In May 2021, the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (DOH-Miami-Dade) established the Optimal Health Office, a unit housed under the Office of Community Health and Planning, to focus on initiatives to encourage optimal health. This unit serves as an innovative approach to addressing social and economic barriers to health in Miami-Dade.
The goals of the office are through the four domains of the Chronic Disease Prevention framework. The framework domains include:
- Epidemiology and Surveillance which provide data insights that can be used to educate decision makers.
- Environmental Approaches to create policies that change the context and make healthy lifestyles easier.
- Health Care System Interventions with governmental and community public health organizations.
- Community Programs Linked to Clinical Services that increase the use of effective community interventions.
The Optimal Health Office is supported and guided by the Optimal Health Advisory Committee. The committee is made up of various community stakeholders that work towards making an impact through sustainable policies, systems, and environmental changes in Miami-Dade County to address factors that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks. These factors can be grouped into five domains.
- Economic Stability: This domain focuses on the connection between the financial resources people have and their health. According to Healthy People 2030, in the United States, 1 in 10 people live in poverty. Many people can’t afford necessities like healthy foods, health care, and affordable housing. Under this domain, the committee works to leverage resources and promote existing programs and initiatives that address these issues.
- Education Access and Quality: This domain highlights the connection of education to health and wellbeing. Under this domain, we work to increase educational opportunities and help children and adolescents achieve educational goals.
- Health Care Access and Quality: This domain highlights the connection between people’s access to and understanding of health services. Many people do not receive the health care services they need. Like Healthy People 2030, in Miami-Dade County work is underway to improve community health by helping people get timely, high-quality health care services.
- Neighborhood and Built Environment: This domain focuses on the connection between where a person lives and their wellbeing. The neighborhoods people live in have a major impact on their health and well-being. Work under this domain focuses on improving health and the built environment through cross-collaborative projects and system changes.
- Social and Community Context: This domain emphasizes the connection and focuses on helping people get the social support they need in the places where they live, work, learn, and play. The Advisory Committee works to address this domain through interventions that will help people get the social and community support they need to improve their health and well-being.