Healthy Savannah Celebrates 16 Years, Bestows 2023 Health Innovation Award to Loop it Up Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. - May 4, 2023 - PRLog -- (SAVANNAH, GA) Healthy Savannah observed its 16th anniversary on May 2 at the Charles H. Morris Center in Savannah. The non-profit organization is known locally and nationally for championing a culture of health in Savannah and Chatham County by fostering programs and promoting environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice.

During the breakfast event, held every other year with a collaborative network of local partners, Healthy Savannah announced the winner of the 2023 Health Innovation Award to Loop it Up Savannah and celebrated the milestones that have made and are making Savannah a healthier place to live and work.

Healthy Savannah, along with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia, has administered REACH grant funds since 2018 to foster sustainable health equity among Black residents in Savannah's and Chatham County's low-wealth neighborhoods. Some of the partnerships receiving grant funding and closing the equity gap in areas of nutrition, physical activity, clinical/community connections and COVID/flu awareness and acceptance include the Corner Store program, Farm Truck 912, Fresh Express, The Tide to Town Urban Trail network/Truman Linear Park Trail, HERO Help Me database and Healthy Savannah's Community Health Advocate program. In July 2022, Healthy Savannah received the CDC's 2022 REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals and entities whose work has contributed to advancing health equity.

In celebration of the achievements made by Healthy Savannah's network of more than 200 partnerships, Christina S. Cook, MPH, CHES; presented the 2023 Health Innovation Award to Loop It Up Savannah for its Mindfulness Zone program. The program offers children a toolkit of strategies for addressing emotionally challenging circumstances that arise in school among peers, at home with family members, and among community members.

Nominees for the Health Innovation Award which were also recognized for their contributions to Healthy Savannah included Blessings in a Bookbag / Bike Walk Savannah Bike Drive; Chatham Area Transit's Wellness Center; Mountain Film Festival Youth Program; and Stars School Initiatives Summer Camp for Boys.

Healthy Savannah's Armand Turner presented the inaugural Dennis Hutton Spirit award in support of a community or school garden to Feiler Park Community Garden along with a $1,000 check. Hutton, who passed away in 2022, was well known for contributing his time and talent over the past decade to Healthy Savannah, Savannah Urban Garden Alliance, Mixed Greens and the Forsyth Farmers Market.

Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH, director of the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training was the keynote speaker for the event.

The biennial event also afforded the opportunity for the outgoing chair, Lillian Grant-Baptiste, to hand over the gavel to the incoming chairperson, Blake Caldwell, MD.