Last updated: March 2, 2022
Article
Anchorage "Health on Trails" Projects Open Doors to Better Living
By Kendra Barat
Live.Work. Play
Anchorage, Alaska, is a “city of two extremes,” according to Molly Lanphier, community outreach director for the Anchorage Park Foundation. Many elite athletes and Olympians call the city home. Anchorage is known for its embrace of the rugged outdoors and provides desirable conditions and amenities for extreme winter sports training. However, it is also home to various impoverished communities who disproportionately experience chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity and mental health conditions.
In 2011, the Anchorage Economic Development Council launched a city-wide initiative called “L make Anchorage the best American city in which to live, work and play by 2025. From the program stemmed a trails committee and a health on trails project that sought to better utilize Anchorage’s more than 250 miles of trails and 244 parks.
Lanphier saw an opportunity. “What if we use the trail system to make Anchorage healthier?”
And thus, an idea was born.
Laying the Groundwork
In 2016, the Anchorage Park Foundation applied for community assistance through the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program. Together, the two agencies developed a strategic plan to create a sustainable and tangible connection between trails and health, especially for vulnerable populations in Anchorage. The strategic plan targeted outreach to providers of different services such as healthcare providers, employers who are champions for worksite wellness and human resource professionals.
“Rather than work on any direct public engagement, or public education about the health benefits of parks and trails, we really wanted to work with those service providers,” said Nicolette Dent, a community assistance fellow with the National Park Service.
Dent brought together some core stakeholders to discuss how the Anchorage Park Foundation could become integral in shaping community health and in promoting trails and parks as a health resource.
A National Movement
From these initial meetings and research, the National Park Service and the Anchorage Park Foundation created the Anchorage Health on Trails project. The project consists of two main programs: Park Prescriptions Anchorage and Wellness Maps. Park Prescriptions, or “ParkRx,” is a regional effort based on a national movement to encourage healthcare providers to “prescribe” their patients time outdoors to improve their physical and mental wellbeing
Wellness Maps are tailored trail maps for organizations to use to improve employee health through worksite wellness programs. Dent and Lanphier both realized that Park Prescriptions and Wellness Maps work best when aligned together.
Getting the Community Involved
To launch pilot Wellness Maps programs, the Anchorage Park Foundation approached three local organizations – the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Catholic Social Services and Providence Alaska Medical Center.
“There are plenty of businesses that are on trails or next to trails, and they might not know where the resources are to get their employees out there,” Dent said.
The customized maps were presented and distributed to each organization to encourage employees to engage in healthy and safe outdoor recreation near their workplace.
The Results
"It [the map] was very helpful to generate something tangible to do with our colleagues,” said Amy Carlough, the wellness program lead for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. “It’s been a nice way to utilize walking and the environment and still generate good conversations and meetings outdoors.”
For Catholic Social Services, the introduction of Wellness Maps has spurred larger employee wellness programming, such as monthly step and mileage challenges.
“We wanted to continue to use a platform where employees were able to log their steps and miles while using the maps to go walking at work as well as outside of work,” said Inmaly Inthaly, the executive assistant of Catholic Social Services. “As an agency, we all walk a lot more now.”
Moving Forward
While there is currently no concrete ParkRx pilot program, Dent and Lanphier have conducted significant outreach to connect with various hospitals and clinics in Anchorage. Fortunately, there is considerable support from physicians in the city.
“I really think that this program can make a difference in people’s health – I think it can jumpstart real behavioral change.” – Molly Lanphier, community outreach director for the Anchorage Park Foundation
“They all get it,” Dent said. “It was not a hard sell to convince any healthcare provider that we should be encouraging people to get outside.”
The National Park Service and the Anchorage Park Foundation plan to expand the two health on trails programs by creating a citywide walking program and fostering stronger partnerships with more organizations, physicians, clinics and medical centers.
“This initiative, this whole idea of connecting health and outdoor recreation has a lot of potential in Anchorage,” Dent said. “[This] is what we’re known for, our park and trail infrastructure.”
Now, it is just a matter of making sure this infrastructure is accessible to everyone in Anchorage. Moving forward, Lanphier stressed the importance of National Park Service involvement in this project.
“Health on Trails would not be what it is today… without the National Park Service keeping me on task and being a proactive partner,” Lanphier said. “I really think that this program can make a difference in people’s health – I think it can jumpstart real behavioral change.”