The people who came had been divided by languages. Spanish speakers, the largest group of people present, met in the auditorium, and the English speakers gathered in the lunch room.
Nancy Richman, executive director of Volunteers in Medicine, and Barry Lessow, executive director of United Way Monroe County, led the group in a discussion.
At first, Richman was interested in how people defined quality of life.
The answers were simple: a chance to have fun every day, fresh air, access to transportation, the opportunity to connect with people.
However, when Richman asked if those things existed in the community, the answers weren’t so simple.
One participant responded immediately: only those with financial means could access many perks of living in Bloomington.
Audrey Hicks, a social worker from IU Health Bloomington Hospital, said she has seen people suffer from a lack of medical resources.
“I have seen people from rural areas come here (for healthcare), and we can’t get them home,” Hicks said. “The hospital has had to discharge people to shelters.”
Participant Mandi McKeene agreed with her. McKeene said she went for testing once but had to return three more times to get her results. The return visits were results of errors, McKeene said, and those with multiple jobs or those coming from rural areas wouldn’t be able to afford to make multiple trips like she had.
“It surprises me that we don’t do a better job of servicing rural communities,” McKeene said.
Although the meeting was arranged by IU Health, the Health Department and ACHIEVE Bloomington, medical care wasn’t the only concern of the evening. The directors also wanted to know what residents thought about the safety of their communities.
Hicks noted a drug problem within specific areas of the county.
“Certain pockets of the community are unsafe,” she said.
Another participant said she could not think of a community that had talked more about health care and homelessness than Bloomington had that had still run into barriers when it came to implementing proposed solutions,
McKeene agreed.
“I would like to see a cohesive effort between the hospital, the county, (and) IU School of Public Health to come together to create a plan and solution,” McKeene said.
Richman changed the focus.
“What aspects of the environment contribute to a high quality of health?” Richman said.
Most people said they felt good about the environment of Monroe County compared to other areas, but there were still major issues. Hicks said she had known Bloomington to be full of “green space,” but that were “rapidly disappearing.”
“The (wooded area) in my neighborhood has been bought and is going to be developed into apartment buildings,” Hicks said.
A few people chuckled and shook their heads.
It shouldn’t be that way, someone said.
The atmosphere could have seemed negative — many people spoke more of issues they wanted to change than they did of positive things in the community — but the directors and health representatives present assured participants their responses would help to improve living conditions within Monroe County.
McKeene said changing things meant starting with what was most essential.
“You have to have your basic needs met before you can think about happiness,” McKeene said.”
