As many of you may or may not know, I have been a member of the Healthiest Town in America committee, where we were trying to get people in Oro Valley, Arizona to wear pedometers, track their steps, and commit to not gain one pound. Well...one man had the vision, he brought all the right people to the table, but he lacked organization and public health management skills. As a result, he felt overwhelmed with all the activities going on, and no one on the committee felt any sense of ownership about the project. The visionary decided it was too much to do alone, so he stepped down. This left us in quite a predicament. The visionary who had been the only person doing the work was stepping down and no one else knew what to do or how to do it. We met today to re-evaluate where we are going, and only 5 of the 15 committee members came to the meeting. I hope it's just because everyone forgot, but my gut says most people walked away when the visionary gave up. Having a background in public health certainly came into play today though! I suggested we step back and clearly define our mission statement, and our objectives. We then brainstormed the different committees and projects we would need to pursue our mission. What we established is that we need a President so we can incorporate, and a corporation so we can apply for 501c3 status. Well...being that no one else at the meeting wanted to be the President or assume the responsibility, and because running a non-profit is on my list of things to do, I threw my name out there as a possible leader for the group. Crazy how life comes at you sometimes! So....After leading the small group through an organizational planning process, I am now ready to email possible committee members, bring people back to the table, and move forward with an initiative that's already off the ground. What's even more amazing is that this is really a cutting edge project. We will apply for a few grants, but won't present this as a research project. This is a true community initiative to improve the health of its citizens. It's also a very small segment of Tucson, which makes it a rather small project, and is the first step in building my resume so that I can run a state health department some day. While I love the hands on nutrition education, I also love leadership and management. I guess I'm like my mother in that I just have a leadership instinct and love being able to create effective community groups! If this all works out, I will be so excited! I mean....eventually we could get a paper out of this too (being published in an academic journal is another lifetime goal of mine....could do it with this project too!). So in closing...I have no idea where this will go, or if we will even succeed, but I am willing to give it my best shot! If it works, amazing! If not, well that's okay too because it will be a real world life lesson in public health leadership. Its a win-win for me either way! When an opportunity knocks, you have to be willing to invite it in for dinner!
If anyone is interested in checking out what Healthiest Town in America is all about, you can visit www.healthiesttowninamerica.com
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