History

In November 2011, Mobile United, a community networking organization, convened the Healthy Mobile Task Force to address significant public health challenges faced by Mobile residents. With data showing that adult smoking and premature death rates in Mobile County are higher than both the national and state averages, the Task Force became a key player in Smoke Free Mobile, a community coalition seeking passage of ordinances for smoke free public places and workplaces throughout the City of Mobile to protect non-smokers from exposure to secondhand smoke, reduce smoking prevalence and reduce premature deaths.

Looking at next steps in its efforts to improve Mobile’s public health, the Task Force held a series of planning meetings to identify other public health concerns needing attention. Using data compiled in the 2011 County Health Rankings, a project of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Task Force members identified obesity and teen pregnancy as new focus areas while they continued their work on tobacco issues. As part of community-wide efforts to reduce tobacco use, obesity and teen pregnancies, the Task Force carved out specific objectives in each of these goal areas to concentrate its efforts. This Action Plan sets forth those objectives, as well as the strategies and activities that the Task Force used to achieve them. In late 2012, the initiative was rebranded, Live Better Mobile.

In 2016, Infirmary Health conducted its second Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which is required for not-for-profit hospitals to be completed every three years by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23, 2010.

The findings of the 2016-18 assessment, which were pulled from state, local and national data, identified two key health priority areas for Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties ― Healthy Weight and Access to Care.

In an effort to improve Healthy Weight and Access to Care in these counties, Infirmary Health wanted to provide evidence-based health and wellness information and a location for community resources to move the needle in these areas.

Infirmary Health, as a leader of health and wellness in the region, began to work with Mobile United to oversee and rebrand Live Better Mobile and launch as Live Better Together. The new name and website encompasses a larger footprint to include Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties.