CityHealth, a partnership between the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, recently dished out its annual accolades to urban centers across the nation. Besides the historic Alamo city, only six others met the mark to secure the top spot.
The CityHealth initiative evaluates the 75 largest cities by their public health policies, focusing on factors that lay the groundwork for healthier communities. San Antonio grabbing five gold medals in policy areas that touch on everything from affordable housing to pristine parks and smoke-free zones. “We are grateful for CityHealth’s national recognition of our efforts on the ground. We look forward to using this evaluation as a guide to maintain the progress made with implementing policies that improve the health and wellbeing for all across the City of San Antonio. This recognition also celebrates our Metro Health team’s continuous resilience and commitment to serve our community as we address ongoing disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.” Metro Health District Director Claude A. Jacob expressed in a statement retrieved by San Antonio's official website.
As reported by KSAT, CityHealth has been a staunch supporter of the city's efforts, actively working with local officials to promote health-promoting policies. “We’ve worked closely with Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Metro Health Director Dr. Claude Jacob to support their desire to adopt strong health-promoting policies needed to get the city to an overall gold medal,” CityHealth's Communication Director Tom Martin said.
San Antonio still faces challenges in areas like earned sick leave, rental housing conditions, and street safety. The city, which adopted a complete streets policy back in 2011, fell short of the gold standard after CityHealth stiffened its criteria, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by city officials. In a bid to bounce back, San Antonio is eyeballing updates to the policy to improve its rankings and safeguard pedestrians. The city's interim Transportation Director Catherine Hernandez, in a message captured by KSAT, acknowledged the need for performance measures, coordination, design updates, project selection criteria, and a laser focus on prioritizing equity.
