Twenty-five Minnesotans have recently been appointed to serve on a Health Equity Advisory and Leadership (HEAL) council. The group was created by the state Health Department to address health disparities. Spokesman Bruce Thao says “we’ve identified communities that are most impacted by health inequities across the state and so some of these groups include racial ethnic minority groups, Native Americans, people with disabilities, rural Minnesotans.” Thao says health disparities don’t just impact those groups identified and he adds that “the impact is really on the lives of every Minnesotan, because when these impacted communities do better, I think that we all do better.” The HEAL council is set to begin meeting after the first of the year and will report to the state Health Commissioner on ways to close equity gaps in health.