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County Promotes Healthy Howard Initiative

(The Business Monthly) --

When Dr. Peter Beilenson was named health officer for Howard County, he immediately seized the opportunity to make a difference. After spending 13 years as the health commissioner for Baltimore City, Beilenson had spent much time dealing with reactive public health issues and his new position in Howard County offered him the opportunity to put some proactive plans into place.

As such, in April, Beilenson, along with several other community leaders, announced the launch of the Healthy Howard Initiative, a multi-phased program aimed at improving the health of county residents and employees.

"One of the luxuries of being in Howard County - being the fourth most affluent county in the U.S. - [is that] it's less acute in terms of the health issues," said Beilenson. "It gave me the opportunity to do primary preventive health and that's what Healthy Howard is."

The Idea

The premise is simple. Healthy Howard encourages institutions throughout the county - schools, restaurants, workplaces and homes - to embrace widely-known, healthy standards as a way to encourage residents and employees to eat better, exercise more and wear seatbelts, to name a few concepts.

"Unfortunately, knowledge does not equal behavioral change," said Beilenson. "The whole idea behind Healthy Howard is to try and get the institutions that are important in people's everyday lives ... to have healthier options available or healthier products available. Just by chance of going to those everyday institutions, you are more likely to undertake healthy actions yourself and have better outcomes."

Healthy Howard is loosely based on Centers for Disease Control guidelines designed to help individuals achieve healthier outcomes, like losing weight or quitting smoking. Currently, 64% of adults in Howard County are overweight or obese, similar to the state average.

"We're very pleased with the Healthy Howard initiative," said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. "It's part of our creation of the model public health community that Dr. Beilenson has been instrumental in putting together. We'll be working with communities and individuals to increase healthy behaviors in the community. We're excited about the focus on wellness and prevention and public health."

Additional Support

In addition to support from the health department and county government, The Horizon Foundation, one of the largest health foundations on the Eastern Coast with assets of $92 million, is currently in discussions to provide "significant financial support" for the program, said foundation president and CEO Richard Krieg.

"Healthy Howard provides a clear roadmap to improve the health of county residents," said Krieg, a former Chicago health commissioner. "Up until [Beilenson's] arrival on the scene, the health department played a relatively passive role in attempting to improve population health. For example, the department developed a fledgling 'health report card' for the county. But, there wasn't much of a program on the ground to elevate community health."

The first phase of Healthy Howard is focused on restaurants. If county establishments meet certain criteria (no trans fats, healthy menu items with available nutritional information, at least one year of excellent food inspections and certifiable smoke-free status) they will be deemed Healthy Howard restaurants.

Beilenson expects several dozen county restaurants to embrace the initiative. In a little less than a month since the program was launched, about 12 establishments had applied for the designation.

"Just by going to these healthy restaurants, you are more likely to eat healthfully," he said. "This is a very consumer-educated county and people are looking for alternatives. There probably will be an economic incentive to participate, as well."

Making the Effort

Aida Bistro and Wine Bar was one of the first restaurants to join the endeavor. The Columbia restaurant has served healthy options, including smaller portion sizes and low carb meals, since it opened five years ago, and has been trans fat-free for more than two years.

"I really believe that a cooperative effort between government and business is always better than regulation," said Joe Barbera, owner of Aida Bistro. "I believe that an initiative to raise the consciousness level of customers on what's healthy and what healthy alternatives are available is important ... and is the right thing to do."

Subsequent phases of Healthy Howard will be rolled out in the coming months. Next up, the recreation phase will offer health and safety tips for the summer, and healthy houses will provide guidelines for public housing, as well as suggestions to keep houses childproof and safer for the elderly population.

Healthy schools will be launched in August, and in September, the health department will roll out workplace guidelines, including wellness and insurance benefits and nutritious vending machine options.

"We're hopefully changing the entire community's behavior," said Beilenson. "We'll be able to follow it going forward. We will be holding ourselves accountable and measuring progress."