Center for Health Transformation Georgia Project

HHS Awards Over $103 Million through Community Transformation Grants Program

On Tuesday of this week the Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $103 million through its Community Transformation Grants program, which was established by the 2010 health law. A total of 61 groups as well as state and local government agencies, spread across 36 states and one territory, will receive funding to promote healthy living and prevention locally over the next five years.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden said the transformation grants will “do exactly what the name says: change the way communities promote health.” Project managers at the CDC will work with individual grantees now through early 2012 to finalize their plans.

Go Chicago!

Kudos to the Chicago Park District!  The Chicago Park District and partners recently unveiled vending machines stocked only with healthy snacks.  New nutritional standards for the snacks in the vending  machine include limitations on calories, sodium, fat and sugar per serving. 

The healthy vending policy stemmed from the wellness center programs that are offered at six parks citywide. The programs are completely privately funded through the Abbott Fund, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Bank of America and Wal-Mart Foundation. The wellness centers offer programs and amenities for the whole family to get active and learn about overall health and well being.

The healthy vending policy states that all foods served at Chicago Park District functions must meet certain nutritional requirements. Both park staff and patrons are being educated on this policy change and Information will be distributed and posted at every Chicago Park District location.  The Park District is composed of 588 parks.  Way to go Chicago!

Iowa Healthiest State Initiative

All Iowa communities can take the first step to becoming Blue Zones Communities! Ten communities that demonstrate the greatest passion, interest and ability to bring their community together will receive assistance from national experts to develop and implement a blueprint for making permanent environment, policy and social network changes that transition people into healthier behaviors. These communities will become demonstration sites and share their learnings with other communities in Iowa who are employing Blue Zones principles. Businesses will also take the lead by transforming their worksites, followed by government, schools and non-profit organizations. The communities will be selected in February 2012.

The progress of the communities will be measured using the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index®, the first-ever daily assessment of U.S. residents’ health and well-being.   Data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals there is significant opportunity in Iowa for improvement, particularly among healthy behaviors and work environments.  The Blue Zones Project will help employers and communities achieve greater well-being, which should lead to lower healthcare costs, higher productivity and increased economic viability.  Be on the lookout for more posts on Iowa as the initiative progresses!

 

Healthy Community Initiatives to Watch

Kaiser Permanente Heal Zones:

The HEAL Zone communities of Bayview in San Francisco, Madera in the Fresno area, Modesto, the Monument Corridor in Concord, Richmond, Santa Rosa and South Sacramento were awarded grants as part of Kaiser Permanente’s new $10 million HEAL Zones initiative to combat obesity across Northern California.The vision of the HEAL Zones is that at the end of the three-year initiative communities will be measurably transformed so that opportunities for engaging in healthy behaviors are part of daily life.

The HEAL Zones are a continuation of Kaiser Permanente’s Healthy Eating Active Living [HEAL] Community Health Initiative, a five-year initiative started in 2006 that empowered communities to promote healthy eating and active living through policy and environmental change.   Based on the importance of place, the HEAL work resulted in increased physical activity, greater availability of healthy food in corner stores, and improvements in local parks and safe walkways.  However, a major learning from the HEAL Initiative was that a greater impact could be made by concentrating the efforts in smaller, more targeted areas.  The HEAL Zones will focus on low-income communities where some of the highest obesity rates occur.  Changes will be made at the local level — where people live, work and play.

Each HEAL Zone will focus on four specific goals over the next three years:

• Decrease calorie consumption, especially sugar-sweetened beverages
• Increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables
• Increase physical activity in community settings, such as parks and safe routes for walking and biking
• Increase physical activity in institutional settings, such as schools and workplaces