As part of its efforts to make the community healthier, the Town of Stettler has been selected as one of 20 “Thrive on Wellness” communities by Alberta Health Services and the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
“We are in the planning stages to create a working committee to start thinking about what wellness could be like in Stettler,” said Stacie Pederson, a health promotions officer in Stettler with Alberta Health Services.
An application is being prepared to seek up to $10,000, with a deadline of Jan. 31.
“We’re in the midst of creating a survey of local stakeholders to gather ideas to enhance wellness in the community,” Pederson said.
“Once we have a vision from that, we can start working towards further wellness.”
Citizens and local organizations would be consulted at a community forum as part of the process, she said.
Overall, the goal of this program is to engage communities to live healthy lives through programs, services and facilities to support physical vitality, Pederson said.
“The programs seek to build on the key objectives to increase community capacity to promote health, the number and types of initiatives in the community, healthy eating and active living, awareness and collaboration with other organizations and groups, and a sense of belonging to the local community.”
The manager for “Thrive on Wellness” echoed that message.
“Your enthusiasm for building a healthier and more-vibrant community came across loud and clear and we hope that Thrive on Wellness can be an integral part of that building process,” Monica Schwann said.
“As a provincial initiative, the program was seeking communities that were relatively evenly distributed geographically and also display cultural and socioeconomic diversity.”