By Kathleen Davis, MD
For The Beachcomber

After three years as the founder and director of Shape Up Vashon, I have turned the reins over to my successor, Laura Wishik.

Since 2011, SUV has helped bring to Vashon a unifying sense of becoming a healthy community. Shape Up Vashon was created by a group of about 20 volunteers and supported by island businesses and organizations that were interested in a fun and stimulating way to support each islander who wanted to improve his or her health.

Many efforts to promote health have centered on weight loss, but while weight management is important, we at SUV tried to take a more fun and holistic approach to enable Vashon residents to improve their health regardless of their weight, physical ability, diet or activity levels.

In addition, we helped island residents include other elements involved in health, such as mental health and the positive impact of socialization. We also helped address two major problems in our community: depression and addiction. However, the success of a holistic health care program is difficult to measure.

A healthy lifestyle impacts so much more than weight. For example, Important to those of us who worry when we forget a name or lose our keys is that a half hour of good exercise five times a week is the only known intervention that people can do to decrease the risk or onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Poor sleep not only increases driving accidents, but can prevent weight loss and good control of blood sugar and blood pressure.

In terms of the number of people engaged and excitement generated to improve health, our SUV Challenges were an outstanding hit. Each spring and fall, we hosted competitions among teams comprised of islanders from a variety of businesses, organizations and churches. These challenges pitted competing teams for three to six weeks of commitment to improving healthy eating habits, physical activity and undertaking some special programs, such as CPR training, checking fire alarms and some mental health initiatives. One of the challenges drew 20 teams and more than 120 people.

We are also proud that Shape Up Vashon became a mentoring program for interns in Seattle University’s Public Health Nursing program.

Other major successes of SUV this year have included Laura Wishik’s Food for Life seminars. Laura sets a great personal example of success as she focuses on sugar addiction, behavioral change, exercise, good sleep and everything else that fold into having a healthy weight and lifestyle. I am excited that she will be taking the helm of SUV. Starting by presenting the movie “Fed Up” this week, she will be sharing her experience and expertise with both adults and children on the island, many of whom have been fighting compulsions for foods and the battle of the bulge for years with disheartening results.

Having adequate health insurance is also a vital part of safeguarding one’s health. A singular success for SUV has been the role that it played with other local organizations to assist Hilary Emmer in helping more than 500 people on Vashon register for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Additional successes included partnering with Vashon Water Sports for our popular summer celebrations at the Jensen Point. Our healthy cooking classes offered by several chefs from restaurants on Vashon also filled quickly.

Some SUV efforts, however, did not work as well as hoped.  Despite multiple requests from islanders for lectures on health-related topics, attendance was sometimes so poor that we discontinued the program.

In the end, why does Vashon need a program like SUV? I have spent more than 30 years as a primary care physician, providing one-on-one care and loving my profession. But after offering my best advice, my patients returned to their life full of convenient sodas and processed foods overloaded with salt, sugar and fat. Think about the youngster wolfing Fritos and playing video games. Think about his or her future health. Processed foods can be served in much less time than it takes to cook a healthy meal. And exercise? Who can find the time? (This has been a special problem for me.)

Remember the old child-rearing adage “It takes a village.” It takes a village that values good health to educate, motivate and help its members prioritize healthy habits. Healthy people make a healthy community.

— Dr. Kathleen Davis is a retired primary care physician and the former head of Shape Up Vashon.