The best way to avoid illness is to proactively prevent it with a healthy lifestyle and early intervention. People stay fittest when they eat well, exercise and avoid smoking, heavy drinking, unprotected sex and other risky behaviors.  They also need rest, relaxation and fulfillment to feel their best. Prenatal care protects mothers and babies, while support for new parents prevents avoidable infant deaths. The elderly and disabled need regular care, social contact and early treatment to head off physical and mental decline or nursing home stays. Clear policies that support healthy lifestyles, such as adequate time for exercise and leisure, or flexibility for family caregivers can help promote good health. These approaches benefit community life, improve health and reduce long-term costs, but it’s usually only people with education, time and money who are able to pursue them. Half of King County residents are now overweight or obese, including more than 15 percent of all children. People without college degrees, those who make less than $50,000 a year and people of color are less likely to get adequate exercise and more likely to be restricted by poor health.
- Encourage programs that promote fitness as a group activity, to be done with family and friends.
- Expand health and fitness programs aimed at young people, especially those that teach kids healthy habits in the first five years of life.
- Develop wellness approaches that address social connections, mental health and stress reduction, along with fitness and nutrition.
- Improve prenatal care and early parenting support for teenage, African American and Native American mothers, who suffer disproportionately high rates of infant mortality.
- Use community leaders or networks to teach HIV/AIDS prevention and other risk-reducing behavior.
- Engage older adults and the disabled in exercise, classes and social get-togethers.
- The YMCA of Greater Seattle provides daily fitness classes, outdoor activities, summer camps, and other programs to more than 125,000 local residents a year, serving people of all ages, races, faiths and incomes.
- The Barbershop Project, sponsored by Brother to Brother, trains barbers serving the African American community to teach others how to protect themselves and their loved ones from HIV. The barbers also link customers to free HIV training, testing and counseling.
- Delta Society improves human health through service and therapy animals. Through its Pet Partners Program, they train and screen volunteers and their pets to take part in visiting animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools and other facilities.
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