Pilot promotes healthy lifestyles

Remember the good, old days when children biked or walked to school?
The Rhode Island Department of Health does and while certain societal conditions may make that a daily impossibility, something can be – and has to be – done to help residents reap the health benefits such activities provide, it says.
In comes Healthy Places by Design, a department program built on the notion that if you want a healthy lifestyle, you have to plan for it and that is as true within the state’s cities and towns as it for individuals.
“It seemed like a very good opportunity to better plan our community to incorporate design principals that are leading toward building a healthy community,” said Jon Reiner, planning director for North Kingstown, one of three communities that took part in the project’s pilot program.
A little over a year ago, the state health department issued grants totaling $225,000 to North Kingstown, South Kingstown and Pawtucket to create policies promoting active, healthier lifestyles.
With nearly 30 percent of Rhode Island youths, ages 10 to 17, overweight or obese, and with less than half of adult residents engaged in regular physical activity, something needs to be done, the department says.
“Since place impacts health, [the department] is very interested in making places healthier,” said Dara Chadwick, DOH chief officer of health promotion, adding that the department has developed partnerships, including with the Department of Transportation, to develop place-based initiatives.
The plan is meant to provide policies and strategies for municipalities to modify their comprehensive plans to improve walkability, safety, recreation options, transportation choices and access to healthy foods and then to begin facilitating those plans.
North Kingstown, South Kingstown, and Pawtucket were selected from nine applicants. Each granted municipality was required to partner with a community organization and develop action plans based on public feedback.
Lauren Buckel, the program’s coordinator through a temporary position with the health department, said at a panel presentation during Grow Smart Rhode Island’s Power of Place Summit held May 11 that it was important to ensure communities were putting into place policies residents would support.
“We want the outcome to be based on [community] needs,” Buckel said. “We want people to be really engaged.”
Getting there proved challenging at times.
Karla Vigil, who came to the Pawtucket Citizens Development Center through the grant, said there was a serious language barrier attached to gaining resident involvement.
“There was a lot of terminology that wasn’t easily interpreted,” she said.
After a fast-paced few months, the result was forming a bike coalition and access-to-healthy-foods alliance within the city.
South Kingstown now is holding bike-to-school Wednesdays.
Planning Director Vincent Murray said the town’s attention focused on things that already existed within the community, including its village-model comprehensive planning.
“It got us thinking on a more systematic basis around not just government but other resources,” he said.
North Kingstown’s activity centered on using its rich, agricultural resources and access to public spaces.
In addition to pilot programs, the state project is producing a Healthy Communities Toolkit that will include assessment tools, model ordinances, design guidelines and implementation strategies.
But helping communities with resources will be limited. Federal grant money runs out June 30.
The department, Chadwick said, plans to continue community outreach and create a “learning collaborative” of successful communities that can mentor other municipalities. •

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