Healthy Together

We strive to take our social responsibility seriously by conducting practice-based research that contributes directly to the well-being of the region. Our objective is to be able to respond as directly as possible to the questions and needs of citizens. For this reason, our activities extend beyond studying and conducting research at the HU. We also work with care facilities and care providers as well as in local neighbourhoods themselves. This work is done in an interprofessional manner, meaning that we bring the various professions together so they can learn from and with each other. In this way, we seek to achieve better and more effective cooperation within the realms of healthcare and well-being. 

In today’s society,  there are many unfavourable socio-economic conditions that people have to contend with, such as unemployment, poverty and debt; physical or mental health problems; family and parenting issues or even conflict and security issues. In the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of people are having to cope with several of such interrelated problems, while an even greater number of people are very close to falling within their grip. By working interprofessionally, we are able to tackle complex problems or even prevent people from getting into problematic situations in the first place. Examples of interprofessional work are partnerships between schools and child and adolescent health care organisations, debt prevention programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, the integration of ‘demotics’ or home automation facilities in nursing homes and setting up physical exercise programmes in local neighbourhoods. 

This broad and intensive collaboration can help provide the appropriate care in any given situation, as long as this is done in cooperation with most qualified professionals and the best technological innovations. In this way, we can work together to improve social health and a higher quality of living and coexistence in the urban environment. 

Our students are the professionals of tomorrow. The Healthy Together programme trains students to develop an entrepreneurial attitude, along with innovative and investigative skills. We offer them the competences to be able to tackle the challenges of tomorrow within the domain of healthcare and well-being. In so doing, we cooperate closely with our other expertise groups: Digital Together, Sustainable Together and Learning Together.

Health and well-being receive wide support in our region. The appropriate administrative coordination and financial incentives can fortify our cooperative efforts and accelerate the realisation of our shared ambitions. In other words, the best way to do this is to do it together. In this way, we seek to contribute to the social responsibilities as formulated by the United Nations in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, as well as towards our own stated mission: to create a better quality of living (together) in our urban environment.