Kudos to Kristin DeArruda- Wharton and the Cook County Active Living team. The November 14 Active Living Summit held at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts highlighted the ideas and goals in making Cook County the most active and healthy county in Minnesota.
From my perspective here in Lake County, Cook County is a shining example of what can be done to create a community that celebrates healthy living. Active living.
The Cook County team’s simple mission statement doesn’t waste words. “More people, more active, more often.”
Creating a culture of wellness in this day and age is imperative. Our nation has seen a troubling rise of chronic diseases such as diabetes and we’ve paid little heed to the culture of inactivity that threatens our health. We have fallen prey to a food industry that is willing to fatten us up like cattle with empty calories. The old maxim “You are what you eat” is true as the nation struggles with ballooning health care costs.
It seems unthinkable that we would need to focus on such natural notions as eating well and playing actively but the nation has taken the easy way out for over the past half century. We have handed our trust over to processed foods and computer screens and seem oblivious to the fact that we have gained weight and have become increasingly sedentary. We are fooling ourselves. We are in the midst of a health care crisis.
Cook County is doing something about it.
You are moving forward and taking the next steps in creating policies that support active living. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Active living is about fostering simple steps in our daily lives, steps like encouraging our kids to walk or bike to school, or walking or biking to work ourselves, about gardening, about moving and not sitting still.
Cook County is leading the way in making active living a way of life.
Forrest Johnson
Statewide Health Improvement
Program (SHIP) coordinator
Lake County
Two Harbors
Leave a Reply