The College of Charleston is a partner in a City of Charleston initiative, Lighten Up Charleston, to lose 100,000 pounds in one year and become recognized as the healthiest city in the Southeastern U.S. To achieve these goals, Lighten Up Charleston will focus on five behavioral-change strategies that support healthy eating and active living. The College’s students and faculty in the Department of Health and Human Performance will be integral to the initiative. Dr. Olivia M. Thompson, assistant professor of public health, says, “Obesity prevention and control are essential public health efforts and our new Public Health Program will train the next generation of public health leaders to combat chronic diseases such as obesity.”
Both Thompson and Dr. Mike Flynn, chair of the Department of Health and Human Performance, are members of the Lighten Up Charleston steering committee.
Students are also promoting healthy eating and active living as obesity prevention and control strategies. Health and Human Performance students volunteered at the Lighten Up Charleston Press Event and Inaugural Health Fair, which was on March 26th and attended by hundreds of people. Students at the College are also encouraged to “Lighten Up” and join the movement to reach the City’s goal of 100,000 pounds in one year.
The role for Lighten Up Charleston is to be supportive of the programs already out there while creating a rallying cry and a goal for the community to commit itself to and gain a real sense of pride in the accomplishment. The initiative will encourage greater participation in existing organizations and programs and also to advocate the creation of programs of their own by individuals and organizations.
Charleston joins a number of cities (New York City, Oklahoma City, Greenville, Savannah, Louisville, and Chicago) taking steps to improve the health status of their population by means of public health and promoting infrastructures supportive of a healthy lifestyle.
Lighten Up Charleston has an interactive website, www.lightenupcharleston.org for people to find programs in the community to help them get healthy, track their progress, and learn ways to lose weight. You can log in and report your weight loss, create a group, tell your story or seek help from the many partners in this huge effort to get healthy!
For more information about the College’s Public Health Program or its role in Lighten Up Charleston, contact Dr. Thompson at thompsonom@cofc.edu or 843.953.6752.
