What would Kansas look like as the healthiest state in the nation? What positive impacts would we see in our communities, our schools, and our workplaces? How would it feel to live in a state where every person has what they need to thrive?

Imagine this: If Kansas were the healthiest state in the nation, 16,000 fewer children would experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). There would be 32,000 more kids in our school system reading at grade level. More than 100,000 people wouldn’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Another 173,000 people would be getting the recommended amount of exercise they need. And 183,000 fewer Kansans would be experiencing addiction and substance abuse. 

Think about what those numbers mean for our children, our families, and our communities. Think about how it would feel.

New Hampshire knows what it looks like, what it feels like, to be the healthiest state in the nation. Right now, Kansas is ranked 29th in Health by America’s Health Rankings, a state-by-state analysis of our nation’s health produced by the United Health Foundation. In 1992, we were 8th, and we’ve been steadily falling ever since.

What does it look like to rank 29th in health?

Well, Kansas is 38th in the nation for ACEs. Ranking at 42nd for occupational fatalities, Kansas is one of the most dangerous places to work in America. We’re also 42nd in air pollution. And we’re 43rd in the nation for low birth weight for children of color. 

Unacceptable – and we don’t have to accept it. 

The Kansas Health Foundation works every day to improve the health of all Kansans because we should all have access to the resources to make healthy choices where we live, work, and play. That’s why we launched HealthRise – an event and an initiative to empower the leaders in our state offices, in our communities, and even the leaders in all of us to aim at one goal.

To lead the nation in health.

To direct this initiative, KHF follows a three-part purpose statement.

• Part one of our purpose is to empower Kansas to lead the nation in health. This idea – that Kansas could the nation in health. It can’t be rhetoric. We should be that state. We will be that state. Empowering people to lead anchors our purpose.

• Part two of our purpose is to eliminate the inequities that cause health disparities. Remember that Kansas ranks 43rd in the nation for low birth rate on a racial disparity. Overall, we’re 13th – unless you’re a baby of color being born in Kansas. We simply cannot achieve what we want without eliminating the inequities and removing the barriers that some Kansans face.

• Part three is to become the philanthropic model for impact. The Kansas Health Foundation, our partners, our grantees, and our staff – as well as our state leaders and all people who care so deeply about the health of all Kansans – we have to be the model. We have to become a state that embraces best practices for health – and then invents the next best practices.

America’s Health Rankings will update their rankings in December, and we’re going to use our new ranking – for better or worse – as our North Star. If we work together to force this number in front of us always, if we don’t let ourselves forget where we rank, we can make game-changing transformations.

For the health all of Kansans.

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This blog is derived from a speech given by Ed O’Malley at KHF’s initial HealthRise event in September 2024. To watch the full speech, click here.