Residents are being trained as part of the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT.

By Katie Drake
The Salt Lake Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Residents of the Salt Lake Valley's southwest section know they are getting a hospital, but they are also getting healthier communities.

Intermountain Healthcare will partner with Bluffdale, Herriman and Riverton to sponsor a healthy cities initiative. The cities receive funding from Intermountain for health, fitness and emergency-preparedness training and activities.

"It's just been a real positive thing for the three communities," said Tricia Tingey, who chairs the Riverton committee. "We've been such good sister cities for so long, and this just allows us to work even better together."

The area's young community has made family and school programs a high priority. Tingey said Riverton hopes to have all of its schools participate in the Gold Medal Schools program, where children will walk at least one mile a week in school outside of their regular physical-education class.

Other programs include a caravan to get seventh graders their immunizations and getting weather bugs into schools to measure air quality.

Herriman used its $1,000 from Intermountain to distribute free bike helmets at the Pedal Palooza, a family bike race. The city also recently added a prescription-drug drop box, to keep unused medication off the streets and out of homes where small children could accidentally ingest them.

All three cities are focused on children and families.

"It is important for people to realize that the decisions they make can have impact years later," said Coralee Moser, co-chair of Healthy Herriman.

The hospital itself is reflecting the demands of the area's young population, with plans for a rapid treatment unit similar to the one at Primary Children's Medical Center.

Children with RSV and other serious childhood illnesses will be treated closer to home and with the same level of acute care they would experience at Primary Children's.

Another popular initiative from Primary Children's has been the babysitter-training program. Teens learn first aid and other techniques they might need while babysitting. The program has provided a much-needed cadre of expert sitters for the community's young families.

For Intermountain, such outreach programs are the norm rather than the exception.

"Wherever our hospitals are located, we are involved in the community," said Jess Gomez, Intermountain's spokesman.

Gomez explains the campaign relies heavily on grass-roots support, and is more of a function of the community rather than the hospital. Gomez also touted the program's flexibility and said each community can use the money to fund its specific needs, as opposed to grants that can be used to fund only certain programs.

Communities have recently turned their focus to emergency preparedness. Residents are being trained as part of the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. The cities are passing out bright green CERT backpacks, which can be filled with essentials to create 72-hour kits.

Tingey said the cities are also planning a mock disaster drill for later this year, which will include all three cities.

Riverton Hospital is expected to open next spring, Gomez said. Intermountain plans to continue funding the healthy communities initiatives. Volunteers are still needed for each committees.

Copyright 2008 The Salt Lake Tribune