DHHS and NC SPIN last month jointly announced a statewide public health education campaign and challenge called A Healthier NC. The effort was joined by the N.C. State Board of Education/Department of Public Instruction, N.C. Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The “A Healthier NC” campaign and challenge provides free health journaling tools and access to a clearinghouse of North Carolina health resources and educational materials at www.ahealthiernc.com.

A Healthier NC has four key goals:

• To educate people on what healthy means…an understanding of how high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity cause many of us to be unhealthy.
• To encourage each person in our state to understand their personal responsibility in improving their own health…better eating, more activity, losing weight.
• To promote a greater understanding of smarter access to healthcare…why establishing a relationship with a personal care physician is preferable to visiting the emergency department.
• To issue a challenge to our people to become A Healthier NC. We want to engage 1 million people in 15 million hours of activity and to lose 10 million pounds.

 The campaign is sponsored by leading North Carolina health and community organizations, including the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians, N.C. Medical Society, N.C. DHHS Office of Rural Health and Community Care, the AARP Decide.Create.Share campaign, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.

As it cranked up its website, the following already had more than 700 members reporting the loss of nearly 200 pounds and logging nearly 2,900 hours of healthy activities.