Gov. Huckabee, the author of Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork, is renowned for prioritizing healthy living initiatives in his state. In fact, the New York Times has referred to him as “The Governor Who Put His State on a Diet,” and the man with “The Skinny on Politics.” Spurred by his own health challenges, Gov. Huckabee himself is a much healthier person than he was two years ago.
In 2003 he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a result of being overweight. After being warned by his doctor that he’d be dead in 10 years if he didn’t change his habits, Huckabee adopted a healthier diet that entailed eating six small daily meals consisting of fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. He also ramped up the exercise, riding an incumbent bicycle every day and running four times a week. Since then, he has lost 110 pounds – one-third of his former self – and has effectively controlled his diabetes.
Gov. Huckabee has served two and a half terms as Arkansas governor, and is considering a presidential bid in 2008. A national leader in the areas of education reform and health care reform, he is chairman of the National Governors Association (NGA) and of the Education Commission of the States. When he became governor in July 1996 after his predecessor resigned, he was one of the youngest governors in the country, and is now the second longest-serving governor.
During his tenure, he has been instrumental in launching the Arkansas’ ARKids First program, a nationally recognized initiative that provides health insurance to tens of thousands of children who would otherwise not be covered. In addition, Huckabee created the Healthy Arkansas initiative to encourage Arkansans to stop smoking, exercise more and eat healthier. He has expanded the effort to the Healthy America program that is his NGA initiative.
Gov. Huckabee’s appearance at the Collaborative awards dinner is in conjunction with the organization’s own statewide healthy living initiative, Ohio On the Move. As the Ohio affiliate of the nationwide America on the Move program, Ohio On the Move encourages individuals to take small steps – such as eating 100 fewer calories and adding 2,000 steps per day – to maintain a healthy weight.
A review of state and local trends justifies the need for such an initiative. Obesity prevalence in Ohio increased from 14.9 percent in 1991 to 23 percent in 2002. An additional 35.8 percent of Ohioans reported no leisure time physical activity, and nearly 80 percent consumed fewer than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. In the Greater Cincinnati region, obesity among adults has increased by more than 50 percent (100 percent among children and teenagers), within the past 15 years. In fact, in 2002 almost 61 percent of adults in the Greater Cincinnati area were overweight, representing a 5 percent increase from just two years prior, in 2000.
Tickets for the event are $175 and $250; tables of ten are still available. For more information, call 513-531-0267, or visit www.the-collaborative.org.
The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, established in 1992, is the only known organization of its kind that brings together all health care stakeholders to identify and address community health needs together. As a unique coalition representing the hospital, physician, employer, insurer, government, education, and consumer sectors, stakeholders work to fulfill the Collaborative mission – to stimulate continuous, significant, measurable improvement in the health of the people of Greater Cincinnati through collaborative leadership. Simply put, when considering health care solutions, we ask, “What can we do together, that we cannot do alone, to improve the health of the people who live here?”
The Collaborative’s work includes the first community-wide health status survey, an report of health indicators that encompasses 14 counties in the Tristate; the first Web-based recruitment tool to help ensure an adequate supply of physicians in our area; promotion of healthy eating and active living as the state of Ohio affiliate for America On the Move; and a neighborhood-based program focused on prevention of low birth weight babies. The Collaborative works to sustain projects, such as its Flu Immunization and Prevention of Depression projects, over time by transitioning them back into the community’s existing infrastructure.
The Collaborative is a proud recipient of the American Hospital Association Living the Vision Award. For additional information about the Collaborative, visit the organization’s Web site at www.the-collaborative.org.