NASHVILLE, Tenn. (February 22, 2024) — NashvilleHealth along with its group of community partners, the Nashville Wellness Collaborative, today announced their new program, “Heart of Nashville”, which will create Nashville’s first ever Wellness Opportunity Zone. This transformative program is dedicated to fostering positive health outcomes by reducing alarming rates of high blood pressure in the North Nashville community, while applying the learnings to inform how all of Nashville can be healthier.
The initiative is seed-funded by a million-dollar grant provided by the Metro Government of Nashville. This funding allows the Nashville Wellness Collaborative to launch and scale the program while providing administrators the necessary time to assess and evaluate sustainable strategies and approaches to reduce hypertension in North Nashville.
“The reality that high blood pressure disproportionately affects North Nashville hits close to home because these individuals are not just statistics– they’re my neighbors and friends,” said Mayor Freddie O’Connell. “As mayor, I am committed to ensuring equitable access to health resources for all, regardless of their zip code. NashvilleHealth and the Nashville Wellness Collaborative’s efforts to create our city’s first Wellness Opportunity Zone stand out as prime examples of commitment and collaboration that can cultivate a healthier and livelier future for our city.”
In a countywide survey conducted by Nashville Wellness Collaborative member, The Belmont Data Collaborative, it was found that 31% of Nashville adults have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Shockingly, almost half of all people in North Nashville live with hypertension. The Nashville Wellness Collaborative will offer essential supplementary resources such as heart healthy meals and transportation services to address barriers and nonmedical determinants to empower participants to effectively manage their health and thrive.
“Data tell us that areas such as North Nashville that have increased rates of chronic illness are also areas that contain entrenched structural inequities such as a lack of access to a grocery store,” Mark Yancy, Chief Executive Officer of NashvilleHealth, said. “To address this, we must create cohorts that include clinical treatment entities partnered with non-clinical entities that can provide some relief to systemic barriers to wellness. Doing so has the potential to improve wellness in North Nashville while creating a by Nashville, for Nashville framework for addressing similar challenges all over the city. While each organization has an established track record, this new level of coordination can lead to greater gains than any one organization could accomplish on its own.”
The Nashville Wellness Collaborative consists of these Nashville-based organizations: NashvilleHealth, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, The Nashville Food Project, Belmont Data Collaborative, Meharry Medical College, Sycamore Institute, Urban League of Middle Tennessee, Center for Nonprofit Management, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee, Juice Analytics, STARS, American Heart Association, Senior Ride Nashville, AgeWell Middle Tennessee, Rapah Institute, Metro Parks Nashville, The Housing Fund, Metro Public Health Department and the Second Harvest Food Bank.
As the anchor organization of this demonstration, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center acts as a hub for all collaborative efforts and handles all patient contact, while engaging these organizations to facilitate access to resources that patients and their families may need.
By sharing best practices and insights gained from the program, “Heart of Nashville” includes the aspirational goal of creating an ethos of wellness and collaborative impact to complement our city’s ethos of resident and economic growth.
“The brilliance of the Nashville Wellness Collaborative lies in its deliberate selection of organizations already active and engaged within the community,” Katina Beard, MSPH, Chief Executive Officer of Matthew Walker said. “Through our intentional approach to create the first Wellness Opportunity Zone in North Nashville, we aspire to make health not just a goal but ultimately a way of life for the entire city.”
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