What determines how long we live?
It’s a question most people answer with things like diet, exercise, or genetics. But in Texas and across the country, the answer is often much simpler, and more troubling.
Your ZIP code.
A new video from Episcopal Health Foundation tells the story of two families living just miles apart, but with dramatically different health outcomes. In some communities, people can expect to live more than 20 years longer than those in nearby neighborhoods.
In communities with better health outcomes, families are more likely to have grocery stores, safe parks, strong schools, clean air, and access to preventive and emergency health care. In others, residents face barriers at every turn, from limited food options and unsafe environments to under-resourced schools and transportation challenges.
These conditions can create chronic stress and increase the risk of serious health issues like diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and high blood pressure.
This is what we mean by non-medical drivers of health. They are the conditions in which people live, work, and learn, and they shape health outcomes long before medical care enters the picture.
EHF supports community-led solutions, invests in partnerships across many different sectors, and works to advance policies that remove barriers and expand opportunity. Because better health outcomes require more than access to health care. They require the right conditions for good health in the first place.
Good health happens when people have access to comprehensive health services, when communities are empowered to create change, and when policies support healthier outcomes for everyone.
This video is an invitation to look beyond the doctor’s office and understand what truly shapes health in Texas.