Our Mission

BeeWell Utah efforts to prevent and combat obesity are built on a four-fold vision first articulated by Stan Parrish, one of the group of citizens who founded BeeWell Utah. The components central to Stan’s vision are

1. A statewide public-private partnership
2. A statewide plan as a point of departure
3. Identification and filling of gaps in needed resources
4. Elimination of duplication of effort

The BeeWell Utah public-private partnership at present includes more than 35 institutional partners. Current efforts to build the partnership focus on recruiting more private-sector entities and more institutions located outside of Salt Lake County.

The statewide plan that is presently the point of departure for BeeWell Utah is Tipping the Scales Toward A Healthier Population: The Utah Blueprint to Promote Healthy Weight for Children, Youth, and Adults. (Link to PDF ) It is anticipated that this document will be superseded by an improved statewide plan, issued by the Utah Department of Health, in Spring 2010. BeeWell Utah efforts in this area focus on implementation of the Blueprint; BeeWell partner organizations select a portion of the Blueprint and then work toward implementation of that portion.

There are two primary gaps in the resources needed to prevent and combat obesity in Utah. Some resource gaps are informational: for example, what works? As part of addressing this gap, BeeWell Utah is collaborating with the University of Utah’s Department of Health Promotion and Education on the EnergySolutions Project. The EnergySolutions Project is a comprehensive intervention and research initiative focused on preventing and combating overweight and obesity, particularly in children and adolescents, within a single community, beginning in Magna, Utah.

Another resource gap is financial and, to that end, BeeWell Utah is working to raise funds to be invested in obesity prevention and obesity-related research.

BeeWell Utah is working to eliminate duplication of effort in combating obesity, in part by compiling an inventory of anti-obesity programs and initiatives already underway in Utah. This activity also will allow more efficient use of existing and available resources by making their existence better known to those individuals and groups interesting in making use of them.