Ocean City Hopes To Obtain HEAL Campaign Designation

OCEAN CITY – The Recreation and Parks Department is looking for the Town of Ocean City to join the HEAL Cities and Towns Campaign for the Mid-Atlantic to promote healthy eating and active living.

A couple of weeks ago during a Recreation and Parks Commission meeting, Recreation and Parks Director Susan Petito introduced HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign for the Mid-Atlantic.

“HEAL Cities is an initiative to promote healthy eating and active living. It is something that I would very much like the Town of Ocean City to buy into. Many of our counterparts in the Maryland Municipal League have passed a resolution to identify themselves as a HEAL City,” Petito said.

The HEAL Cities and Towns Campaign for the Mid-Atlantic is part of a growing national campaign. The Institute for Public Health Innovation embarked on this initiative in 2012 with funding from Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States and a strategic partnership with the Maryland Municipal Leagues.

Maryland cities and towns participating in the campaign include Aberdeen, Bel Air, Bladensburg, Bowie, Capitol Heights, College Park, Colmar Manor, Cottage City, Edmonston, Forest Heights, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Hagerstown, Mount Rainier, New Carrollton, Rockville, Salisbury, Somerset, Sykesville and Westminster.

“It will require us to come up with a resolution identifying two or three strategies to make Ocean City more health conscious, whether that is through healthy vending, employee wellness or a number of other things we can adopt within this program,” Petito explained.

Petito used the example of offering healthier food choices in vending machines and town operated venues, such as at the Northside Park and golf course concession stands or Convention Center catering.

“Instead of only putting out a plate of cookies, we can have a bowl of fruit also,” she said.

According to HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign for the Mid-Atlantic, the obesity epidemic is on the rise. It is costly to Marylanders and threatens the long-term health and quality of life for residents. It is also the reason that today’s youth may- for the first time in modern history- live shorter lives than their parents.

HEAL Cities & Towns focuses on local policies that set the framework and shape the environment in which employees, residents and businesses make decisions about nutrition and physical activity. The campaign actively supports government leaders to adopt local policies that promote healthy eating and physical activity environments, in order to help make healthy choices the easiest choices for residents to make.

HEAL Cities & Town Campaign works with municipal leaders to see their roles in shaping healthy communities, assess their municipalities’ physical activity and food environments, identify specific policy goals for their municipality to improve its physical activity and food environments, make those opportunities happen, and get recognition for their work.

The HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign provides free sample policies, strategies for successful policy adoption, presentation at City Council meetings and work sessions, regional trainings, webinars, HEAL staff working on-site with staff, and phone access to HEAL Cities & Towns staff.

Councilman Wayne Hartman made a motion for Petito to prepare a resolution to present to the full Mayor and City Council for approval.