Manchester-Area Residents – Please Help the HIP!

Don't hang up on 734-544-6700. Help the HIP!

The Manchester Wellness Coalition is asking all Manchester-area residents to help with an important aspect of our mission to improve the health and wellness of us all. Join us in participating in the 2015 Health Improvement Plan (HIP) telephone survey, to be conducted beginning February 1, 2015!

The volunteers of the Wellness Coalition work with the Chelsea-Area Wellness Foundation (CWF) to prepare annual Wellness Plans, which examine health trends in the Manchester area, and prepare programs and requests for funding from the CWF and others. These programs and related infrastructure improvements help our community eat better, move more, connect with others in healthy ways, and avoid unhealthy substances. To date, the CWF has funded over $350,000 for the Manchester area across all age groups, mission statements and physical settings. We are now developing our Year 4 Plan.

A key part of this effort is identifying and trending various health statistics of our population. The Washtenaw County Health Improvement Plan (HIP) plays a key role in collecting and analyzing a wide range of health data collected from the general public. Every five years, Washtenaw County HIP conducts a broad, scientific-based telephone survey of Washtenaw County residents. The HIP Program is coordinated by Washtenaw County Public Health. The 2010 HIP survey results were crucial to developing the first four years of the Manchester Wellness Coalition’s efforts.

The survey consists of telephone calls to a sampling of county residents asking a variety of health and wellness questions, maintaining individual anonymity while collecting enough data to ensure good sampling across age and other demographic groups, to accurately represent the population as a whole. The 2015 survey will offer several improvements over 2010:

1. One question asks for the respondent’s Zip Code – this will allow HIP to segregate Manchester-area data, for a better measure of our specific and unique health trends. In 2010, Manchester was lumped with all of western Washtenaw County. This will allow us to better focus on programs which meet our local needs.
2. The sampling will now include both landline and cell phones, recognizing the trend away from landlines, and ensuring better demographic coverage.
3. If a called party does not answer, a message will be left with a return phone number, asking the called party to return the call and participate in the survey. If the called person can be reached at a different time, that information will also be requested and recorded.

The survey is being conducted by the University of Missouri. In planning for the survey, the HIP team recognized the growth in robo-calling and other unsolicited phone calls to personal phones, particularly landlines. In an attempt to clearly identify legitimate HIP calls from these robo-calls, and encourage response, the HIP team has arranged for all incoming HIP phone calls to the Manchester area to show up with a common caller ID phone number – the main phone number of Washtenaw County Public Health:

734-544-6700

The survey will continue until a scientifically accurate number of responses has been received.

So the Manchester Wellness Coalition asks for your help in three ways:

1. If you receive a landline or cell phone call from  734-544-6700 , please answer it and participate in the survey – this will be a huge help to our community and the volunteers who develop our local health and wellness programs.
2. If you miss the call, please note the message from HIP, return the call, and participate.
3. Please contact the Manchester Wellness Coalition with any questions you may have. E-mail at raymondmberg@gmail.com, or contact Ruth VanBogelen at the CWF at 734-433-4599. You can also visit the HIP program on-line for more information.

The cost of the HIP survey is shared by a number of HIP partner organizations, including the Chelsea-Area Wellness Foundation; the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research; St. Joseph Mercy – Chelsea; St. Joseph Mercy – Ann Arbor; The United Way of Washtenaw County; University of Michigan Health System; and Washtenaw County Public Health.

Again, we ask for your participation to help us plan a healthier future for Manchester.

Please help the HIP! Watch for 734-544-6700 and contribute your time to our efforts. Thank you on behalf of the Manchester Wellness Coalition.

"Move More" MAYS in Action, Kirk Park. Photo courtesy of Manchester Wellness Coalition.

For as little as $1 a month, you can keep Manchester-focused news coverage alive.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.