Got Live Well?

When Anita Walia was an intern at Palomar Health’s Community Outreach she attended a presentation on the County’s efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of all local residents.

Walia, who was a graduate student at San Diego State University working on a master’s degree in public health, found the campaign exciting and decided to learn more about it.

 Her interest in Live Well San Diego was so great, she became a student worker with the Health and Human Service Agency’s (HHSA) North-Inland Region. She wanted to see what she could do to promote Live Well San Diego.

For the past 18 months, she has been the project coordinator for HHSA’s Communities of Excellence (CX3) in Escondido, which aims to improve access to healthy foods, increase physical activity and prevent obesity. CX3 is managed by HHSA’s Public Health Services.

“It’s a great obesity-prevention project that involves residents of low-income neighborhoods in assessing access to healthy food in their community,” said Walia, 25. “Residents use the information gathered to advocate for healthy change.”

Walia works with students from local schools who are members of the Escondido Education COMPACT, one of HHSA’s many partners in that community. COMPACT has been offering teens and young adults work readiness and employment skills training for more than 25 years.

So what is it like working with young people?

Walia said students bring a different perspective on obesity and how it affects them and their families.

“Young people are an underutilized resource,” said Walia. “Working with students is great. The youth voice is actually very powerful because they really know what is going on in their communities.”

Last year, Walia led a group of COMPACT students who spent several months assessing Escondido’s Mission Park neighborhood to find out whether healthy foods were easy to get and whether it was safe to walk in the area.

The group canvassed four fast-food restaurants and determined the majority of items being advertised on their windows were foods high in fat. The students also visited four grocery and convenience stores and found few healthy options. They walked and analyzed 16 blocks in the area and found lots of graffiti, cracked sidewalks, and not enough clearly marked pedestrian crossings at some busy intersections, which made crossing it difficult and unsafe.

The students also took part in a message development and media training before taking their findings to the Escondido City Council, which was impressed with the students’ presentation.

This summer, Walia is recruiting more students to continue and strengthen the work being done in Escondido. 

“They are so inspiring and motivating. They want better and they know that their community deserves better,” said Walia, who lives and breathes Live Well San Diego. “I’ve also learned how important it is to build partnerships in the community. Without them we would not have had the success we’ve had.”

Walia not only eats healthy foods but she also lifts weights during the week and hikes on weekends.

“I try to practice what I preach,” said Walia, who has completed her master’s degree and hopes her student position leads to permanent employment as a community health promotion specialist. “I’ve spent the last year and a half developing partnerships and really getting to know the community. I think CX3 is a really great project and aligns with Live Well San Diego.”