SwampFox

Healthy Communities Enjoy Greater Economic Growth

By Sam Varner, CSCS
Director of Living Wellness, The Cliffs Communities
Executive Director, Zest Quest
(864) 660-1182

The Western Carolinas have an opportunity to attract and retain knowledge workers, particularly young professionals, by promoting, supporting, and funding a cooperative toward greater community wellness.

With well over 125,000 acres of freshwater lakes and well over 20 state and national parks and forests offering well over 1,000,000 protected acres for the public’s enjoyment, the geographic triangle from Clemson to Spartanburg, with Asheville at its apex, is much more than a hotbed of industrial clusters. It is equally a paradise for active families and outdoor enthusiasts and an increasingly important necessity for attracting top talent to and retaining it within the area. Quality of life is the number one concern of professionals. Quality of life is tied to clean air, the outdoors, and preserved parks and green spaces. Our area is abundantly rich in this highly-sought quality of life indicator, and we should continue to use it to our advantage to grow the health of our community, economically as well as physically.

It’s a simple, proven fact that a healthier community is a more productive community, and productivity is the foundation of economic growth. Care State Rankings, published in 2005, tout Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts as the nation’s healthiest states; Louisiana and Mississippi, among its least healthiest. The health of New Englanders has correlated to higher Gross State Product (GSP), a primary indicator of economic health. In Louisiana and Mississippi, the opposite is true. Why? The presence (or, in the case of Louisiana and Mississippi, the absence) of a wellness-centric community culture.

A wellness-centric community culture is one in which a public-private partnership exists among leaders of all sectors driving the economy – knowledge workers, governmental and local business leaders, healthcare and educational systems, and, of course, concerned and active citizens. As I recently read in the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in communities that put a primary emphasis on health and wellness, obesity rates, the prevalence of Adult Onset Diabetes, and local healthcare costs drop while GSP, the college matriculation rate, and average income per capita rise.

The Cliffs Communities has, over the years, taken up wellness and run with it. The Cliffs’ Founder and CEO Jim Anthony has used his long-time personal wellness philosophy as a springboard for promoting health within both The Cliffs’ organization and our four residential communities by

• dedicating over 27,000 square feet to wellness facilities,
• establishing over 250 acres of parks on property,
• creating over 25 miles of trails on property,
• hiring an accredited wellness team,
• inspiring the implementation of rigorous, incentive-based employee wellness programs and annual health fairs, and
• promoting the Western Carolinas’ richness in activity and adventure through an annual multi-million dollar marketing commitment.

From the top down, The Cliffs has shown that it is serious about health and believes seriously that a healthy, happy workforce is directly connected to its health as a company.

Jim and The Cliffs are also working to improve the legacy of wellness in our community-at-large, through a health mentoring organization for kids called Zest Quest. Zest Quest is a 501(c)(3) formed two years ago to improve children’s health through incentive-based mentoring in the public school system. Zest Quest’s integrated wellness program has been adopted and is thriving in Greenville, Spartanburg and Pickens County schools in SC, and Buncombe County and City of Asheville schools in NC. Through Zest Quest, children learn about healthy habits and are encouraged to adopt more active lifestyles through a supportive environment of caring, engaged mentors. At the end of the school year, the students with the most progress are rewarded with a weeklong camp on Sassafras Mountain. I am fortunate to serve alongside Jim on the Board of Zest Quest.

The data we have collected thus far through Zest Quest show that the schools that experience the most success are the ones in which the principals and teachers take part. Wellness is seen as important if important people give it legitimacy, thereby building a momentum that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Studies are planned to capture Zest Quest’s impact in hopes of publishing reliable data to support the success of the model, so that other schools across the state can adopt it and benefit. But the tenets of Zest Quest – lifelong wellness through healthy choices – are applicable and adoptable far beyond the schoolyard to places you wouldn’t expect – like the Pickens County Sheriff’s Department, where we introduced the model and have seen encouraging results. Where there is a cooperative embracing a worthy goal, success is inevitable.

The Western Carolinas are fortunate to have so many active individuals and businesses who have already put in impressive amounts of time and thought into creating a community where families from all over the nation seek to live. Better health on a large scale will pave the way for greater quality of life. And a “great” quality of life will, in turn, magnetize today’s highly sought talent pool to our area and help ensure the welfare of future generations. They’ll come here for the quality of life first, with a thriving job market to pursue their professional passion.

For those who are interested, I’ve included links to supportive research for preventative economics below.
http://www.researchwrks.com/community_health_alliance.htm
http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/health/prevention/
http://www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/prevent.html
http://www.healthylife.com/researchart/wellprog.htm
http://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/0408/0408.wellpeople.html