What does a child’s proximity to a local swimming pool have to do with controlling diabetes? It’s a good question, but not something many doctors factor into their diagnoses of patients.
Fact is, swimming pools are a great source of exercise, an important part of controlling diabetes. If a doctor knew you had a pool near your house they might suggest it as an exercise option when counseling you on treatments.
Thanks to new research work taking place at the Georgia Institute of Technology in collaboration with IBM, Atlanta is aiming to be the first city in the country to use “environmental” data to transform pediatric health care. The One Million Healthy Children project will pull together dozens of nonmedical information sources for doctors initially focused on treating asthma, autism and diabetes.
In the near future, doctors in Atlanta will be able to factor variables like transportation, health services, food resources and educational attainment into their care for children with these conditions.
Our children are at the center of a major health crisis. In Georgia alone, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death while the state incurs approximately $4 billion in diabetes-related costs each year. Our emergency rooms are filled with children dealing with asthma-related complications and the state’s autism rates are rising faster than the national average.
Trends like these call for new approaches and partnerships. The One Million Healthy Children project is an important first step in using this environmental data. The partnerships put in place with Georgia Tech University, Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia Cancer Coalition and the Georgia Department of Community Health will help build a smarter health care system that is more responsive to the environment our children live in.
So what is going to be different for our children when this data is at health providers’ fingertips? Factors far beyond the traditional health care system — including finance, urban planning, individual behavior, disease transmission, clinical research and media — have an influence on human health. Understanding the interconnectedness of factors is critical to developing effective programs that enhance health and well-being.
When you are able to combine medical information with this environmental data, it gives health providers and policymakers a more holistic view of the effects of their actions. For example, if urban planners were able to see that residents of a certain block were dealing with more complications from asthma than other parts of the city, perhaps they’d create more areas for trees nearby. (Studies have shown that children who lived on tree-lined streets have a lower rate of asthma.)
Georgians should be excited by this initiative, and proud. Our local university systems are showing leadership in an emerging field that can have real consequences on the future of health care. The use of data and analytics has been identified as one of the fastest-growing skill sets employers are looking for. Our community’s children can be one of the early beneficiaries of this new approach to wellness.
Curtis Tearte is an Atlanta resident and IBM’s managing director for the state of Georgia.
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