Get Healthy San Mateo County works to create healthy, equitable communities by focusing on work that helps advance Place-based Primary Prevention, Health Equity, and Collaboration. 

Place-based Primary Prevention

Where we live, work, play, and go to school profoundly shape our health. People who live in neighborhoods or places that make the healthy choice the easy choice live longer, healthier lives. Place-based primary prevention focuses on creating healthy places that reduce the chances of people becoming sick.

Health Equity

Not everyone in San Mateo County has the same opportunity to live a healthy life. Low-income individuals and people of color face the worst health outcomes. Health equity ensures that all people have the opportunity for health and well-being and works to address the root causes of poor health, such as the social, economic, and physical conditions around us. Building health equity requires a focus on populations with higher percentages of preventable health issues and on places with fewer opportunities for good health.

Collaboration

Get Healthy San Mateo County (GHSMC) is a collaborative of community-based organizations, cities, schools, hospitals, and leaders working together to advance healthy, equitable communities. GHSMC values collaboration with partners with deep roots in the communities they serve and believes that by working together we can achieve more and be more effective than working alone. In order to build healthy communities we must work together across disciplines and sectors especially since the majority of decisions that impact health are made outside of a doctor’s office. Achieving GHSMC’s mission requires sustaining current partnerships and building new ones to improve the health of everyone in San Mateo County.