Inviting CEOs to be part of health forum
POINT OF VIEW | EVENT IS THURSDAY IN OKLAHOMA CITY
Let’s just start with a harsh reality: Our businesses are used to being solicited for financial support for a variety of philanthropic causes. Youth, education, sports, arts, humanities ... the list is infinite, as are the worthy causes that they are intended to support. What’s different about health is that it impacts each and every other cause that I could list. What’s different about businesses championing health is that people will listen.
The Oklahoma City-County Health Department and its partnership, the Wellness Now Coalition, of which I am a board member and participant, respectively, ought to be talking about health. In fact, it is their job and passion to find innovative ways to improve the health of our community. Through a number of innovative approaches, leveraging resources, engaging in nontraditional partnerships and applying business principles to the public sector, these committed health and wellness entrepreneurs have worked to bring health improvement to the front of the conversation across multiple sectors.
As a former business CEO, and as the current CEO of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation, I am committed to engaging our community of CEOs, specifically, in shaping a discussion not focused on financial funding, but one around community investment — human, capital and intellectual. Our city is certainly no stranger to innovation. The proof is all around us — Bricktown, Myriad Gardens, the Oklahoma City Thunder, senior
YOUR VIEWS health and wellness centers, and the Boathouse District are just a few examples of what can happens when a city rallies around itself.
These improvements are of limited gain if we cannot fill our city with vibrant professionals, recruited and retained because they’re excited to be a part of a community that embraces a culture of health. A culture that our businesses large and small are capable of creating, and in fact, should be leading the charge.
On Thursday, the conversation will launch beyond our community and into the national spotlight. Supporters such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Chamber Foundation will arrive in Oklahoma City to engage in a health forum with CEOs, not only in the city but across the state. They’re coming here because the efforts within our community were brought to their attention. Our hope is that we will fill the room with CEOs and business owners interested in developing a plan for active business engagement in changing the health statistics in Oklahoma City.
Our health touches everything — our ability to obtain an education, our ability to gain work-ready skills, our ability to maintain employment, and ultimately, our ability to develop a thriving economy. I hope you will join the discussion, and become a part of the solution.