The Blog

May 23, 2018

Choose Healthier Community Champion Spotlight: Healthy Harlingen

Community members join Mayor Boswell and Healthy Harlingen for a walk during the 2018 Community Challenge

The Choose Healthier website and app are now available in Harlingen, Texas thanks to our new partnership with Healthy Harlingen, an initiative of the Mayor’s Wellness Council.

We know that the Rio Grande Valley region leads the state and nation in chronic preventable disease. Through our partnership, we will support Healthy Harlingen’s efforts to create a healthy city by connecting community members with free or low-cost access to healthy places, activities and events through Choose Healthier.

Healthy Harlingen is the city’s go-to source of education and resources that improve the health and wellness of its community members. Healthy Harlingen is made up of seven groups focused on better nutrition, physical activity and thoughtful community design. These groups include Healthy Schools, Workplace Wellness, Active Community Design, Fitness, Nutrition, Marketing & Promotion and Evaluation.

We hope that working in conjunction with city officials, schools and employers, we can help promote healthy options for all community members.

Cyclist at Harlingen’s annual Jalapeno 100

“We are champions of the Choose Healthier effort because utilizing this platform through IT’S TIME TEXAS provides instant information to our community looking for healthy activities to participate in,” said Sandra Flinn, Aquatic Coordinator of the Harlingen CISD Aquatic Center. “ The Choose Healthier app is easy to navigate and links businesses and patrons in one click. We feel that once the community is aware of this resource for information, not only a place to post but FIND activities, it will be the go-to link for healthy living planning! We don’t want people to say..’I did not know about…’”

Healthy Harlingen has many community partners assisting in these efforts including The Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, Harlingen CISD, Valley Baptist Health System, The Harlingen Wellness Coalition, MHP Salud, Footworks, Fastsigns, UT School of Public Health, Health Science Center at Houston of Brownsville and Methodist Healthcare Ministries to name a few!

Check out the Choose Healthier website or download the app, available in the Apple Store or Google Play, to start finding all the amazing healthy opportunities these partners have in Harlingen! Are you a healthy business or organization looking to reach thousands of Harlingen residents through the app? Register as a partner on the website, and begin uploading your healthy opportunities today.

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We use social media to share resources, tools, and information to help you, your family, and your friends live healthy lives. It’s also a great way to join and connect with a growing network of Texans committed to making living healthy easier in our great state!