Nevada County is partnering with the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation on an initiative to improve residents’ health.
The Board of Supervisors on Nov. 18 approved a three-year $300,000 contract running through June 30, 2028 to launch the HealthSpan Project.
The goal of the project is to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the area, alleviating the burden on the region’s strained healthcare system. Among desired outcomes are increasing local food consumption, reducing diabetes, reducing obesity rates, and reducing the amount of Medicare dollars spent per capita.
The program will be built on four pillars: food, movement, social connections and youth and families.
“Part of the attractiveness of Nevada County for a project like this is that we do have so many people interested in the outdoors, in their health, in what they eat,” Dr. Scott Neeley, president and chief executive officer of Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, told supervisors at the Nov. 18 meeting. “There’s a very willing contingent already who are listening to this message and who are already really interested in taking accountability for their own health.”
Supervisor Lisa Swarthout, who is a member of the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation board, said she was inspired to assist in the initiative after hearing a presentation by Neeley a year-and-a-half ago.
“It’s another program we can do in this county, as a rural community, that makes us different, makes us special,” she said.
HealthSpan stakeholders are the Community Foundation, Sierra Harvest, Gold Country Senior Center, Bear Yuba Land Trust, Bright Futures for Youth and the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation.