Today’s Managing Health Care Costs Number is 1,000,000
If you asked me “what US city is spending billions of dollars to create bike lanes, green spaces, and has identified the need to do even more to prevent obesity in its poorer neighborhoods?” I would have pegged that city as being on a coast or the Great Lakes. I would have been wrong. It’s Oklahoma City.
Mick Cornett, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, had gained a spare tire around has waist as he performed constituent service, often over fattening meals, and the city was recognized for its poor eating habits and as the worst walking city in the country. It had the highest density of fast food outlets and not a single bike lane. Cornett lost over 40 pounds, but realized that the city’s infrastructure needed to change dramatically to create an environment where others could lose weight.
Almost 50,000 Oklahoma City residents signed up for “This City is Going on a Diet,” and they collectively report having lost over a million pounds. The mayor worked with fast food establishments and snack companies to take calories out. He also passed a tax hike to fund infrastructure improvements, including cutting down on the number of car lanes, adding bike lanes, and even adding parking lanes to protect pedestrians and bikes from freeways within the city itself. They even turned a ditch into a rowing facility, and OKC is planning to create its own central park. People who are near green areas walk more.
The price tag is significant. OKC has spent $3 billion on infrastructure improvement, and news reports state that the private sector has spend many times that. The city is booming, its unemployment rate is low, and it’s becoming more livable. Hopefully, this level of energy won’t flag with the recent collapse in oil prices.
I’d be cautious about the claims of weight loss, and tackling obesity over the population will take over a generation. But there are OKC residents who don’t have diabetes now that otherwise would, and this effort has prevented heart attacks and strokes. Mortality rates in OKC are down – but there are many potential reasons for that.
This is a huge success story – and critical elements included
· Leadership of a charismatic mayor with a compelling personal story
· Government infrastructure investment
· Collaboration with local businesses – to gain their investment and avoid their opposition
· Brilliant use of social networks. (This started in 2004 – the pre-twitter era – so much of the social network effort was old fashioned person to person conversations).
Spending on “built infrastructure” to support better public health isn’t as flashy as a new MRI machine with a stronger magnet, or a new proton beam accelerator. But this kind of effort can pay big dividends over time.
H/t to Jason Lavender for sharing this story with me.
