Remarks by Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation
CityHealth Medaling Ceremony
JFK Presidential Library and Museum
Boston, Mass.
June 8, 2018
“We are fortunate to live in a nation where our healthcare system is filled with dedicated providers offering cutting-edge, innovative clinical practice, but our clinical efforts alone are no longer enough. Our focus on pills and procedures should be met with an equal focus on policy. Concentrated poverty, struggling schools, and unsafe neighborhoods mean very different opportunities than those available to people with stable incomes and thriving communities.
“This means that public decisions — the laws and rules that shape our communities — are a vital part of our chances at living healthy lives. We need advances in the clinic, but we equally need advances from our city political leaders.
“At the de Beaumont Foundation, we recognize that policy is a powerful tool and has a profound impact on our health. The nine policies CityHealth promotes were chosen not only because they have been shown to not only improve health in measurable and significant ways, but also because they go beyond improving health to making our communities more vibrant, attractive, and productive places to live.
“Working at the city level was a natural choice for us. We see cities as innovation labs, and we believed that in partnership with mayors like you, we could demonstrate real impact and bring about lasting change. And we’re starting to see important progress. While CityHealth rates the largest 40 cities, this package of policies is relevant to all of your cities, large or small. We’d love to see cities across the country lead with health, and we invite you to talk to us about how we can support you.”
Castrucci spoke at the 86th annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where the de Beaumont Foundation, CityHealth, and Kaiser Permanente recognized cities for outstanding leadership in adopting policies that are proven to improve health. View the ceremony here:
See the city ratings in the 2018 CityHealth report.
