the original $750,000 grant was distributed to individuals and organizations that improved identified indicators, and, along with membership dues, the balance was used to support TMT’s ongoing activities such as the statistical report that measures our community’s progress (and decline) of the indicators, as well as our “Accentuate the Positive” event that draws nearly 1,500 people to celebrate our community’s achievements in this area.
With all this good work in place, the bad news is that a recently released Washoe County Health District report underscores that there is still much work to be done. Cancer, heart and liver disease deaths in Washoe County occur at higher rates than the national average. Our suicide rate is twice the national average, and our teenagers are drinking and smoking more than the average teen nationwide.
While TMT’s slogan has long been, “You make a difference. We measure it,” we are passionately committed to be an authority, change agent, and advocate to improve our community’s quality of life. TMT has been a good steward of the original Washoe Medical Center grant, developing a quality of life measurement initiative in this community and extending its life far beyond the original timeframe. We are now in the position of relying on membership support and other grants to continue our good and necessary work.
In his book Leadership, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani explains how he used indicators to promote accountability during his administration. He also says, “the best indicators don’t simply measure performance, they improve it.” With this community’s support, we look forward to working with other partners to continuously measure and improve the quality of life in our community.
Kathy Carter is President of Truckee Meadows Tomorrow, a 200+ member non-profit organization dedicated to improving the community’s quality of life. TMT can be reached at http://www.quality-of-life.org or at 323-1518.