Adaptations
External Adaptations
The HDMT has been adapted for uses by community-based organizations, academics, policy-makers, and others outside of San Francisco as well. For example, the HDMT was adapted by the City of Richmond to develop a Health Element for their General Plan, by Humboldt County as part of their General Plan Update, and by the City of Oakland for its Central Estuary Specific Plan, and by groups in West Oakland for a Health Impact Assessment Checklist.
One adaptation to highlight is in the City of Denver. The Denver Housing Authority has sponsored a project to customize the Healthy Development Measurement Tool for use in Denver. The customized Denver HDMT has been adapted to reflect conditions, data, and initiatives specific to Denver, as well as coordination with metrics such as LEED-ND and SSI (Sustainable Sites Initiative). The Denver HDMT will then be applied to the South Lincoln Homes Redevelopment project, currently in planning stages. This 15 acre site in the historic La Alma/ Lincoln Park neighborhood will be redeveloped into a mixed-income, mixed-use Transit Oriented Development (TOD), and represents a rather unique opportunity for leveraging public and private investment. For more information, contact Erin Christensen at Mithun.
Another adaptation taking place is in Galveston, Texas. Following the impact of Hurricane Ike last year, which damaged or destroyed 70% of Galveston, Texas' residential and commercial buildings, the island is adapting the HDMT to a post-disaster recovery scenario. The Center to Eliminate Health Disparities at the University of Texas Medical Branch is working with the local city and county governments, as well as a number of community-based service providers and non-profit agencies to ensure that current rebuilding efforts as well as new ordinances incorporate an assessment on the likely impact on health. Particular challenges include finding up-to-date databases and information sources following the disaster; coordinating with the various partnering organizations, who are all advancing plans simultaneously; and making sure that health stays on the very full agenda. For more information, contact Lexi Nolen, PhD, MPH, Director of the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities.
From the City of Berkeley (California), a third adaption helps solve the problem of organizing baseline data for HIAs. Using off-the-shelf software (MS Office, ArcGIS, STATA), HIA developers created and implemented a data model and that guides the collection, analysis, and presentation of data on healthy development indicators into standardized databases, which are the reference for maps, graphs, and even narratives that can be displayed at a customizable website. The project, called "Community Indicators Tool for Impacts on Health (CITI-Health)", offered an opportunity to do intensive in-reach to potential users at the City Departments of Planning and Development, Information Technology, and Climate Action. Much was learned in a recent pilot, including the importance of having a data model, the challenge of standardizing indicators, and the need for documenting the many steps involved in data reduction. For more information, contact Dr. Neil Maizlish, City of Berkeley, Public Health Division.