SUSTAINING a healthy change is the main thing Director of NSW Office of Preventive Health Chris Rissel hopes Tottenham and Tullamore residents do after he presented the towns with a plaque as the inaugural winners of the NSW Healthy Towns Challenge.
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Mr Rissel flew into Dubbo on Tuesday morning, before driving to Tullamore and Tottenham for the official presentations.
The Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) reported that each town's collective progress towards a healthy weight, based on the people who participated in NSW Health's Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service, was used to select the overall winner by the Centre for Population Health.
While impressed and warm in his praise of the towns, Mr Rissel hopes their recent changes to their lifestyles is maintained to ensure generational change.
"Projects like this are critical to getting people, many of whom have never done elective exercise, to change their habits," he said.
"We want people to be thinking long term and change their habits over a long period of time, not short term.
"We will be generating new programs and things will continue in these towns with walking tracks, signs and public exercise equipment."
Tullamore and Tottenham received $5000 in prizemoney for their win, which Mr Rissel was pleased to learn wold be invested into resources for the residents of the towns to use in the battle against weight gain and inactivity.
"They are investing in their futures by using the money to buy equipment to exercise with," he said.
"I heard personal stories today (Tuesday) about people who had never exercised who have lost 18 kilograms, and a person who could only stand for about 30 seconds at a time, who can now stand comfortably in front of people and walk around."
The project is running again next year, and for more information head to www.preventivehealth.net.au.
