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!