Lesa Turnquist | Copy Co-Editor
Five years ago, Iowa was in the top five healthiest states in the nation. In 2010, we dropped to #19. The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative was started by Governor Terry Branstad in order to get us to the #1 spot by 2016 by increasing knowledge on living longer, happier, and healthier. The factors that go into evaluating the state rankings include: life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior, work environment, and basic access so the Healthiest State Initiative focuses on those aspects.
The Healthiest State Initiative 1K Walk began in 2011 as a way to raise awareness for this cause. Since the first walk two years ago, Iowa has jumped from #19 to #16 to #9, which is the 2013 ranking.
The walk is an annual statewide event. This year it was held on Wednesday, Oct. 9th. In Storm Lake alone, there were seven Healthiest State Initiative 1K Walks. The Human Performance Student Organization (HiPSO) hosted a walk here on the campus of Buena Vista University (BVU) at J. Leslie Rollins stadium on the outdoor track. There were 47 participants, which more than doubled the number from last year’s walk on campus. Throughout the entire state of Iowa, there were more than 298,000 participants.
Members of HiPSO organized the event and were present at the outdoor track to help people learn about the Healthiest State Initiative and complete their walk.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day for the walk! It was a beautiful 70-degree sunny day. We had a good number of participants, too. We would’ve liked to have more, but with busy schedules to work around, it was hard to pick a time that would work for everyone to come without being out there all day. We encouraged people to walk on their own, though, and provided handouts the day before that introduced people to the focus 5,” senior human performance major Elizabeth Larscheid said.
As a part of the Healthiest State Initiative, the state created the Focus 5 to direct Iowans in the right direction of how to impact our state’s health ranking. Iowans are supposed to focus on one or more of these lifestyle changes. The Focus 5 goes as follows:
• Decrease the number of Iowans who smoke.
• Increase fruit and veggie consumption.
• Increase the number of Iowans who are learning or doing something interesting everyday.
• Increase the number of Iowans who have visited the dentist in the last year.
• Increase the number of Iowans who feel like they are treated like a partner by their bosses.
To learn more about the Healthiest State Intiative, visit www.iowahealthieststate.com.
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Photos by Lesa Turnquist
