Check out our interactive blog containing news about the borough-wide SSB free movement happening in the Bronx, as well as other projects within NYC and around the country.
St. Barnabas Hospital has been celebrating over 150 years of patient care. The SBH Health System family loves to serve the people of the Bronx community and make sure every patient gets the best care as possible. By officially launching the Healthy Beverage Zone (HBZ), SBH Health System has become part of the Bronx-wide movement to promote healthy beverage options for all how work, live and visit the Bronx. SBH is one of the borough’s largest HBZ partner and its first hospital core member. As part of this process, SBH has eliminated beverages with added sugar from vending machines, the cafeteria and meetings. With a responsibility as leaders in the community, the SBH Health and Wellness Committee has challenged its employees to take a pledge to refrain from drinking sugary drinks while at SBH especially and particularly in front of patients. Those who choose to become “HBZ Campions” are asked to switch to healthier beverages such as water, seltzer, unsweetened teas, and low-fat milk; encourage fellow employee and visitors to also make health beverage choices; and promote HBZ at SBH. In addition, as a continual promotion of HBZ, SBH has done informational tabling displays throughout the hospital to educate and…
Bronx Community Board 6 represents the areas regarding Bathgate, Belmont, East Trenton, and West Farms. It is also home to Arthur Ave, the Bronx Zoo, Botanical Garden, Fordham University, and St. Barnabas Hospital. The community Boards responsibilities include dealing with land use and zone issues, assessing the needs of their own neighborhoods by making recommendations in the City’s budget process, and addressing other community concerns. In addressing other community concerns they have realized the big issue within the link between obesity rates in the Bronx and sugary beverages. They strive in making health awareness a priority just as much as other priorities like fire safety. Community Board 6 believes “health is wealth” and it is just as simple as facilitating more water towers and stocking the fridge with water to make it more available so people will want to make the healthier option instead of going out and buying a sugary drink. At each community board meeting they offer healthy beverages as well to promote the Healthy Beverage Zone Pledge to other companies and organizations they work with. They realize the importance to lead by example to get others aware and involved by letting people know they can do the…
The Bronx Action Center is one of the main lead partner of the Healthy Beverage Zone. The Action Center helps promotes and pledges to live a sugary beverage free lifestyle. The action center is currently being revitalized to use a holistic approach to primary care, have activated spaces for community organizing and planning, and connect residents to neighborhood-based social services- all under one roof. With having over fifty employees the Bronx Action Center did a thirty-day water challenge in attempt to encourage employees to drop sugary drinks in the work place for good. The challenge prompt the majority of the employees to sign the Healthy Beverage Zone pledge. In doing so, they made the activity fun and competitive for everyone in the work place. Poster boards were brought into the office and placed on every floor with each employee’s name who participated. Right off the bat they took the challenge as a competition amongst their coworkers in trying to win. The HBZ activity brought everyone in the workplace together by allowing them to comment with sticky notes on each poster board encouraging and motivating each other to strive to finish the thirty days! Once the winners were announced the leadership…
By: Alexandra Batista The Belmont Community Day Care Center has been servicing the Belmont community for over forty years. Located in Community District Board #6, it has become one of the most racially and ethnically diverse districts in the Bronx. The day care center strives to create and facilitate excellence in the life and experience of the young children and families they service. They have done an excellent job of establishing a cultural and safe educational environment for all the children by partnering with The Healthy Beverage Zone. Since partnering with HBZ, the staff has cut down on drinks, implementing more infused water by all main doors and water fountain stations throughout the day. The importance is trying to make it as fun for the young children and families as much as possible so they will want to continue to promote a healthy lifestyle outside of the day care center. They continue to strive to support healthy beverages by not having vending machines in the building to increase the temptation of sugary drinks. The day care center also believes that it is just as important to promote the health of the children and families they are serving just as much…
NYC bans sugary drinks from kids’ meals By Gregg McQueen | Down the drain. The New York City Council has voted to ban restaurants from including sugary drinks in children’s meal menus. The bill, known as Intro 1064, passed on March 28th and will require eateries to serve water, low-fat or nonfat milk, or 100 percent fruit juices with children’s meals, eliminating soda and other sugar-saturated drinks. “This is going to have an impact on 24,000 restaurants across New York City that have children’s meals. It’s going to be the new normal,” said City Councilmember Ben Kallos, who sponsored the latest version of the bill. Restaurants can still serve sodas or other drinks to children if requested by customers, but businesses caught including the sweetened beverages on menus are subject to a civil penalty up to $200. The law will go into effect in one year, and will be enforced by the Health Department. Dr. Vanessa Salcedo, Director of Community Health and a practicing pediatrician at Union Community Health Center (UCHC) in the Bronx, said the legislation signaled a major victory in the fight against childhood obesity and health issues, noting that sugary beverages are the number one additive of sugar…
Bronx Health REACH and its partners Union Community Health Center (UCHC) and the New York Community (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bronx Neighborhood Health Action Center (BxNHAC) have been co-leading a borough-wide initiative, known as the Healthy Beverage Zone (HBZ), that aims to make water and other healthy beverages more accessible. Please click here for more information: Bronx Healthy Beverage Zone: A Borough-Wide Movement The Institute for Family Health
Did you know over 75 million adults in America have high blood pressure? In New York alone, one in every ten adults have reported having high blood pressure. Two major contributors of high blood pressure, often referred to as hypertension, include obesity and consuming a diet high in sodium. There are a range of practices to help reduce blood pressure readings like regular exercise and reducing stress, however there is one even simpler, but just as effective: drinking more water. Drinking water has a wide range of health benefits including decreasing high blood pressure. May is National High Blood Pressure Education month, and the Bronx HBZ is sharing tips on how you can lower your risk of high blood pressure related illnesses, like stroke and heart disease, all by staying hydrated. Incorporating the right amount of water in your diet is important on its own. For those looking to manage a medical condition, drinking water can be an even more crucial benefit to your body. When the body does not receive the appropriate amount of water, it can cause blood vessels to constrict and in turn, cause a massive strain on the heart. With your heart working in overdrive, this…
At the start of spring, the eager faces of our borough’s future walked down their school halls ready to not only be part of the Healthy Beverage Zone’s anniversary video, but also take on a new task: pave the way for a healthier community. For the students at M.S. 327, the Comprehensive Model School Project, it was the first time they had tried fruit-infused water. They each curiously took a sip, followed by immediate smiles. “I was not expecting that. Can I take some home to let my mom try?” asked a student. Ambassadors of the Bronx Healthy Beverage Zone (HBZ) gifted each student a fruit-infused bottle and in return, the students unknowingly rewarded the Ambassadors with the best anniversary present. In April, the Bronx HBZ proudly celebrated its one year anniversary. It was one year ago that the HBZ launched its initiative to help Bronx organizations create an environment to inspire co-workers, and their communities, to choose healthier beverage options by ditching sugary drinks. Today, the HBZ has secured almost 50 worksites across the borough who took the pledge to not only rethink their drink, but actively select drinks that encourage a healthier tomorrow. “Setting a positive example for our…
By John Kopp May 31, 2017 Philly Voice Revenue generated by the Philadelphia Beverage Tax fell in April, a decline that has opponents of the tax renewing their criticism. The city brought in about $6.5 million in soda tax revenue, according to preliminary figures first reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal. That marked a 7 percent dropoff from March, when tax revenue peaked at $7 million. The city projects the tax will bring in $46 million by June 30, the end of the fiscal year. To hit that figure, the soda tax would have to generate more than $20 million total in May and June. “That just shows the flaws in this failed tax,” said Anthony Campisi, spokesman for Ax the Bev Tax Coalition. “This tax is costing jobs. It’s raising prices. It’s hurting local business. It’s not providing the stable source of revenue the mayor claims he needs.” Mayor Jim Kenney proposed the tax as a funding source for two of his administration’s biggest priorities – universal pre-K and park improvements. Since taking effect in January, it has raised an estimated $25.6 million. Tax revenue rose from $5.9 million in January to $6.2 million in February before hitting…
By Daniel Beekman May 31, 2017 The Seattle Times Under a new version of the city’s proposal, diet drinks would not be taxed, in addition to other changes. A final vote by the full council likely will be scheduled for Monday. Seattle City Council members moved a proposed soda tax Wednesday toward a final vote — and amended it to exclude diet drinks. Mayor Ed Murray sent legislation to the council in April calling for a tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on distributors of sweetened beverages, including sugary and diet soft drinks, among others. Under the new version of the proposed tax, diet drinks would not be taxed, small manufacturers would be exempted and medium-sized manufacturers would pay a reduced rate. The amended plan would raise about $8 million less annually than Murray’s plan, according to city estimates. The council’s finance committee made the changes Wednesday before voting 5-2 to move the ordinance forward. “For me, the main object of this legislation is to reduce the consumption of this unhealthy product,” Councilmember Mike O’Brien said. Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Kshama Sawant cast the dissenting votes, while Councilmembers Tim Burgess and M. Lorena González were behind the major changes.…