About Action on Obesity

Mayo Clinic is stepping up to the challenge - how to stop the obesity epidemic. Mayo is beginning on its home turf. With more than 26,000 employees who work in Rochester, Minn., Mayo Clinic, along with its community partners, saw the opportunity to develop, implement and measure ways to stop the epidemic and foster a healthier workforce and community.

A first step was to form the Action on Obesity (AOO) task force, a group including representatives from Mayo Clinic and community organizations. The group first met in January 2004 to develop an action plan to effectively deal with obesity, particularly at the community level (Appendix I).

The task force adopted a bidirectional public health model to address the areas where change and action are needed: individual, work site, community and national.

The Action on Obesity Task Force formed four committees corresponding to the four areas of influence in the bidirectional target model (below).

The group planned and convened an Action on Obesity Summit to collect ideas for an optimal birth to end-of-life model to decrease the prevalence of obesity. Nearly 200 people attended the event on May 21, 2004, representing 50 entities including Mayo Clinic, government (Centers for Disease Control), academia, the food industry and businesses (see Summits).

An overall action plan made up of top action items was compiled and distributed to attendees.

At a town hall meeting on Oct. 5, 2004, an action plan for combating obesity in the Rochester community will be presented to the public.

Within Mayo Clinic -- or anywhere -- there's no quick fix to obesity. While many tactics likely will help, they are not the whole solution. Mayo Clinic is looking at a broader focus on health and wellness with the possible establishment of a Health Promotion Initiative to coordinate health promotion activities within Mayo Clinic. Planning is under way.