Get Healthy Utah, in conjunction with The Utah Foundation, held their most recent event on April 29 at the Southeastern Regional Development Agency (SERDA) building, with Price being their sixth stop thus far.
In recent months, the Utah Foundation created the Healthy Communities Roadshow to bring awareness to policy guides to help promote active living and healthy eating across the State of Utah.
Alysia Ducuara, Executive Director at Get Healthy Utah, stated “The purpose of this event is to train local leaders and bring everyone together to talk about building healthy communities.”
There were three areas that were the main focus, which included physical activity and active living, healthy food access and mental health. Ducuara mentioned that we are currently in an epidemic of loneliness and discussed the importance of getting people out and providing places and events where people can come and experience a social connection with other members of the community.
Ducuara went over many statistics for the State of Utah, with one of those statistics being the daily average of outdoor play time versus average screen time that children in Utah are getting.
“Our kiddos, in an average day, are outside four to seven minutes in unstructured play,” Ducuara stated. “The average time they spend on screens is 7 hours a day.”
Tara Anderson from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget discussed all of the positive things that Utah offers, stating because of that Utah is growing. Anderson went on to say ”It’s not IF we’re going to grow, it’s HOW we’re going to grow.”
Anderson discussed a survey that was conducted in 2021, with the results of the survey showing that for the first-time, residents of Utah were concerned about growth. Some of the concerns mentioned were housing, water, transportation and open space. In response, Utah State Legislation provided funding for a 2-year project called Guiding our Growth.
Guiding our Growth is a statewide project to work with community organizations around the state to understand the needs and concerns for each community.
Statistics show that the health of an individual’s community can have a direct impact on life expectancy. Ducuara discussed that there is a 10-year life expectancy difference in residents who live in Rose Park versus residents who live in The Avenues, due to the vast differences in availability and access to certain things within their communities.
It was discussed that while individuals are responsible for keeping their health a priority, that the lack of access to healthy foods, parks, trails, complete streets, mental health resources and social events play a huge role as well.
Ducuara stated that as of right now there are 43 Utah communities that have been designated with Get Healthy Utah, with Price currently the only city from Carbon County to be designated.
Sara Braby, Director of Nursing for the Southeastern Utah Health Department, discussed some of the changes and implements made by the city of Price in order to be awarded and designated as a Healthy Utah Community.
There are four steps that need to be taken in order to be considered a designated city or town:
1: A Letter from the mayor and city council needs to submitted that indicates commitment to improving community health.
2: Organize a community coalition of at least four individuals who meet together quarterly to discuss improving the wellness in their community.
3: Implement strategies that would improve the health of the community. The number of strategies required depends on the population. Those strategies must consist of the following categories: physical, activity, access to healthy food and mental health.
4: Use data to identify the health needs within the community and develop a three-year health plan with additional strategies to be implemented.
Braby discussed that the Price Coalition committee implemented cooking classes, safe disposal boxes for prescription drugs and new bike lanes around town. Braby also stated that they are currently working on beautifying parts of Price City as a way to offer residents a place to gather and be social, as well as putting together more community events.
The coalition has also put together a Mayor’s Walk with Price City Mayor Michael Kourianos, as a chance for residents to get outside and get active, while also offering residents the opportunity to talk to their mayor. Braby stated that in addition to Price City’s Mayor Walk, they are also putting together a Mayor’s Walk with Helper City Mayor Lenise Peterman.
Designation awards are awarded bi-annually to towns and cities who complete all of the necessary requirements.
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