The new website offers tools, grant information, and other resources for New Jersey public officials to implement active living lifestyles in their constituency in an effort to reduce the skyrocketing health care costs that result from the obesity problem in New Jersey.
"Not only in New Jersey, but across the country, people are becoming increasingly unhealthy as a direct result of obesity-related conditions, " says David Knowlton, President and CEO of the NJ Health Care Quality Institute. "We see this as particularly problematic among children. Recent studies have indicated that if the current trends in childhood obesity continue, our next generation may have shorter life expectancies than their parents."
The Mayors Wellness Campaign, or MWC, hopes by educating local public officials, such as town mayors and other decision makers, they may enact initiatives at the local community level to promote healthy and active lifestyles for everyone. Their website offers a number of case studies and examples of towns which have successfully practiced some of these initiatives, such as the "Shapedown" at the Children's Specialized Hospital in Mountainside, NJ, and the "Walk Metuchen" program in Metuchen, NJ.
"Talking about the obesity problem is not going to get people physically fit, " says Judith Doyle, the Director for the Mayors Wellness Campaign. "We encourage the mayors of each city in New Jersey to come to our website and sign a pledge that they will try and work towards the goal of improving the health of their community."
If you live in New Jersey, you can come to the MWC website home page and click on your county's name to see if your mayor has pledged to start any healthy programs in your area. If your city or town isn't listed, you can ask your local mayor to visit the site and learn more about what he or she can do to promote healthy initiatives where you live.
The new MWC website was designed and programmed by local New Jersey web design and marketing company, ITCN, located on the web at http://www.itcn.com. Production and planning of the new website was managed by Trenton-based Association Business Solutions.
Founded in 1997 and partially funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the NJHCQI brings together all key stakeholders to make real and measurable improvements in New Jersey's health care system.
NJHCQI seeks to empower health care purchasers and consumers by publishing the results of objective research, comparative data on providers, and other pertinent educational information so that purchasers and consumers may adopt value-based purchasing practices and be able to make informed decisions on the merits of various health care programs, treatments and services. NJHCQI was designated as the lead agency in New Jersey for the national Leapfrog Group effort in April 2002.
