Healthy Savannah Insight Report

Chatsuree I. | Kathe F. | Sara M.

INSIGHT REPORT

Healthy Savannah a study of the culture of wellness

Study Created By

Contextual Research

Kathe Correa | Chatsuree Isariyasereekul | Sara Martin

DMGT 711 | Professor Sara Jo Johnson | Spring 2015

Kathe is an interior architect pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Service Design.

She is from Venezuela and to loves to eat oranges. Her favorite past time in Savannah is going on long bike rides around the city.

Ploi is an architect from Thailand pursuing a Master of Arts in Design Management. She love babies more than she loves puppies. She also loves eating frozen blueberries.

Sara is a business strategist from west of Philadelphia. She is currently enjoying the dynamic life of a graduate student where she studies Design Management. She loves turtles and rock climbing. ii

Table of Contents Introduction Framework Insights Concepts Conclusion

1 3 7 41 63

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Healthy Savannah is actively trying push out the culture of health throughout Savannah.

Their goal is to utilize policy as a mechanism for changing people’s habits and lifestyles to get them to closer to a well-balanced life.

Healthy Savannah has been in existence since 2007, when it was first launched by Mayor Otis Johnson. Since it’s inception healthy has made numerous strides in making Savannah a Healthier place to live.

Our goal with this project was to understand the existing landscape of health and wellness in Savannah and how that compared to Healthy Savannah’s vision for the future. We hoped to understand in what ways Healthy Savannah was trying to realize their vision and in what ways they were achieving success or hitting road blocks.

The framework on the following page is a depiction of the core underlying mission of Healthy Savannah and the features needed for success. At the core of Healthy Savannah is a desire to strike a balance in people’s lives and in the communities where they live through the medium of health and wellness. During this process it is crucial to address the principal needs of the citizens you’re impacting. The four key features outlined below exemplify the principal needs that should be accounted for when diffusing a culture of health and wellness.

Interactions with others is at the center of our lives and creating a strong sense of community can facilitate the spread of the culture of health and wellness. In order to build a vibrant community it is important to nurture connections, embrace

compromise and generate supportive relationships. Our personal, professional and political relationships shape our lives and the world around us. Taking time to develop these connections and create a supportive network of individuals can take health and wellness into the next phase.

A strong and supportive community can help push forward the motivation people need to make longstanding impactful changes in their lives. Individuals need to be motivated to make changes to their lifestyles. Individuals are often motivated to participate in activities that allow them to exert two opposing basic instincts of individual expression and a desire to belong. They achieve these by seeking out competition, following trends and aligning with their vested interests.

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Policy Money Time Environment

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Balance

Education

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Motivation

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Motivation along with well thought out structure play key roles in eradicating old habits and sustaining new ones. Structure is an essential part of how we go through our daily routines. Without structure we wouldn’t know what side of the road to drive on or that a red light means stop.

Structure can be developed through routine, resources and accessibility. With planning and organization we can create a structured environment built on health to lead people closer to a balanced life.

Community, motivation and structure cannot exist without understanding through education.

Education is needed to push the other features forward. Creating awareness that will lead to comprehension and eventually adaptation is how we can expect to move the culture of health and wellness into a sustainable reality.

Once people have an understanding of why

and how they might achieve balance they can begin champion the shift for themselves and for others.

Healthy Savannah is moving the culture of health and wellness forward at an ever increasing pace throughout the community of Savannah. Although their focus is on health the true root of what they are trying to achieve is a sustainable and well-balanced life for the citizens they serve. In order to jump start and perpetuate that balance they must address the need through nurturing a strong community, fostering motivation, building a well thought out structure and providing much need education. By perfecting these features, striking a balance and diffusing of a culture of health and wellness in Savannah both become inevitabilities.

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The culture of health in Savannah has been moving progressively forward towards a community centered around well-balance and healthy lifestyle choices for it’s citizens.

The success of this movement and the current environment of health in Savannah is due in large part to the efforts of the Healthy Savannah program which kick off their agenda in 2007.

Inspired and championed by Mayor Otis Johnson’s heart attack Healthy Savannah has set it’s cap at remodeling this city and it’s policies in order to allow for the adoption of well balanced lives by it’s citizens.

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1

opportunity There is an opportunity to create actionable and clear messages that will ease the process of adaptation.

Show Me The Way

In the varying health and wellness environments that should promote or support people a lack of infrastructure and effective messages actually impede people from finding healthy options and making healthy choices.

How Might We • Create consistent sign-age with an emotional connection • Generate a dialogue among the knowledge seekers • Make information exchange a growing narrative • Restructure built environments so that the people are the nucleus and the environment disappears behind the mission • Create spaces that are conducive to maintaining existing healthy choices • Create a flow of a health information, resources and tools in space that motivates healthy choices and aligns with the building narrative around wellness

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“And the idea of going across the street to go to a restaurant is either laughable or suicidally dangerous because of the built environment” -Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes People tend to spend more than five minutes trying to choose what product to buy -Observation at Kroger “Oh, this one’s healthier” –Elderly woman in the frozen food section, Observation at Walmart 11

2

opportunity There is an opportunity to create a snowball effect with individuals’ habits that will lead them to a healthy well balanced lifestyle.

Disappearing Act

Once healthy choices have started to become integrated into people’s lives, they no longer feel like a chore but become a natural state of living.

How Might We • keep children on track and their motivation high by acting as role models • make fitness labeling (i.e. avid biker) disappear and allow people to see natural movement as an essential part of life • ease the process of cooking healthy food • tie nutritious food activities and choices to physical activity • promote outdoor activity and make it enjoyable • shed light on the small feasible changes for food and fitness

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“If they make some common sense changes to their diet like just walking and biking more everyday, than they’re gonna see tremendous health payoffs” -Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes “The more you offer the more children will keep eating because they have a variety and the parents well they just love this.

They love that we offer salad” –Pamela Hearst, Multi-site Cafeteria Manager, Jacob G. Smith and Haven Elementary “I’m strictly a utilitarian city cyclist. I do not don the spandex. I have before but it’s not my scene” - Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes 15

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opportunity There is an opportunity to create services that reach the ‘hardest sell’ which will motivate and spread the adoption of wellness for the whole community.

Outreach to Outliers

Individuals that comprise the part of the community that is the most disconnected from health and wellness need the most assistance with shifting their lifestyles and moving into the fold.

How Might We • bring health and wellness into the school curriculum of public schools especially in lower class neighborhoods • create a holistic set of services that address negative factors that impact wellness that are outside of the obvious core of nutrition and fitness (i.e. addiction, teen pregnancy, etc.)

• work with local religious communities to create wellness programs and support systems within their congregations • develop information campaigns that are engaging and not bothersome • educate people on health and wellness through a discussion about disease • create balance in the leadership representation to more closely reflect the population

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“The interesting thing is I think that health in Savannah is very class related” –Sue Martinez, Savannah retiree “We want to be able to reach that segment of the population. That is why we’re trying to work through the churches. We’re trying to make them aware of now they might be able to promote healthy lifestyle choices among their own communities” –Lizann Roberts, Board of Directors of Healthy Savannah “I would like to see our board accurately reflect the population of the state of GA” –Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes 19

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opportunity There is an opportunity to build out strategic engaging educational activities which are needed to assist people with developing their awareness of health and wellness.

The More You Know

Poorly organized promotional campaigns fall short of building awareness comprehension and pushing out adaptation to healthy lifestyles.

How Might We • create a consistent and thorough promotional campaign for health and wellness with Healthy Savannah as the central champion • crete strategic and engaging activities and events that spark interest and build motivation • create a blueprint for individuals to become involved with Healthy Savannah through event attendance and volunteerism • create a reliable complete network of experts • utilize partner relationships to create a wave of information over multiple channels • provideaclearblueprintforfeasibleandsustainable individual health and wellness lifestyle changes.

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“We were sending them home with menus for middle school kids every month. So, they can choose like ‘hey imma try this, imma try that’ and that went very well” –Paula Kreissler, Director of Healthy Living for Healthy Savannah “The main accomplish of version 1.0 was securing the creation of a specialty car tag that says ‘share the road’” –Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes There were a lot of organizations that sponsored the race, but there was no sign of HS. This race was promoted on the Healthy Savannah website.

–Observation at the Susan G. Komen 5K Race 23

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opportunity We have an opportunity to create an environment that allows people to engage and interact with one another to build up community support for the culture of health and wellness.

Power to the People How Might We

Strong relationships and socialization are essential for creating support networks and helping to encourage consistency and sustainability of healthy lifestyle choices.

• create events and activities that are geared towards families • shift the culture of the service industry employees to incorporate health • create a group support system around socialization through health and wellness for people who are not near their families • create relationships between different sub communities especially focused on bridging gaps between classes • create healthy competition in a variety of social groups in to order create motivation 26

“I love to cook in my home now. I love it. I just need an excuse so I like to invite friends to my home so I can cook for them. You get to share that” –Brandon Martin, ultimate frisbee enthusiast and service industry employee Mostly women were running the race. Groups of people were socializing afterwards talking about the race and waiting for other people in their groups to finish –Observation at the Susan G. Komen 5K Race “I mean I hang out with people from every restaurant. You’d be surprised how every knows each other” –Edward Johns, service industry employee 27

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opportunity We have an opportunity to build trust within the community by providing them with strong leadership.

Follow the Leader How Might We

A successful program that starts with a strong energetic network of trans-disciplinary experts who are passionate about health and wellness will drive the ability to secure funds and outline goals for measurable success.

• locate and motivate key leaders in the community to join the effort • convince local business to get involved and provide funding • pass the torch within leadership to prevent burn out • develop a strategy for building out the volunteer base • keep an eye to the future to prevent the movement from fizzling out

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“Memorial has a strong commitment to wellness and one of our strategic goals is to be a leader for wellness in our community” –Debby Neel, Executive Director of System Wellness at Memorial Health “We’re going to create a formal study committee.

They’re going to put all the money towards looking into how do we implement and fast track this feature” –Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes (talking about Coastal Georgia Greenway bike trail) “So the whole foods was actually really receptive to us and they made us their charity for the month. They ended up giving us 5% of their sales for the day, which was no insignificant.”

–Brent Buice 31

7

opportunity We have an opportunity to maximize a person’s positive mental and emotional state by understanding the connection between wellness and a person’s internal self.

Mind Your Emotions

There is strong correlation between health and wellness and a person’s mental and emotional well being.

How Might We • make activities that are connected to people’s sense of culture, tradition and nostalgia more healthy • eradicate people’s unhealthy relationships with food and channel that energy into activity • utilize testimonials of chronic disease and death in an appropriate way to motivate people to make healthier choices • promote traditional activities around food and family to bring people back into balance with nutrition and supportive relationships • maximize people’s appreciation for the confidence they will gain by being healthier 34

“So the event is a personal memorial for Matt Kholer, who was hit and killed while biking. It also works to get media awareness and recognition about the three foot passing law” –Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes “When I walked to the pizza joint it brings back all my memories, I used to eat there everyday” –Edward Johns, service industry employee “For me it’s been ten years since I’ve been in a fast food restaurant. Even if I’m hungry, my brain just associates that as not even being a food option anymore” –Brandon Martin, ultimate frisbee enthusiast and service industry professional 35

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opportunity We have an opportunity to provide free or inexpensive fitness and nutrition options to the citizens heavily swayed by cost.

BangforYour Buck How Might We

People, especially those in lower classes, are concerned about their budget and their decision making is based on getting the most volume for your money rather than quality.

• find ways to maximize existing food assistance programs to incorporate wellness • bring price points of healthy and unhealthy food options closer together • provide free fitness activities or events and incorporate motivation for natural movement • convince low-cost local food retailers or wholesalers to incorporate healthy choices • increase the local grower market to drive down the price of organic produce 38

“Some people view being able to buy bulk, like buying 30 boxes of a product as a success. It doesn’t matter what it is just as long as it’s a lot” –Brandon Martin, ultimate frisbee enthusiast and service industry “Why is organic food are always so expensive” –Middle Aged Woman, Observation at Brighter Days Natural Foods “Whole Foods gives away really good bread, sweet bread. They said ‘take as much as you want’ cus it will go bad. They give it the homeless people on Sunday at Forsyth” –Edward Johns, service industry employee

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After honing in on our insights we pressed forward to pull out the most significant opportunities. These opportunities allowed us to discover potential design concepts that could work to address multiple areas of focus in the culture of health. These concepts could take the Healthy Savannah program to the next level by sparking the flame of awareness among Savannahians.

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GET UP • GET OUT GET HEALTHY

The Healthy Savannah program should work towards creating a clear, concise and thorough campaign and message to drum up brand awareness and spread the message of wellness throughout the community. Active and thorough communication as well a highly organized outreach and event planning agenda could benefit the mission and bring the culture in Savannah to a new level.

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Healthy Savannah Approves

Healthy Savannah Approves will provide a rating system for food products, grocery stores, restaurants and fitness facilities.

Products and locations that meet the Healthy Savannah standard for health will receive a n approval mark differentiating them from their competitors. This will building community buy in for the culture of wellness and will strengthen the partner network that already exists.

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Safewayz

Healthy Savannah can begin to motivate people throughout the community to engage in natural movement such as walking and biking as their primary means of transportation around town without having to wait for large and expensive development projects aimed at improving the built environment. By having citizens participate in creating maps related to the safest or most scenic routes.

This will promote community involvement and a shift in the mindset around the car centric culture.

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Savannah Farmville

Savannah Farmville will push out a mobile produce truck that will provide outreach to underprivileged areas within the community.

The purpose will be to work primarily with children through cooking workshops and mini cooking competitions. The participants will be provided with a piece from a cooking or gardening kit . In order to have a full kit they will need to communicate with others from the event and set up times to continue to garden and cook healthy together. This will spread the culture of health beyond the event and will push out community building.

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Savannah International Wellness Fair

The international food fair will tackle community building, family support, awareness with children, competition and other key drivers and outcomes of a strong wellness program.

Through competitions, sharing and global experiences, the international food fair will make eating healthy a full experience. If headed by Healthy Savannah it will only further strengthen the brand and create focus on the culture.

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Recipe Rehab

Recipe Rehab is a concept that can be adapated to multiple settings. It acts as way to take an existing recipe like a family favorite and transforming it to be more healthy. A registered dietrician will provide suggestions on a bi-weekly basis. Also, this can be taking to something like the international food fair as a provided activity.

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Farm Flip

Farm Flip will build off of a network of volunteers to help rehab someones back or front yard. They will have the option to determine what timeline would work for them. Flipping unused yard space into a garden or a farm can save and even generate money. It can act to education, motivate and create confidence.

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WWJE

What Would Jesus Eat

What Would Jesus Do is a service offering with branded wearables.

It is aimed at drumming up buy in from potential leaders in the religious communities. There are sections of the bible that talk about foods to eat. Understanding what foods were being eaten and how they impacted health might push out fitness into the church community.

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SSHF

Savannah Student Health Forum

The Savannah Student Health Forum will create leaders for the future by connecting high school and college students throughout the community to open a dialogue about the culture of health and wellness and the state of affairs in Savannah.

They will have an opportunity to engage in volunteer efforts aimed at improving wellness.

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Kreissler Gallery of Wellness

The Kreissler Gallery of Wellness will act as a space where local artists can showcase work related to healthy living. Special exhibits will show work from local elementary schools that participate in creating works of art related to being healhty.

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Taking a deep dive into the data collected from secondary and primary research efforts help clarify for us the key drivers and outcomes related to the culture of health moving forward both at a macro level and more locally in Savannah.

Healthy Savannah has worked diligently and with considerable success a program whose aim is to improve the health of the citizens in the community. However, it still has much room for improvement and growth to ensure it reaches it’s maximum potential and remains an active part of the Savannah scene.

The insights we pulled led us into the design concept phase where we could start to see trends across user groups in terms of what need to be addressed and why. The goal going forward would be to take these insights and potential design ideas into the implementation stage.

Connect | Inspire | Grow

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John R. Bennett Brent A. Buice Pamela Hearst Edward Johns Paula Kreissler Brandon Martin Sue Martinez Debby Neel Barbara Patterson Lizann Roberts Pimpun Thongprasit Jessica Thron

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Professor Sara Jo Johnson

Healthy Savannah is actively trying push out the culture of health throughout Savannah.

Their goal is to utilize policy as a mechanism for changing people’s habits and lifestyles to get them to closer to a well-balanced life.

SCAD | DMGT 711 | Professor Sara Jo Johnson | Spring 2015