Mission

P² (Pursuing Perfection) Collaborative of Western New York is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of people in Western New York.

Introduction

There is an epidemic of chronic disease in the United States and our Western New York community. Lifestyle changes in the last 100 years have caused vast numbers of our population to become physically inactive and an abundant food supply and high standard of living has brought about unprecedented rates of obesity, obesity related diseases, and other chronic illnesses. As our population ages, particularly in Western New York, the situation will only become worse.

To reverse this trend and put our community on the road to health and wellness, we will focus on:

Educating and motivating people in Western New York to make lifestyle changes to prevent illness, and if ill, to help them become well again.
Ensuring that our community understands that they are partners in their health care, that there are guidelines based on expert opinions that they and their physicians can use together to manage their care.
Ensuring that our community has access to health care and, when members of our community become ill, they receive the most effective and up to date care.

While our present health care system in Western New York provides tremendous services to our population, far more needs to be done to make us a healthy community. Our community has excellent physicians, medical technology, and life saving medicines. However, the system of health care currently rewards care for treatment of the sick and invests virtually nothing in keeping people well. In addition, our health care system does not have a means to support our physicians in their awareness and implementation of medical best practices. This does not promote a healthy community.

The P² Collaborative is committed to the good health of the Western New York community. Healthy lifestyles can improve individual quality of life and reduce health care costs for the entire community. P² ’s mission does not exclude itself to particular groups or concerns but rather takes a global approach to health and health care issues in the community. P² ’s power as a change agent in this area comes from its ability to work with community groups and networks of groups to identify and promote healthy lifestyles.

Goals

Work with physicians and organizations to enhance access to care and improve efficiency of care.
Empower all in the Western New York community to take responsibility for and act on their own wellness. This effort will involve:
- Knowledge of life style changes that prevent disease and promote healthy living
- Knowledge of individual health benchmarks so that individuals understand their unique health status
- Knowledge of the best way to navigate the health care system when in need of health care services
- The development of various incentives, including economic, to motivate the adoption of healthy lifestyle changes.
Facilitate the development of a community-wide standard for the promotion of wellness that will more clearly identify the results the community seeks to achieve.
Initiate dialogue with government leadership to promote policy change if needed.

Outcome

A Healthy Community