Create West Virginia

A medical writer from Associated Press recently shared, with some astonishment, his observations on one of America's unhealthiest cities in one of America's unhealthiest states - Huntington, WV. Even more than the thinly veiled amazement at how one community could be in such bad shape, he clearly was taken aback by the lack of awareness and concern over the town's predicament among its citizens.

Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese — an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

The Huntington area's health problems, cited in a U.S. health report, are a terrible distinction for the city, but the locals barely talk about it. Many don't even know how poorly the city ranks.

The writer does make an effort to get to the bottom of the situation, citing history, economics and cultural factors.Although the persistent condemning lense of national media often motivate people to dig in their heals in a defensive posture, it is true that if we care about our friends, family and fellow citizens in West Virginia, we should care about our obesity epidemic.

Although "health" isn't necessarily a pillar of our effort to build creative communities, there is a clear correlation between some of our key pillars, such as education and "quality of place" factors such as outdoor amenities, and healthy lifestyles. In fact, in many of our Create WV workshops around the state we show the following graphic from the New York Times in 2007: 

The easy way to read this is that the more you achieve academically, the more likely you are to follow healthy practices (get a mammogram, flu shot, etc.) and avoid unhealthy practices or characteritics (have diabetes, get an ulcer, etc.).

It can sometimes come across as elitist to champion more of our citizens to seek more education, but the connection between a healthy, fulfilling life and academic achievement is so clear that it seems a major disservice not to get the word out.

What creative ideas do you have for improving the health of West Virginians? I guess I'll do my part by going to the gym today.