Ridley's Family Market launches first vitaTrackr demonstration

JEROME, Idaho - July 1, 2013 - PRLog -- NEWS RELEASE

Media contact:

Brian J. Baum

410.489.2841

brian.baum@vitaTrackr.com

July 1, 2013

Ridley’s Family Market launches first vitaTrackr demonstration

Providing health measurements to help people manage their health

Jerome, ID. — Ridley’s Family Market today kicked off the “Get Fit Challenge” across all their stores and all their employees, spouses and dependents.

Mark Ridley said “we’re excited about this program as we’re constantly looking for ways to help our team manage and improve their health. Information is key to understanding current health and trends over time.  I think this program creates a very convenient and private approach for people to monitor their health”.

Steve Halperin, co-founder and COO of vitaTrackr said Mark and the entire Ridley’s team has been great.  This is our first test and we couldn’t have found a better location and better organization to work with.  Healthcare is on everyone’s mind these days, it is costly and often inconvenient.  However, people do shop for food on a regular basis, or in the case of Ridley’s employees they are in the stores on an even more frequent basis.  By adding personal health tracking to a regular routine like grocery shopping, everyone can be more informed and stay on top of any health changes”.

The Ridley’s program called the “Get Fit Challenge” kicked off today and will continue for eight weeks, ending on August 26, 2013.  Over the course of the program, participants including any Ridley’s employees, their spouses, partners and dependents will use in-store self-service health assessment kiosks to establish an initial baseline of bio-metrics including blood pressure, pulse, weight and BMI and complete an online “Get Fit Challenge” assessment.  Throughout the eight week program there will be various activities that participants can engage in such as online education, tracking calorie consumption, time spent on physical activity and ongoing visits to the health assessment stations to track their progress and changes in health.  They will accumulate points throughout the program and at the conclusion, individuals that accumulate the most points will earn cash prizes.  The top winner will receive $350 including cash and a gift card from Ridley’s.  All the information is private, only the point totals are tracked within the program.  To add a bit of friendly competition, point totals for each store/location will also be tracked and the most improved location will gain bragging rights and a plaque commemorating their accomplishment.  (The actual program will be administered independently by Healthcare Interactive.  A company dedicated to health and wellness.)

Ridley said “that while this program is focused on the Ridley team any shopper is free to use the health assessment stations located at all Ridley’s stores.  Ridley’s has been a fixture of the community for more than twenty five years; we’re committed to the health of the community and each of its residents.  After this initial program we’ll look at options to expand a similar program to the entire community”.

Brian Baum, founder and CEO of vitaTrackr said, “ultimately the vitaTrackr network is designed to function much like the ATM networks that everyone is familiar with, walk up to any ATM anywhere in the world and access your account, check you balance and withdraw funds.  The vitaTrackr network, starting here at Ridley’s will eventually connect stations like those at Ridley’s with compatible stations across the country as well as other health measurement devices designed to help people better understand their health.  Information is key to health.  vitaTrackr is dedicated to communicating health with a goal of improving consumer outcomes, lowering cost of care and making healthcare convenient.

About vitaTrackr.

vitaTrackr is creating a data marketplace  in healthcare that facilitates the movement of bio-metric and other consumer health data from the point of creation to the broad range of qualified destinations, (those which have authorized access to the data) to integrate it into their products and services.  The vitaTrackr network will unlock the power of information and lay the foundation for dramatic gains in health outcomes while lowering costs of care.  Consolidated access to health data will unleash the innovative spirit in healthcare and other industry sectors to bring new and exciting health applications to consumers and providers alike.