Monument Corridor HEAL Zone
(Healthy Eating Active Living)Place Matters
A person’s neighborhood greatly affects their likelihood of obesity because it determines how easy it is to buy affordable healthy food and have a safe place to be active. Low-income communities tend to have some of the highest obesity rates, which is why the HEAL Zones are focused there.
"In the first five years of the HEAL work, we saw increased physical activity, greater availability of healthy food in corner stores, improvement of our local parks and creation of safe walkways. We also learned that going forward, we could make a greater impact by concentrating our efforts in smaller, more targeted areas,” said Yvette Radford, Kaiser Permanente’s regional vice president, External and Community Affairs, Northern California. “For Kaiser Permanente, the HEAL Zones are much more than just funding. They are an extension of the work in our medical centers, and our commitment to helping create healthy individuals and healthy communities.”
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
“As we address obesity, especially childhood obesity, it’s imperative to make changes at the local level — where people live, work and play — to make it easier for people to eat healthily and move more as part of daily life,” said Scott Gee, MD, director of Prevention and Health Information for Kaiser Permanente Northern California. “Otherwise, we will continue to see a rise in obesity-related diseases like type 2 diabetes.”
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