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

Healthy Pasadena

In order to improve the health of communities we need to have access to data that helps show where improvement is needed and where things are working.  Managing by these metrics is key to successful community based programs. Huntington Memorial Hospital has become the first hospital in the country to partner with Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) in offering a one-stop, online source of publicly available data about community health. Healthy Pasadena (www.healthypasadena.org) is designed to help community members and policy makers learn about health-related issues and local resources.  Check out this site to get ideas for your community.  The information can be sorted by topic and by status [using a red/yellow/green meter].  Having data like this available is helpful to community initiatives in prioritizing their initiatives as well as in measuring the effectiveness of their interventions.  Congratulations to Huntington Memorial Hospital for providing this service to their community.

Schoolyard Gardens – What a Great Idea!

An article at StarTribune.com discusses the impact of a schoolyard garden in Columbia Heights, MN.  The garden is one of 30 or so new school gardens that have been created in Minnesota during the past year - double the number of such plots that existed previously.  The new gardens are a result of the $47 million State Health Improvement Program [SHIP] that offers grant money to school districts and other community organizations to fight chronic disease, encourage exercise, promote healthy eating and discourage tobacco use.  

SHIP was signed into law by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2008.  The program allows local citizens to choose their own route toward a healthier community. Columbia Heights chose to build a garden classroom. About $20,000 or so of the $63,000 SHIP grant has already been used to buy the plants and install the infrastructure; the remainder will mostly be used to train classroom teachers on how to incorporate the garden into their lesson plans.  

What a great start to the school year.  This is an excellent way to get children physically active, learning about healthy foods, and engaged in their community.  Congratulations to Columbia Heights!

What Works in Schools?

As I was researching healthy community initiatives I came across a very helpful document at http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/health/physicalactivity/pdf_files/WhatWorksSchoolsfinal.pdf.  As childhood obesity continues to threaten the future of our country many commununity organizations are partnering with schools to make a difference.  Programs aimed at increasing physical activity, improving school lunch programs, addressing the vending machine choices, and educating students on healthy lifestyle are increasing.  An understanding of how to work within the school system is critical to the success of these programs.  Visit the Wisconsin website for some great ideas.

Promotores de Salud

I recently met with Nancy Kennedy, Executive Director, Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership in Dalton, GA to learn more about the work of her organization in the community.   Nancy introduced me to a very successful program they have implemented - Promotores de Salud (community health workers).  This is a health outreach program created to solve the problems of the area’s diverse population plagued by limited access to health services, lack of education on health issues, and language barriers.  The Promotores are trained to work directly with Latinos through the hospital, the hospital’s HealthMobile unit, the health department, physicians, employers and the school systems to insure that health care and health education is accessible.   

The program is modeled after a successful Promotores program in El Paso, TX.  Promotores de Salud are community members who work almost exclusively in community settings. They serve as connectors between health care consumers and providers to promote health among groups that have traditionally lacked access to adequate health care.  An emerging body of literature appears to support the unique role of these community workers and advocates in strengthening existing community networks for care, providing community members with social support, education, and facilitating access to care and communities with a stimulus for action. This innovative approach is having a positive impact on the Hispanic residents in northwest Georgia.  For more information on this program click here. 

The lay health worker is an important resource to explore and develop as we look for new strategies to improve the health of the community.

Food Revolution

I was just introduced to a new TV show - ' Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.'  For an eye-opening look into food and our children check out this series.  Jamie is a chef from Essex who believes that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food. He is starting a movement to get Americans to stand up for better food!

In one part of the series Jamie talked with a group of 5-year olds and quizzed them on identifying different foods.  He picked up a raw potato and asked if anyone knew what it was.  Not one child knew.  Then he held up a red, ripe tomato and again, not one child could identify it.  The same with cauliflower and other fresh vegetables.  Then he held up pizza - identified!  The same with french fries, chicken nuggets, hamburgers. It reflects the foods many of our children are exposed to and which ones they are not. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the series unfold and observing transformation in progress.  This series will provide some great lessons on changing health behaviors.  From the school system, to the individual school, to the homes, the parents and the children it will be an amazing journey.  Check it out on Friday evenings, 9 pm EST on ABC.

Healthways-Blue Zones Vitality Quest

Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY) and Blue Zones, LLC, announced the establishment of Healthways-Blue Zones Vitality QuestSM, an exclusive, strategic relationship to create, support and sustain a national movement to improve community health and well-being, initially for cities in the U.S.

Vitality Quest will be working with select communities across the nation to help them earn designation as a Healthways-Blue Zones Vitality City^SM, a community in which people are healthier, happier, live longer, are more vital and more productive, and who enjoy an improved standard of living -- in other words, a city whose citizens enjoy a measurably higher level of well-being and lower healthcare costs. 

Vitality Quest is launching a national search for a highly motivated community wanting to take advantage of the best expertise available to become the inaugural Vitality City.  For more information visit http://www.vitality-city.com. The deadline for Statement of Interest submissions is May 14, 2010.