Then, in September, the Hickory Daily Record ran an article detailing the gap between the life expectancy of the community of Long View and the rest of Catawba County. To say the coalition was shocked would be a huge understatement. We learned that Catawba County Public Health has identified three key factors or contributors to the life expectancy gap: chronic disease, behavioral health, and healthy food / healthy weight.

Public health strategist Honey Estrada met the coalition with Virginia Annable, the reporter who published the article in the Hickory Daily Record. Both were able to share valuable information and give additional advice in partnership with other agencies that were already working on these issues.

From this meeting we were made aware of two interest groups: LiveWell Catawba and FaithHealth Catawba, and both organizations were able to attend the following meetings. This allowed for strategic partnerships and LiveWell Catawba agreed to allow the coalition access to their monthly meetings.

It became evident to everyone involved that partnership between government agencies and the faith community would be the best way to work on these areas of interest. We believe the Long View CAP will be the tool the coalition can use to tackle these issues.