HomeMy Public PortalAboutTOL PR 2015-10-09 Silver HEAL Leader
Town of Leesburg
News Release
For Immediate Release Media Contact:
Betsy Fields, Research & Communications Manager
bfields@leesburgva.gov 703-771-2734
Leesburg Achieves Silver Leader Status in the “Healthy Eating
Active Living” Wellness Campaign for 2015
Leesburg, VA (October 9, 2015) – Earlier this week at the
annual Virginia Municipal League conference in Richmond,
the Town of Leesburg was recognized as a Silver HEAL
Leader for its policy adoption, implementation and
completion of activities that promote healthy lifestyles for
employees and residents. Twenty-two Virginia cities and
towns currently participate in the Healthy Eating Active
Living Cities & Towns Campaign. Leesburg is one of three to
achieve Silver or higher status.
An initiative of the Institute for Public Health Innovation,
the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign for the Mid-Atlantic
champions local government policies that improve access
to healthy foods and physical activity in small and large
communities in Maryland and Virginia.
In June 2014, the Town Council passed a resolution in
support of the HEAL Campaign. Since then, the Town has
increased healthy food choices in vending machines at Town facilities, expanded the employee
wellness program, installed a bike route linking the W&OD Trail with the trail network on the
north side of Town and established nutritional standards for food vendors at Town-sponsored
events. Additional HEAL activities and initiatives will be implemented in 2016.
Participation in the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign is free, thanks to support from the Kaiser
Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States. The HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign for the
Mid-Atlantic is part of a growing national campaign that is currently taking place in California,
Colorado, and Oregon. The Institute for Public Health Innovation embarked on this initiative in
2012 in strategic partnership with the Maryland & Virginia Municipal Leagues.
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