Stanford doctor starts local ‘Get Healthy Lincoln County’ program, plans to take it statewide via Kentucky Medical Association
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| Part of the effort: A weekend workout group in Stanford |
A Stanford physician who started a local movement for a healthier community plans to promote it statewide through the Kentucky Medical Association’s Commission on Public Health.
“Dr. Naren James said in the next year, under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance rates will be affected by the overall health of a community,” Abigail Whitehouse reports for The Interior Journal. “Having a healthier community will actually have a tangible impact on people’s health insurance rate,” James told her.
James said he was motivated to start the program when he realized that that Kentucky ranks very high in childhood obesity, “which ultimately effects the future of a community,” Whitehouse notes. Much of the program’s focus is on increasing residents’ physical activity.
movement so that every community in Kentucky can find a coalition of
people interested in health to create that ‘get healthy’ community.”
not from the top down,” James said. “When you deal with health, people have to make
the choice. It has to be educational.”
County’ movement has been approved as an annual effort, James said a
committee has already begun planning for next year by determining what
did and didn’t work well this time around.
For example, a history walk around Stanford, Kentucky’s second oldest town, “had a great turnout,” James said. Also successful were “a Saturday morning of exercise” in a local park and “Dinner with a Doctor,” Linda Carney of Texas, “who provided the crowd with a
plant-based diet and spoke about the benefits of such diets,” Whitehouse reports.
plant-based cooking class using local produce,” Whitehouse writes. “James said that the cooking class
has done well and will continue throughout the year, but it was realized
that programs which require more commitment require more of a push.”
it to people’s individual needs. They have to understand why health is
impacting them personally.”
immediately negative,” he said. “It’s a cultural shift. Speaking
about health positively is so important, which we tried to do with the
Get Healthy program and I think overall it came across positively. Even
the things that are negative can be turned into positive.”