Also on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to represent Kaiser Permanente as part of this North America Webinar, a continuation of the global work of Designed to Move, which is being coordinated by Nike’s Access to Sport team.
The part that I briefly covered was about Active Cities, and our believe as health system leaders, that cities designed for activity are healthier and allow us to help our members/patients achieve their life goals. Put another way, a city designed with movement engineered out of it is not one that’s going to be competitive.
I was surrounded by physical activity rock stars including experts from the world famous Aspen Institute (doing work on youth and sports), Let’s Move! Active Schools, and American College of Sports Medicine. We were joined later by champions of the built environment from US Green Building Council (@USGBC).
Since this blog is about what I learn, I have to say I am impressed that physicians and health systems can be part of the solution to make health the default wherever we are. Now that I have had the chance to interact with real estate developers, highway engineers, and architects, teachers and school administrators, I realize that a lot of our health destiny is created for us, whether we know it or not. These professions are coming together, and they’re including us, and we need each other.
I personally care about this because I know the limits of technology, and I live in an amazing city, where all the design filters for activity are in place, and it’s transforming every day to make health integral to life.
PS @Suzanne14393038 talk about an active city. This is it! #designedtomove #NoMagical #a… http://t.co/gHIDP6M9br pic.twitter.com/ZEe69VOgAj
— Ted Eytan, MD (@tedeytan) May 30, 2014