Connecting People with Parks

Geelong’s Active in Parks, a Healthy Parks Healthy People program, was launched on 19 September by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, the Hon Nick Wakeling MP. This pilot program aims to connect our community to parks and open spaces as a means of enhancing their physical and mental health.

This program will work with doctors and community groups to encourage park visits in the Geelong region which is blessed with a multitude of beautiful parks, trails, beaches and rivers.

•  A program of activities and events occurring in the great outdoors will also be available to the whole community and details can be found at www.activeinparks.org.
• Active in Parks has specifically targeted programs for individuals and groups, who may need extra support and help to get out into a park – for example, people with chronic disease, people at risk of developing diabetes, young mothers, migrants and at-risk youth.

There is increasing evidence that contact with nature can improve health in a variety of ways. In a time of increasing urbanisation, disconnect from nature and increases in preventable lifestyle-related diseases, nature can play a role in providing a public health solution.

Geelong’s Active in Parks is a joint pilot program of Parks Victoria, the People and Parks Foundation and G21 Geelong Region Alliance. The program is supported by the Department of Health, the Department of Planning and Community Development and the region’s five municipalities: City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliff, Colac-Otway Shire, Golden-Plains Shire and the Surf Coast Shire. Other supporting partners include: the GPs Association of Geelong, Leisure Networks, YMCA, Barwon Health, Bellarine Community Health, Glastonbury Community Services, Pathways, Headspace, Diversitat, Conservation Volunteers, Geelong Regional Library Corporation, the Heart Foundation and Deakin University.

The program’s major sponsor is Medibank Community Fund which was launched early in 2011 and is focussed on supporting health prevention and promotion initiatives which benefit the whole community.