San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors Tuesday officially launched the third part of the County’s ambitious initiative to improve the health and well-being of all county residents — Live Well San Diego — by adopting the “Thriving” component.
Supervisors unanimously approved the latest part of the initiative at a board meeting where they were also updated about Live Well San Diego’s recent successes and welcomed four new partners to the list of 66 cities, agencies, school districts, businesses and groups that have joined the initiative.
Outside the Board’s chambers at the County Administration Center Tuesday, the County’s new Waterfront Park hosted a large Live Well San Diego Wellness Fair and Partner Showcase Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The showcase included more than 70 exhibitors, cooking demonstrations, fitness boot camps, a farmers market, CPR workshops and other displays.
The County introduced Live Well San Diego in 2010 with the release of its “3-4-50: Chronic Diseases in San Diego County” report.
That report showed that three behaviors poor nutrition, lack of exercise and tobacco use — directly contributed to the four diseases — cancer, heart disease/stroke, type 2 diabetes and respiratory illnesses like asthma — that caused more than half of all deaths in the county. Building Better Health, the first component of Live Well San Diego, proposed that people could lead healthier lives by attacking those three behaviors.
At Tuesday’s meeting, County Health and Human Services Agency General Manager Nick Macchione said that the Live Well San Diego had already cut “3-4-50” deaths by 2 percent since 2010.
Macchione noted other accomplishments, including:
- The First 5 San Diego’s Quality Preschool Initiative had increased the number of children who were able to have access to quality preschools by 50 percent in the last year to 11,235 children.
- The County’s “Exceptional Families; Exceptional Children” campaign had placed more than 325 foster children in adoptive homes.
- The Community-Based Care Transitions Program had saved 437 senior citizens from having to be readmitted into hospitals.
- The numbers of people taking part in health and wellness programs offered by the County library system had increase by more than 100 percent from 69,331 people in 2012/13 to 141,973 people in 2013/14.
County supervisors adopted Live Well’s second component, “Living Safely” in 2012. The “Thriving” component will focus on improving three areas: Built and Natural Environment, such as transportation, neighborhoods and housing; Enrichment, such as civic life and community activities; and Prosperity, Economy and Education, including areas such as workforce education and economic development.
Check out the video below from the Live Well Expo at the Waterfront Park on Oct. 21, 2014.
