Illinois ranks 10th for Obese Children but Chicagoans Boast Numerous Opportunities for Fitness

The state of Illinois has been a hot topic in the media this year following the election of President Barack Obama, but endured increasingly negative publicity in the wake of the impeachment of Governor Blagojevich. Recently, Illinois faced more unfortunate press coverage, this time related to health and wellness.

According to a report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Illinois has the 10th highest percent nationally for obese children and one in five Illinois children (20.7 %) is obese. Another 14.2% are overweight. Although Illinois adults fared better than the children in the national ranking, the high number of unhealthy kids suggests that the state is not doing enough to target youngsters in wellness education. The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago’s Children suggests five major ways to reform the current legislature to enhance wellness among young Chicagoans to lead to a healthier future:

1. Create an Illinois Food Policy Council to increase the production, distribution, access to and consumptions of healthy food.
2. Reform the physical education waiver process to allow for greater individual involvement among parents, organizations, and lawmakers to increase PE requirements in school.
3. Give $3 million to the Illinois Obesity Study and Prevention Fund to allow for state-wide infrastructure of obesity prevention.
4. Include Nutrition and Physical Activity Standards in the mandate of the Illinois Early Learning Council to instill positive habits from a young age.
5. Establish a statewide Safe Routes to Schools and Parks program to enhance pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure.

While Illinois adults rank 27th nationally for obesity, the growing number of overweight children spells out trouble for the future health of the state. Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are three diseases that often go hand in hand with unhealthy living. As a result, Illinois can expect a severe increase in health care costs as the children of the state grow up.

Although Illinois has a somewhat bleak health forecast, the city of Chicago offers some hope. Praised as “one of the coolest running paths in the nation” Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive offers up to 20 miles of paved, pedestrian-friendly asphalt. With endless opportunities to bike, Rollerblade, scooter, walk, and run, Lake Shore Drive offers Chicagoans an enticing environment for healthy living.

Idaho Ranked 8th in Overall Health and Wellness

Most Americans associate Idaho with potatoes, but what many people don’t know is Idaho actually ranks 8th in overall health and wellness according to the United Health Foundation. Idaho boasts a low rate of infectious disease, a low rate of preventable hospitalizations, low levels of air pollution and a low percentage of children in poverty. Unfortunately, many Idahoans have limited access to primary care and low immunization coverage.

In general, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare presents an extremely thorough website promoting healthy lifestyles. The government-sponsored programs include services targeted towards

• Community health
• Family health
• Diseases and Conditions
• Health Assistance
• Prevention

One example of a federally funded program is the Idaho Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (HDSP) which helps Idahoans take steps to avoid heart disease and stroke by adopting a healthy lifestyle. This program touts regular exercise and eating healthfully as the secret behind stroke prevention and longevity.

Each year, more than 1,500 Idahoans die from smoking-related diseases. That’s an average of four people a day. Idaho’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (also known as Project Filter) provides funding to health districts and organizations around the state to create programs that prevent tobacco use. Project Filter particularly targets those Idahoans with higher rates of smoking such as 18-24 year-olds, Native Americans, Latinos, homosexuals, and industry and labor workers.

The Idaho Rural Health Association (IRHA) provides state-wide leadership and education on issues related to rural health in Idaho. The mission of the Idaho State Office of Rural Health and Primary Care is to promote access to quality health care for people in Idaho. IRHA meetings focus on personal heath concerns such as substance abuse and smoking cessation as well as the broader topic of health care reform.

Overall, Idaho seems to be doing a commendable job of making wellness programs available to its occupants. Although Idahoans suffer from many of the same health issues prevalent throughout the U.S. (heart disease, stroke, and cancer) they benefit from dozens of state-funded programs related to disease prevention and wellness.

Hawaii: Stop Smoking and Start Living Healthy!

Hawaii is perhaps best known for its sandy beaches and ocean breezes, but not only tourists enjoy the Big Island. Surfing is always popular among the locals and general outdoor activity is widespread as Hawaiians take advantage of the friendly weather. Although Minnesota was recently rated the healthiest state, Hawaii has also earned a high overall wellness grade as well.

A 2008 report ranked Hawaii as the second slimmest state after Colorado, but smoking still poses a significant health threat. The Hawaii state Department of Health's website offers tips to increase activity, eat healthfully, and stop smoking. In an effort to influence a greater number of Hawaiians, The Department of Health started the Healthy Hawaii Initiative, funded through the Tobacco Settlement Funds.

In 1975, Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act went into effect, making Hawaii the first state to mandate employer-provided medical coverage for employees. This law, as well as government initiatives such as the Hawaii Business Health Council Program helped to encourage wellness among workers and maximize employee health.

Unfortunately, state health initiatives such as the Hawaii Business Health Council often hurt small businesses. Although Hawaiians are generally healthier than the average American, small business owners still feel a financial strain from the mandatory medical coverage they must provide for their employees. Hawaii is the only state in the nation allowed to force companies to pay for insurance for their full-time employees. Health insurance is essential in the event of a medical emergency, however, individuals as well as larger companies might profit from more preventative health measures.

Start Living Healthy is the Hawaii State Department of Health's statewide health promotion campaign. It is an integrative and educational campaign with partnerships in both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, it provides people with information to promote well-being and reduce existing health disparities among ethnic groups in Hawaii.

Health Matters to Georgia Human Resources Department

Initially launched in 2002, Health Matters is a work site wellness program that encourages employees to make positive health changes by offering regular activities related to healthy eating and physical activity. The program was originally offered to the Division of Public Health workers but now is available to all State employees. Examples of the program include:

• Catchy promotional materials placed throughout the building encouraging employees to take the stairs
• Promotional materials for the fresh produce market in the lobby of the building
• A lactation room exists to support breastfeeding after mothers return to work

The goal of Georgia's Health Matters is to encourage management to formally adopt wellness policies that support healthy eating, physical activity, breastfeeding and smoking cessation; implement further environmental changes in the Public Health building; and ultimately expand to other work sites throughout Georgia.

Great start Georgia, but you have a long way to go! Current stats show 34.6 percent of Georgia adults over 18 are overweight, 27.1% of adults over 18 are obese (higher than the national average) and close to 10% of this population has diabetes!

For more information on Georgia's Work site Health Initiatives contact:

Georgia Worksite Health Initiative
Georgia DHR, Division of Public Health
2 Peachtree Street, 16-285Atlanta, GA 30303
404.657.6611

Florida Picked for National Health and Wellness Initiative

Although Florida state government has discontinued the state employee wellness council (because of ineffective reporting) and the state employee wellness program (except a logo) seems to have disappeared from the state website, hopefully state leaders are still interested in determining which strategies are most effective in promoting fitness, nutrition and health in the workplace.

In that spirit, it is exciting to report that Palm Beach County Health Department was selected for a national health and wellness initiative -- one of 43 communities named across the U.S and the only one in Florida.

The program is named Action Communities for Health, Innovation and Environmental Change Initiative (ACHIEVE). Palm Beach County Health Department applied for the program and was selected after a competitive review process. The focus of the program will be on nutrition, physical inactivity, tobacco use, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. ACHIEVE will work with local officials to promote improvements such as:

• increased access to and use of attractive and safe locations for engaging in physical activity
• help with revising school food contracts to include more fruits and vegetables and whole grain foods
• ordinances that protect children and adults from secondhand smoke and encourage nonsmoking
• requirements for sidewalks and crossing signals in neighborhoods to make them more pedestrian-friendly

Good luck, Palm Beach County! We hope you will be successful and will spread the program to all Floridians who are in need of health and wellness!

The District Of Columbia Graded "D" for Wellness Initiatives

After a lot of Internet searching and telephone calls to the Mayor's office, it seems to appear that the District of Columbia has a long way to go when it comes to wellness programs for employees and residents within the community. The lack of initiatives seems so strange for a city that is surrounded by health related agencies such as the HHS, the USDA, the CDC, the NHIC, the National Women's Health Information Center and The National Institutes for Health just to name a few!

For those DC residents who can access the web, there is wellness site on the District of Columbia's web page that includes an array of healthy resources. Although a website looks good, it probably does not come close to being handy to the almost 40% of DC residents who are functionally illiterate. DC also records a higher rate of obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart diseases compared to the national average. In addition, a recent national report rating the country for overweight children ages 10 to 17 found The District of Columbia had the highest percentage— 22.8 percent!

For city workers, the District promote discounts to local gyms on the website. Other than that, I could not find one specific employee wellness program in place. There does not seem to be any mandatory health initiative such as health risk assessment, health screenings, incentivized smoking cessation, weight management programs or financial incentives for reaching personal health and fitness goals.

The research was a little more hopeful for the youth of the District. There are many initiatives in the works. One is called AWI Adolescent Wellness Initiative. The goals of the program are to promote positive behavior change to enhance and improve health literacy. Participants are involved in weekly training sessions for nine months of concentrated wellness education with volunteer mentors assigned to them. It will be interesting reviewing the findings and outcomes over the next few years.

If the District does have any wellness programs in place, they obviously are not being promoted. DC needs help and they need it quick! DC - Implement a city wide health promotion program ASAP! If you need more information contact: Juliet@wellnesscorporatesolutions.com