Kalamazoo's job summit and health care Sunday, February 05, 2006 Kalamazoo leaders came together to focus on regional strategies for job growth and retention. Read more. Interestingly, the speakers included Dr. William Dietz, director of nutrition and physical activity for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Dietz is an expert on workplace wellness programs. These programs are becoming more central as a practical way to manage health care costs. As the national response to the challenges of managing health care continue to languish, the real action in health care reform is shifting to the state and regional levels. So, for example, Arkansas governor Huckabee has taken on obesity, Indiana has recently launched INShape, and Kansas governor Sebelius has appointed a new Advisory Committee on children's health. Regions that accelerate the adoption of preventive health care solutions will be able to manage the "overhead" of health care costs more successfully than regions that do not. Workplace wellness programs become a key innovation in this strategy. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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