A Focus on Health

an initiative in which we are promoting health in the New Albany community,” Heit says. “That encompasses many activities, such as the New Albany Walking Classic, the Farmers’ Market, a community garden and more events coming down the road. For example, there will be a speaker series in the McCoy Center centered around health.”

With that commitment to health at the forefront, founder Phil Heit – with the help of Craig Mohre, president of the New Albany Community Foundation – decided to create an organization dedicated to health in the New Albany community.

The idea of Healthy New Albany was first conceived when Heit and Mohre attended a meeting about building a recreation center in New Albany, says Mohre.

“After the meeting, I asked Phil what he thought,” Mohre says. “Both of us didn’t have a strong recommendation on whether or not to build a recreational center.”

But Heit had another idea.

“Phil suggested that, much like Les Wexner and Jack Kessler ‘master planned’ New Albany, we should develop a comprehensive ‘master plan’ for how we might promote a culture of health and wellness in the community,” Mohre says. “I agreed, so much so that I offered the foundation to help convene a group to develop a plan, including goals, strategies and initiatives (that were) both programmatic and physical.”

Thus, Healthy New Albany was born. The nonprofit organization has more than 500 volunteers, and because of its strong commitment to hosting more health and wellness events, that number is steadily growing.

Sharon Dunn, one of the many volunteers for the organization, says she knew she had to get involved as soon as she heard about Healthy New Albany.

“I knew I wanted to be involved with the group to make a positive difference in our community from the perspective of health and wellness,” she says. “Health and wellness have always been interests of mine, and now especially more so as my children are growing up. There are many small changes that can make a big impact on the overall wellness and quality of life in a community.”

Heit, who has lived in New Albany for nine years, has committed his life to helping others be healthy.

“I took a professorship at The Ohio State University in health education and am very involved in writing health textbooks for K-12 schools and colleges,” Heit says. “We have had the leading health textbooks in the country; they spread a commitment of health to millions of students in the world.”

Healthy New Albany is another way to teach others about health, he says.

“Healthy New Albany is a concept,

The organization also will focus on measuring the success of these events.

“We’re going to be involved right now in developing a set of metrics to evaluate the impact of some of our interventions on the community,” Heit says. “We’ll look at and ask questions like, 'How successful is our Farmers’ Market? How successful is our Walking Classic?'"

So far, the New Albany Walking Classic has been a great success. It is the largest walking-only race in the United States, and this year alone, more than 500 people volunteered for and coordinated the event.

In the future, Heit hopes that New Albany will be a national model of health.

“We want to be able to present specific data that shows how New Albany is healthier than other communities,” Heit says.

“I believe Healthy New Albany is going to be transformative for our community – for its residents, children and employees,” Mohre says. “In fact, I believe it will serve as a model for other communities. Our vision and mission are defined. We have an army of capable, motivated volunteers. Most of all, we have a strong leader in Phil Heit. And the New Albany Community Foundation is proud to have played a role in convening this.”

For more information about Healthy New Albany and about becoming involved with the organization, visit www.healthynewalbany.org.

New Albany resident Cara Laviola is a contributing writer. Comments and feedback welcome at editor@healthynewalbany.org.