By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon
AURORA — Colorado is aiming to become the “Silicon Valley for obesity research” with the opening of a new health and wellness center at the Anschutz medical campus on April 1.
Now under construction, the center will combine multiple functions in one building: state-of-the-art research, education, patient care facilities and a high-end fitness center. The concept is to unite cutting-edge science with direct patient intervention.
“We think we will set a new standard. We’ve put things together in a seamless way from discovery of research to taking that research out and impacting people’s lives,” said Dr. James O. Hill, executive director of the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center.
Hill gave a preview of the $26 million building, where the design reinforces the center’s mission: to get Americans moving and promote healthier eating.
With two-thirds of Americans either overweight or obese, researchers aim to reverse an epidemic that is causing rampant health problems from diabetes to heart disease. Instead of hiding the stairs in a back hallway, an open staircase dominates the foyer while a running track seems to float overhead. Nearby, open kitchens are under construction that will feature an in-house celebrity chef, a healthy bistro and demonstration kitchens for visiting chefs who can compete to create tasty, but healthy meals.
The center also will feature a $650,000 green roof where healthy, fresh produce can be grown right at the center and people can gather for events in a garden setting.
The center will be open to the public with obesity intervention and prevention programs aimed at both well-heeled patients and low-income people who struggle with obesity at far higher numbers than the wealthy.
Outreach efforts are underway to bring the newest research directly to children in the neighboring Aurora and Cherry Creek schools starting with 6,700 fifth graders next year. Experts are also working to connect with leaders in the African American and Hispanic communities, where obesity levels and accompanying health challenges, such as high blood pressure, are causing unprecedented rates of illness and early death.
“This can’t just be a place for rich people to come and get a great experience,” Hill said. “Whatever your ability to pay, whatever your background, we want a program that is right for you. We want people coming in (to the center), but we also want to go out and reach them in their communities as well.”
Focus on childhood obesity
Colorado currently is the leanest state in the nation, but obesity rates here doubled between 1995 and 2010. At the same time, Colorado child obesity rates are the second-fastest growing in the country.
“This may be the first time in history where parents are outliving their children because of this obesity epidemic ,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, former president of the American Heart Association, a faculty member at CU’s School of Medicine and an expert in metabolism, endocrinology, diabetes and cardiology.
“So, I think we really have to put on the eyeglasses of prevention, particularly for the younger populations, to think about preventing a health care-related and economic disaster,” Eckel said.
Other health and wellness centers around the country from the Cleveland Clinic to Duke University and the Mayo Clinic have extensive facilities dedicated to weight management and obesity research. But the new University of Colorado center aims to break ground by combining previously disparate fields in one center.
“We’re unveiling a new product here,” Hill said. “We want a continuous pipeline of solutions. The real solutions to obesity haven’t yet been thought of. We need the thinking that helps us come up with better, more creative solutions and they have to be economically viable. We want to transform people’s lives at homes, schools and workplaces.”
Researchers to collaborate
More than 100 researchers will be working to find answers on how to combat the stubborn obesity epidemic and to inspire dramatic change among individuals and in broader communities.
“Our vision is to create a culture of wellness where the default options are the healthy options,” said Hill, who has a PhD in physiological psychology. “Now the easiest choices are the unhealthy choices.”
Hill wants the center to discover and test prevention models that work, then to export those ideas across the globe.
Among the services that the center will offer:
• A staff of some of the world’s leading experts in health and wellness
• State-of-the-art fitness facility, including classes, a running track, aquatics and fitness professionals
• A bistro that will serve healthy food, available for eat-in, take-out or delivery
• Classes and cooking workshops on healthy diets with leading nutritionists and endocrinologists
• Weight management and nutrition services, disease prevention programs and wellness education
• Integrative medicine including massage therapy and acupuncture
• Health and wellness products for purchase such as pedometers
• Research labs and equipment for cutting-edge scientific studies on nutrition and wellness
The center will offer a variety of weight management services from one-on-one consultations to group classes. Members of the public will be able to participate in research studies.
“If you’re in the community and you want to lose weight, there might be a research study in which we pay you to participate,” Hill said.
For people with chronic illnesses like diabetes, the center wants to help them create lifestyles that fight the disease.
“We know we can do more with lifestyle than medication,” Hill said.
Researchers also want to promote ideas that will help people work out more. For instance, many health clubs enroll as many people as possible in hopes that they won’t use the facilities. The wellness center wants work with employers who will reimburse employees for health club fees if they show up a minimum number of days per week. The idea is to reward people financially for behavior that improves their health.
The center aims to pair researchers who normally don’t interact in hopes that unconventional collaboration could spark new solutions. Partnerships with grocery stores and restaurants will then ensure that the center’s work touches people’s lives directly.
“The bar is high,” said James Ellis, director of operations for the center.
But he and others want Colorado to become an international leader in obesity prevention.
“A decade from now, perhaps we can call Colorado the Silicon Valley of health and wellness.”