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HEZ in the news! - 10 August 2023
Have you seen the news? The Rural and Urban Zone announcement has been featured in the following publications:
Tacoma News Tribune - Whatcom County selected as a rural Health Equity Zone in WA
South Seattle Emerald- South King County Named Among Washington State’s Health Equity Zones
Bellingham Herald - Whatcom County selected as a rural Health Equity Zone in WA
KOUW - Monday Headlines - https://kuow.org/stories/monday-headlines-d116
Healthcare Initiative Group - Following R.I.’s Lead, Washington Creating Health Equity Zones | Healthcare Innovation (hcinnovationgroup.com)
Community Advisory Council Selects Initial Rural and Urban Health Equity Zones - 2 August 2023
In June 2023 the Health Equity Zones Initiative Community Advisory Council met to select the two of the three Health Equity Zones. Council members reviewed and scored nominations and met in-person to deliberate for the final selection of the rural and urban zones. The announcement marks more than a year of preparation towards this decision.
“Meeting in person was beneficial for us as the evaluators, and for the nominators as well,” said Alina Swart, CAC member in Asotin County. “We were able to collaborate and discuss the merits of each nomination, which helped us select the health equity zones that would best benefit the people of those communities.”
The rural communities of Whatcom County were selected as the Rural Health Equity Zone while the combined communities of Burien, SeaTac, and Tukwila were selected as the Urban Health Equity Zone.