The rural town of Wray, Colorado, lacked designated outdoor walking paths that were safe and convenient for area residents. Medical providers, city government and concerned citizens collaborated to form the Wray Health Initiative (WHI), which aims to promote physical activity in the community. Ten years after building a state-of-the-art recreation and rehabilitation facility, the partnership learned that the "build it and they will come" idea was not enough to motivate residents to become more physically active.
The initiative spurred a comprehensive community outreach program emphasizing heart health. The diverse outreach program created new outdoor facilities coupled with health promotion initiatives to make exercise fun. After receiving $470,000 in grants from public and private sources, a program coordinator was hired to actively involve the residents to identify-specific community needs and implement community identified solutions.
The successful intervention paid off. Three times as many people participate in community based walking programs, and usage of both indoor and outdoor facilities has remained steady. Other positive effects came about as well: Two restaurants became smoke-free, local groceries began using the WHI logo to identify health hearty products, employers created policies promoting exercise on work time - just to name a few.
Goal
Building facilities is not enough