Initiative part of McAllen’s It’s Time Texas Community Challenge ongoing participation
Texas Border Business
Mayor’s Wellness Council, the health and wellbeing council formed by the City of McAllen as part of its ongoing efforts to change the perception and image of McAllen as an obese and unhealthy community, has officially launched its website, www.livewellmcallen.com, as a one-stop-shop resource for health and wellness information. The council was formed as part of the City of McAllen’s participation in the It’s Time Texas Community Challenge and this website will help in that ongoing initiative by promoting and providing information regarding health and well-being.
One active feature of the website is a calendar listing of health-related activities. Additionally, anyone hosting a wellness activity of any kind, physical activity, health-related information, food, spiritual, financial or another type of event may submit their event for consideration to be posted on the website, regardless if the event is taking place in McAllen or not.
“The idea is that there are so many wellness journeys that we all can take, and we want the community to recognize all aspects of healthy living, which is why this council’s motto is ‘Live well McAllen.’ We want everyone’s goal to be happy and healthy by living well,” said McAllen Mayor Jim Darling. “We also recognize that there are so many great health, active-living, and well-being events and activities taking place throughout the Rio Grande Valley. We don’t want to limit people’s opportunities to start on their wellness journey because the event takes place outside of our city limits.”
While the site has officially launched today, it is still a work in progress and will need the entire community to build the calendar by submitting their events.
“This will ensure that the livewellmcallen.com website is the premier go-to calendar for health and well-being activities,” added Mayor Darling.
Another active feature of the website is that it will serve as a guide for anyone wishing to simply start on their wellness journey. Resources to help individuals assess their strengths and wellness goals and to find the right activity is available on the page. Future goals of the website will be to help gauge the true health of the community with benchmark data and other metrics.
“For the City of McAllen, we feel that the label of being an obese community is not entirely accurate,” said Jolee Perez, director of Employee Wellness for the City of McAllen.
According to Perez, the data used in most obesity studies is gathered from medical claims processed through insurance companies. For the Rio Grande Valley, this typically represents those suffering from chronic illnesses related to obesity. Claims for healthier individuals are typically only a small portion of overall claims because many healthy individuals are rarely seen in doctors’ offices. The studies do not gauge the healthy activities of the entire community or represent the larger population that wouldn’t be represented solely by using claims’ information.
“For the past two years, the City of McAllen has won the It’s Time Texas Community Challenge and in fact, last year, had the most points of any city in Texas. This competition measures the healthy activities of an individual. That tells me that McAllen does indeed live well,” concluded Perez.
The It’s Time Texas Community Challenge begins on Monday, January 6, 2020, and runs through Sunday, March 1, 2020, at 5 PM. Communities earn points when registering as individuals of their city and can also earn points for their school district and place of employment. Once registered, participants earn points by snapping Healthy Selfies of them working out – various activities can be posted – and eating healthy, such as eating a salad, an apple or drinking water. The City of McAllen will be competing once again in the Large City category but hopes to also win the overall points competition, as well.
To sign up, visit www.itcommunitychallenge.com.
