The Ascender team worked very hard throughout spring and summer 2011 to help The Collorado Black Health Collaborative to re-design and  promote the release of their 2011 Resource Directory –a statewide listing of African American healthcare providers.  The booklet is also full of articles, up-to-date fact sheets and healthy recipes.  

The 2011 resource directory will be released  for free online and distributed in print across the state, through CBHC’s vast network of  partners, including  businesses, the Colorado State Department of Public Health and Environment, community-based and faith based organizations.

It’s all about promoting wellness. Wellness–as we understand it– is a lifelong commitment to maintaining good wholistic health practices and seeking preventative care. That takes real commitment. For many, the notion of ‘wellness’ is challenging. But it is a concept that we all have to embrace. Just because you provide a person with health insurance, doesn’t mean that they understand how to use it to actually stay healthy, improve their health and overall quality of life.

That calls for a community mind-shift.

Thelma Craig, the Chair of Collorado Black Helath Collaborative –also a writer and perhaps one of the most creative partners that we have had the pleasure of working with–came up with the idea of a ‘wellness’ as being a train. CBHC  is the conductor and their goal is to shout ‘All aboard!, ‘ loud enough for everyone to get on-board in order for the train to move away from its present station.

We like that idea.  It also means that Ascender is their bullhorn.

So, how do we– in producing and  promoting this invaluable resource — make health and wellness ‘sexy’? How do you shift the public mind-set away from getting sick first before you seek care? And then, how do you make it easy for an entire community to find out where they are to go to get appropriate care?  This year, we developed a passion for health marketing  and asking these types of questions….It’s gonna take more that slick design and witty slogans and it going to take consistent crafting and disseminating messages that raise awareness about the threat of chronic illness, the availability of new treatments and promoting healthy lifestyles.

We are going to make certain that CBHC’s message of wellness is resonated, statewide. So, stay tuned and be ready… The ‘Wellness Train’ is headed your way,too.