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Lisa Goss, Communications Specialist, 216/916-6134
March 30, 2016 (Cleveland, OH) – A new Be Well special, “Healthy People, Healthy Places – Diet and Food,” examines the challenges and solutions to getting—and staying—healthy in Northeast Ohio neighborhoods and premieres Monday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m. on WVIZ/PBS (and also airs Thursday, April 7 at 3 a.m. and Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m.). According to the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio spends over $50 billion dollars annually on illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions closely related to obesity and unhealthy lifestyle habits. This Be Well program highlights some of the programs and initiatives in this region working to increase access to healthy and fresh food.
Throughout this new Be Well episode, Greater Cleveland public health experts, local business owners, residents and others weigh in on the best practices, and also the real-world difficulties, of adopting a healthier lifestyle.
“The bottom line is we need to begin creating conditions for kids, adults, residents—everybody—to make healthy decisions,” Alison Patrick, a program manager at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, explains. “We can’t just expect that because we tell people you should eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day that they’re going to be able to go out and do that.”
In addition to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, other community organizations featured during the WVIZ/PBS-produced special include Avon Lake Water Filtration Plant, Caribe Bake Shop, Cleveland Clinic, Famicos Foundation, Gateway 105 Farmers’ Market, NEON – Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, The Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at Case Western Reserve University, The Summer Sprout Program (a community gardening partnership between the City of Cleveland and OSU Extension), Tremont West Development Corporation and Village Family Farms, as well as a community garden in the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland.
Individual stories during the half-hour special consider…
- how neighborhoods and the health of their residents are interrelated,
- efforts in this region to promote and increase access to nutritious food choices and fresh produce and
- the ongoing work to safeguard a healthy water supply.
This Be Well special is part of the ongoing series Healthy People, Healthy Places , Healthy Future, which explores the intersection of people, place and health. This program and all Be Well reports in this series are available on demand at bewell.ideastream.org.
Funding for Be Well, a multiple media health information project presented by ideastream, comes from The Dr. Donald J. Goodman and Ruth Weber Goodman Philanthropic Fund of The Cleveland Foundation, The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, The McGregor Foundation, The Austin Memorial Foundation, The Dominion Foundation, The Saint Luke’s Foundation and The Community Foundation of Lorain County.
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