This event offered free health screenings, fitness demonstrations, cooking demos and family-friendly entertainment, all aimed at promoting wellness and access to care in the community.
As part of their outreach, the CTSI team set up an interactive booth to engage attendees in a conversation about local health priorities. Visitors were invited to answer the question: “What are the top health concerns in your community?” Using colorful sticky notes, participants wrote down their thoughts and posted them on a large whiteboard display. The responses reflected a wide range of concerns, from the cost of healthcare and cleanliness of the physical environment to improving health education in schools.
This simple yet powerful activity sparked meaningful dialogue and helped the CTSI team gather valuable insights directly from community members. The feedback will inform future programming and research initiatives focused on addressing community health needs and improving outcomes across central Ohio.
Healthy Community Day continues to be a cornerstone event for developing trust, sharing resources and building partnerships between health and wellness programs and the communities they serve. The CTSI Community Engagement team was proud to be part of this year’s celebration and looks forward to deepening connections and co-creating solutions with the community.
Julie Johnson, PharmD, is the Director and Principal Investigator at The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute.