Cutting the FAT out of Government

New Hanover County — Congratulations to the New Hanover County Lean Team, winners of the 8-week Cutting the Weight from Government challenge against the city of Wilmington’s Masters of Disaster. The final weigh-in was held today with a 30 pound difference.

Lean Team members Gina Bombolino, Jason Spencer, Steve Simms, Michelle Taylor, Sean Jones and team captain, Jason Thompson shaped up and started their roads to wellness over the past eight weeks. The final tally is 149 pounds lost for the county team, 119 pounds lost for the city team.

Chairman Thompson, and Mayor Bill Saffo extended the challenge to all New Hanover County residents to make use of over 80 parks, trails, and other facilities scattered throughout the county.

The inspiration for the challenge grew from increasing health insurance costs facing both local governments. The overall goal of the challenge was to show how county and city employees can not only save taxpayer dollars in insurance costs, but also live much healthier lifestyles.

Visit http://wellness.nhcgov.com/Pages/Home.aspx and start your own road to wellness. The website features weekly recipes, recommended reading, and health tips of the day. And watch NHCTV in coming days to follow the county team in their efforts.

New Hanover County — The clock is ticking, and the weight continues to melt off in the Cutting the Fat Out of Government Weight Loss Challenge. The final weigh-in is set for October 1. Media and the public are invited to attend and show their support for both teams at 1:00 pm, at the New Hanover County Executive Development Center adjacent to the Northeast Regional Library, 1241 Military Cutoff Road.

The eight week challenge pitted teams led by Board of Commissioners Chairman, Jason Thompson and Wilmington Mayor, Bill Saffo. The local version of television’s “The Biggest Loser” is an eight week long contest between the New Hanover County Lean Team and the City’s Masters of Disaster. At the mid-point weigh-ins, New Hanover County led the city of Wilmington 65-47 pounds lost.

During the final weigh in event, Thompson and Saffo will challenge the entire community to become healthier by making use of the many recreational opportunities offered to citizens. Both New Hanover County and city of Wilmington offer hundreds of acres of parks, bike paths, walking trails and athletics programs to help make a fit community.

The two leaders say that while the fat has been cut out of their respective budgets, taking a literal approach to reducing fat from government will save taxpayer money in the long run through better employee insurance rates. In the current fiscal year, health insurance costs increased by $900,000 and $600,000 for the county and city respectively.

Since the challenge began, community interest has been measured in over 4 thousand hits to the cutthefatnhc.com website. Team members have received family and friend support and have been spreading their message of success around the county. An on-line poll shows 88 percent of those responding expect a win for the NHC Lean Team.

While the overall goal for the county team is weight loss, other measurements such as cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index, etc. are being tracked throughout the challenge. Lean Team Captain and Board of Commissioners Chairman, Jason Thompson hopes the team’s weight loss and body conditioning results in lower health insurance costs for employees.

The New Hanover County Lean Team thanks the following businesses for their support in making county employees healthier: Gold’s Gym, Wilmington Wellness Studio, Lumina Fitness, Fit to You Personal Training, and Inner Strength Training. Special thanks to the trainers: Kerri Davis, Jai Dobias-Shaw and Greg Pullen.