While all communities felt the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 60 U.S. communities implementing a large-scale population health initiative demonstrated resilience across many measures.
The city of Corry, Pennsylvania, offers an illustrative example. Highmark, AHN Saint Vincent, LECOM Health, Corry Memorial Hospital, and UPMC partnered with Erie County government and launched a community well-being partnership with Blue Zones Project by Sharecare (BZP) in 2019. Before anyone knew a once-in-a-century pandemic was about to change life in the U.S., the conditions for a living experiment in resilience were created.
Corry, a town of approximately 6,300 residents in the northwestern corner of the state was established as a railroad hub in the late 1800s. Throughout its growth into the 20th century and beyond, Corry was recognized as an important shipping point.
More recently, Corry has grown from a railroad boomtown to a nice, stable place to raise a family and run a business. Additionally, Corry has a significant rural aspect, with residents closely connected to their agricultural roots that are rich in natural assets, such as walking trails.
Although other factors could contribute to success in Corry, the two major opposing influences—BZP and COVID—overshadowed everything else.
In January 2019, Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index took an initial snapshot of community health in Corry. Data from the 888 respondents to Sharecare’s RealAge Test were compared with responses from more than 45 million other Americans who have taken the assessment to establish the state of residents’ individual health factors. This de-identified information, combined with over 600 publicly available elements of social determinants of health, created the most comprehensive, almost contemporaneous, gold standard to objectively measure progress.
A community kick-off started in June of that year after six months of foundation groundwork and comprehensive planning. A three-year transformation was then anticipated to match the over 50 previous BZP successes. COVID-19 tragically arrived in March 2020, like a plague.
Quickly, the local BZP team, following all the appropriate CDC and public health guidelines, pivoted from an in-person community engagement plan to a virtual one. Despite this unexpected development, a 16.1 percent overall improvement in community well-being – across community, purpose, physical, social, and financial sub-domains – followed the team’s successes in engaging the community, listed below:
People:
- 1,011 community members engaged in a BZP activity
- 850+ people have taken the Personal Pledge for well-being
- 80+ moai participants
- 130+people participated in a purpose workshop
- 100+ people have volunteered with BZP
- 75 organizations engaged
Places:
- 60 percent of largest employers engaged
- County of Erie designated a Blue Zones Project Approved™ worksite; recognized by the National Association of Counties for its achievements in worksite health and well-being
- Sanders Market, Corry’s primary grocery store, is Blue Zones Project Approved™
- All 3 Corry area school district schools are Blue Zones Project Approved™, with over 1,850 students impacted
Policy:
- Received PA WalkWorks grant to create Corry Connects, an Active Transportation Plan
- Adopt A Lot, land use vacancy strategy, created for City of Corry
- Created Trails and Green Spaces Plan for the City of Corry
- Partnered on a regional Rails to Trails Master Plan
- Increased Corry Walk Score from “somewhat walkable” in 2019 to “very walkable” in 2021
- 12-point increase in Corry's Bike Score
Well-being addresses eleven parameters which, in the aggregate, improved 16.1 percent.
- Stress
- Tobacco
- Exercise
- Nutrition
- BMI (Obesity)
- Blood Pressure
- Satisfaction with Standard of Living
- Life Evaluation
- Perception of Health
- Worry
- Purpose
Similarly, risk prevalence during the past two years decreased by 18.8 percent. Considering the total fees invested compared to the total value obtained, the return on investment was 1.6. Namely, for every dollar invested, Corry received $1.60 in return. Thus, not only are all in Corry pleased and proud to be involved in helping their community, but also the economic benefit is measurable. During the same period, $2.7 million in grants were obtained to address blight, walkability, overall transportation, Internet access, trail maintenance, and development.
The cost of doing nothing over a 10-year period is enormous. Sadly, most communities, large and small, although altruistic are risk-averse or distracted by the tyranny of the present. Thus, by sticking with the same ineffective measures which have not held up well even prior to COVID-19, the frustration of inertia festers.
Appropriately and compassionately, resource-challenged communities have been recognized as being most damaged by any additional strain. COVID-19 stress has been the worst in modern history. As noted above, proven solutions exist and have been implemented in 60 communities. Before the next pandemic or other tragedy hits, building resilience to thrive like Corry rather than just barely survive makes perfect sense.
Co-authored by:
Shannon Wohlford, Engagement Lead - Blue Zones Project Corry
