Get on board: Healthy SETX SETMA bus launches to encourage healthy lifestyles

This article was originally published in The Examiner on Feb. 1, 2018.

By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer

One of Beaumont’s city buses got a new look, celebrated at a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the Beaumont Public Health department Tuesday, Jan 23.

A message on the back of the bus tells passersby to download a new free app called Choose Healthier, along with advertisements from the Beaumont Health Foundation and Southeast Texas Medical Associates (SETMA).

This whole project grew out of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s nationwide campaign Let’s Move to fight childhood obesity, Beaumont dentist and Beaumont Healthy Living Foundation president Dr. Alan Coleman said.

SETMA helped fund the bus makeover, Coleman said. His son John Coleman, a graphic designer, created the vector art on the advertisement.

Beaumont was the first city to earn gold medals in all five goals for combating childhood obesity, staff from the The National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families reported in July 2014.

Coleman remembers this because he was serving on Beaumont’s City Council at the
time, he said.

The Beaumont Healthy Living Foundation has a website pointing the community toward resources and research from the American Cancer Society and other organizations hosted at healthysetx.com.

Coleman explained that the website is now partnering with the Austin-based initiative It’s Time, Texas, which just launched the Choose Healthier app.

It’s Time, Texas started about two years ago but is now expanding statewide, Choose Healthier’s program coordinator Kinsey Gray said. Gray attended Tuesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony.

Gray said the concept behind this program is not new — but getting into these local communities has been a recent development.

Beaumont is the fifth city to start using the Choose Healthier app, following the lead of
cities like Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Smithville, Gray said, adding that plans are being made to launch in Houston this year as well.

The Choose Healthier app is intended to connect users with healthy nearby activities like 5K runs and marathons along with businesses in your neighborhood, Coleman said.

“Beaumont was our target expansion area, but we have plans to expand into the surrounding areas as well,” Gray said.

There aren’t as many listings under Beaumont yet compared to other cities, Coleman said, but encouraged users to experiment with the app after downloading.

“Use the 78701 Austin zip code and you’ll see how it could look [here],” he said.

“There’s a group that takes food from the Beaumont Farmers’ Market on the West
End to underprivileged neighborhoods in South Park,” Coleman said.

He said he sees posts in Facebook groups organizing efforts like this frequently, but he said he’s concerned the people who need these resources aren’t getting the message. That’s what the app is for.

Coleman said he hopes the app encourages Southeast Texans “to get up off the couch and take action.”