Health

PHOTOS COURTESY JILL TRAUT Above — The Traut family — parents Aaron and Jill, and big brother Hayes, 3 — pose for a photo with Meeker Memorial Hospital’s first baby of the new year, Nash Aaron Traut.

Inset — Nash Aaron Traut was born at 12:08 a.m. Jan. 2 at Meeker Memorial Hospital. He shares a birthday with his mother, Jill, and his middle name with his father, Aaron.

A VIBRANT COMMUNITY

Wellness a goal throughout community, residents

Litchfi eld offers many initiatives focusing on healthy living, including the annual One Vegetable, One Community campaign that seeks to improve overall community health by healthier eating. The initiative, sponsored by Meeker County Public Health, features a new vegetable each year — which previous years have included tomatoes, squash and kale — as part of its healthy-eating promotional campaign. Each spring, community members can pick up free plants and attend events with local master gardeners, dietitians and other wellness experts throughout the year.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which affected the ability to hold public events, One Vegetable, One Community organizers opted not to select a featured vegetable. Instead, a “best of” effort on its Facebook page shared featured vegetables from past years while continuing to encourage residents to “grow together, cook together, eat together and learn together.” It’s hoped the One Vegetable, One Community effort will continue in 2021 as pandemic restrictions are loosened.

Litchfi eld has been ranked in recent years as one of the 10 best places to retire in Minnesota by SmartAsset, due in part to its strong health-care, especially to older adults. The SmartAsset survey found the city’s senior-based health care services and recreation and the total seniors in the population to be a strong indicator of good retirement living.

The community is served by a hospital and clinics, as well as a number of chiropractic, dental, eye care, hearing care and mental health care providers.