GONZALES — City of Gonzales is taking the health of its residents seriously by adopting a new general health plan and wellness element.
Carmen Gil from Monterey County Health Department has been working with residents of Gonzales as well as subject matter experts to prepare a document for the City Council. The Health In All Policies was used as the framework for the document and looks at everything that is going to impact community health, such as a new development, a new pool and so on.
“Everything impacts community health and wellness,” Gil said. “Whether that’s access to quality health care, whether it’s completeness of neighborhoods, meaning appropriate streets and pavement. We need to make sure our most vulnerable populations also have the opportunity to gather the rest of things that are going to make us all healthier.”
According to the data collected during the study, about 65 percent of households are families with children. The median age is 28 years old, and 35 percent of the population is under 18 years old, with 10 percent under 5 years old.
“Heart disease is below the county and state average here in Gonzales; however, the obesity and diabetes rates are more prevalent,” Gil said.
The study was broken into four phases and among those phases were data collection, resident committee, policy areas and health and wellness element.
The Health Plan and Wellness Element will have several areas to consider to help public health in Gonzales, including access to healthy affordable food, green sustainable products, youth leadership, educational opportunities and access to affordable and quality healthcare.
Gonzales City Council adopted the plan at its July 16 meeting.
