Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Health of our ACH Colleagues and the Economic Health of the Alliance Community and Eastern Stark County

The Ohio Hospital Association challenged all of its members to promote wellness in our hospitals and encourage our communities to do so as well. Today we initiated our GET FIT campaign. It began with registration for those individuals who want to participate in our version of “The Biggest Loser.” We are organizing teams and have received a lot of help from Mt. Union College regarding the personal trainers. We will let you know how we do in May.

We keep hearing that we are transitioning to a service economy and in many school systems vocational programs are the first programs to be cut. Well, in Alliance we had to make some tough cuts regarding the school budget that impacted these programs. There are many more students graduating from Alliance High School who won’t attend college than those who will. Interestingly enough, in Alliance and many of the surrounding communities, local business owners are saying they need more skilled workers in the trades; they would be most interested in interns, and work-study students.

Well, we are very fortunate in Alliance to have a superintendent of schools with a vision of how best to match the needs of our business communities with those of our students. Dual credits could be offered that might inspire those who thought they could never enter college to do so. If most of the students graduating have hope of a good career path, then we could help local businesses grow; with more and better jobs, we could help stabilize the housing market, which needs all the help it could get right now.

Very shortly, local citizens will get the chance to vote on a school levy Issue 20, which is focused on achieving the vision described above. A healthy local economy and investing in our kids’ collective future is a great way to GET FIT Alliance.

Talk with you soon.
Stan

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