Posts By Marissa Gawel
To Combat Obesity in Riverside’s Eastside Neighborhood, HEAL Program Tackles Local Food Access and Nutrition
February 8, 2016 | Marissa Gawel
The Eastside Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Zone program seeks to improve the overall wellness of Riverside, CA’s Eastside community through education and increased access to healthy local food.
As of 2012, in Riverside, California’s Eastside neighborhood, more than half of the adults and almost a quarter of the teenagers, were considered overweight. To stem this rising tide of obesity, Kaiser Permanente awarded a $1 million grant to establish a Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Zone program to improve the Eastside community’s overall wellness through education and increased access to healthy local food.
Kaiser sees the HEAL Zone program as a community benefit, according to health manager Cecilia Arias.
“Wellness isn’t just about the absence of illness. It’s about how you live,” she says. “Is your community supportive of you having a healthy lifestyle? Is it safe for you to go out to exercise and walk or do something the park?” Read More
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