Creating a Culture of WellBeing

[Applause]

here

in rural oregon and in communities

across north america we’re reversing

the downward trend and learning how to

truly live well

we’re coming together around a culture

of well-being

and it’s not due to some new expensive

drug

or medical procedure there’s the beauty

and the simplicity

of what i want to share with you little

practical

simple changes that lead to positive

transformation

i get to work alongside my community

organizations

and the most dedicated volunteers

directing community-wide well-being

initiatives

that are impacting people

i’ll never forget when frank popped into

our office downtown

he was wearing his fast food uniform and

yet

he told me about how his stage 4 kidney

disease had reversed

now his pants went from a size 48 to 44.

he spoke to me like we were old friends

but i didn’t know frank

never met him but he sought us out

because he wanted to let us know that

our work

was making an impact i’d met jane

a few times and was there when she told

others about how her type 2 diabetes

disappeared and her cholesterol cut in

half

a colleague told me about danita and how

she could now move around the house and

yard

without taking a break every 10 minutes

desmond emailed me recently about how

his ptsd

and depression feel improved maria

i know well and was thrilled when she

told me that her fibromyalgia spasm had

gone away

and haven’t come back and these are just

a few stories of personal well-being

transformation

like so many others that i’ve seen with

my own eyes

or just heard about right in my own town

for the various teams i’ve had the

privilege of working with to create

and further a culture of well-being

these are the stories that feed

and energize us as challenging as it is

rewarding

this work pushes me beyond my real

and perceived barriers and pulls from

every experience and learning i’ve had

thus far

we’re endeavoring to transform

communities

to challenge the health destiny of areas

that are on a trajectory

to be riddled with sickness in

communities like mine

everyone knows someone who’s suffering

from heart disease

diabetes obesity our family members

our neighbors the person next to us at

church or at the grocery store checkout

stand

where our children follow in the same

footsteps

and where stents and dialysis are the

norm

chronic illnesses are often readily

apparent in small rural communities

and we are no exception the 2018

community health assessment showed that

the residents of douglas county oregon

the rural county where i live have

higher rates of chronic diseases

than oregon overall nearly 60 percent

of our adults have one or more chronic

condition

and a third are considered not

overweight but obese

according to the sharecare well-being

index since 2016

86 percent of u.s states have declined

in well-being

and robert wood johnson’s county health

rankings show that among rural counties

like mine

more are worsening than improving

and this is one of the reasons that

well-being fascinates me with its

complexities and multi-layers

when talking about well-being many

people immediately think of diet

and exercise which are critical

and having basic needs met like shelter

clean water

food and safety are necessary

to provide the space of mind to think

about those kinds of things

and beyond earlier in life

i was on track with the professional

goals i had at the time

really wanting to make a difference be

the change

using avenues like government creating

after school programs and community

gardens

social work seeing kids that would come

to

class and sit with their head down the

whole time

people that would come to our resume

building workshops with alcohol on their

breath

seeing bill after bill crafted in

response to

a deluge of constituent feedback

and industry lobbyists overwhelmed

i felt i didn’t have enough to give to

the strangers i encountered to clients

to friends and family to my boss

each interaction tested me to bring

something

or not but my aspirations to have an

impact

required more to explore this

i took an opportunity that seemed like

quite the swerve

from my track to honor this nagging

desire

to have more to give i put myself in a

completely different environment

conducive to holistic well-being with

opportunities for introspection

natural movement healthy food

alongside people of diverse backgrounds

and ages

this was important for my journey to

develop some personal well-being

practices

that keep me going today to respect

service in community as a way of life

and to see what it was like to have the

healthy choice

as the easy choice because in contrast

what we see is that when it’s all on the

individual

willpower cannot withstand a world of

temptation

where healthy choices are inconvenient

bland

expensive or even dangerous

moments of weakness loneliness

depression

can make even the most well-intentioned

resilient person

follow the path of least resistance

either by

driving instead of walking or biking or

by reaching for whatever version of salt

sugar or fat strikes their fancy or

by not reaching at all not using their

gifts

or fulfilling their life’s purpose

community-wide transformation requires a

cultural shift

inclusive to all with each person making

an impact in ways that are

accessible to them and then creating a

ripple effect

working together to make good nutrition

and exercise easy

but also on healthy relationships

building community in neighborhoods

exploring

purposeful lives reversing patterns of

exploitation

and trauma and enriching the narrative

through authentic inclusivity

community building seems to demand

genuine trusting relationships with

people of all backgrounds

which can be really hard sometimes

members of our high-functioning

resilient teams

have experienced institutional racism

and violence

come from families where english is a

second language or have come out of

extreme

trauma and poverty

we’re giving our hearts to this work

investing in

every kind of person making efforts to

see through the package

and into their worth appreciating their

struggle

and resilience even when in another

situation

we might be the object of their

prejudice

what at times seems like radical

inclusivity

is enabling us to connect more broadly

for the greater objective of trying to

thrive

together and at times these authentic

maybe unlikely connections can be

incredibly fulfilling

so my little swerve and deviation

from my track brought about a positive

holistic change in me

and ended up being seven years

to learn how to create a culture of

well-being and be a person that can

connect with and lead people of all

backgrounds

i had to start with myself even though i

initially resisted

i later saw how a shift in environment

can be important i found myself

volunteering for a small

budding grassroots organization

developed

to support people that are interested in

improving their well-being

through lifestyle and fundamental things

like

eating more plants connecting with

community

and growing gardens just as i

experienced earlier in my personal life

i saw how others could also initially

resist

and then break through and embrace

positive change

how one person could take their struggle

coupled with resilience

and contribute to a culture of

well-being

started by a single mom wanting to build

community for her son

with small plant-based potlucks and now

a vibrant credible pillar in our

community

i jumped in headfirst in the

organization’s early years

participating as much as i could and

became exposed to

and fell in love with community health

transformation

at this time i was desperate to keep

living on purpose

and willing to sacrifice comfort for the

nimble

effective and palpable impact i felt

through volunteering

later i learned about the research that

shows that volunteers

live longer like the longitudinal study

of aging and others that show that

volunteers

are less susceptible to depression

experience lower mortality rates

and have better mental and physical

health overall

the more i learned the more excited i

became about the impact we could each

have

i learned about the spectrum of

community transformation interventions

and the different approaches to behavior

change from the use of social norms

to changing policy and the physical

environment

to fiscal disincentives and even

eliminating

and creating choice i heard about the

work of the buettners

and national geographic in recognizing

the places around the world

where people are living the longest

healthiest lives

rich with connection and reward

blue zones the world’s longevity hot

spots where

indigenous wisdom and practices have

resulted in people living to age 100

about 10 times more than the average

person living in the u.s

and these outcomes don’t happen by

accident there are thousands of

human-made interventions that can

further disparity in inequity or nudge

individuals toward greater well-being

with over 50 communities across north

america

that are implementing the research and

well-being best practices found in the

world’s blue zones

we see that the longevity of the longest

living populations in the world

is something that any community can work

toward

well-being practices that are

universally applicable

i mean these things can be recreated by

regular old community members and

regular old places around

any town locally

we’re meeting people where they’re at

with a healthy shopping tour

at their local grocery store workshops

on finding purpose

at the local library walking groups and

cooking classes hosted at the church

or senior center in their neighborhood

giving communities an opportunity to

volunteer together

and experience the reward of having an

impact

on projects that are important to them

fixing bikes and providing bike and

pedestrian education

for children and parents

bringing produce into convenience stores

in food deserts or more accurately

food apartheids where residents have to

ride the bus for

hours to get to fresh food otherwise

remember frank this is how he was

impacted

he gained easy and direct access to

fresh food in his neighborhood

we started a produce prescription

program so that providers can refer

patients to farmers markets

instead of pharmacies

the results of the 2018 share care

well-being index showed that the

community members engaged in our local

well-being initiative

were less overweight and obese and

experience high cholesterol

less than their unengaged counterparts

when engaged

they exercised more and ate more produce

these are simple but meaningful changes

in a rural community

after just a few years of intervention

earlier i mentioned that shifts in the

environment can be important

taking the onus off the individual and

making healthy choices easier

like making it safe and inviting to move

about

and spend time outdoors

we worked with our largest employers to

introduce strategies like making sure

cafeterias

have affordable healthy food always

available

we’re taking micro breaks and drinking

water is encouraged

we’re connecting with co-workers purpose

and being known are important parts of

the workplace culture

and where children and ex-smokers can

walk down the street

without being exposed to smoke

real change across sectors

and this kind of work can start with one

inspired individual

then two and ripple out from there until

a

tipping point is reached every encounter

offers the possibility of another person

touched

and then casting ripples out in their

own micro communities

i run into people around town and even

outside of my community constantly

that have been touched by this work some

of whom i’ve never met before

like frank who shares his successes with

his fast food co-workers

the political party he volunteers with

and neighbors

if i can reach several hundred people a

year and they

subsequently influence their networks

we’re creating something

big giving people permission to make

now the time to transform their

well-being

to dust off the bike to dig into the

garden

to quit smoking for good

to eat a little healthier to start

living

on purpose to put down the cell phone

and pick up the instrument or to walk

instead of drive and to find where they

can lead

by serving

so what would this look like in your

community take a moment

to imagine if more and more people

started investing

in their well-being taking healthy

behaviors

at every level from the fringe to the

norm

and creating a strong culture of

well-being

i invite you to join me in trying to do

this

every moment you can for yourself

for greater longevity and a vibrant

purposeful life

but also that could mean someone else

gets inspired

i’ve shared with you about my efforts to

bring about change and i hope that these

examples

can just make this accessible to each of

you

because you can impact your community

and you don’t have to have a seven year

swerve or be

this passionate to do this your

community needs you to do this

your loved ones need you to do this

you can do it now none of us can do it

all

or alone but there’s power in simple

practices

model gratitude daily invite a neighbor

to go for a walk smile at

greet and listen to people that are

different from you

making efforts to see their struggle and

inherent worth

but if that’s too hard then grow food

and give some away

find your purpose in this life and make

that the reason you get up in the

morning

find love for yourself and give that to

others

and stay open to learning and growing

you can’t get through a single day

without having an impact on the world

around you

what you do makes the difference and you

have to decide

what kind of difference you want to make

we give one another permission to do

these things

by leading by example and may never know

who we’re impacting

until we meet our frank i want you to

meet your frank

you’re never going to see the real frank

in this slideshow

but frank can be anyone maybe you’ve

been frank

or maybe you’re yet to meet them that

person

may be a stranger whose whole life has

been impacted

by some action big or small

that you were a part of because only

together

can we create a vibrant and thriving

[Applause]

community