It’s National Women’s Health Week! A special week, beginning on Mother’s Day, meant to encourage women and girls to prioritize and value their health. According to the Office on Women’s Health, this year’s theme is “Women’s Health, Whole Health: Prevention, Care and Wellbeing”. As a healthcare organization, promoting whole health (for women and for all) is something we stand behind.
According to the CDC, here are 5 things people can do to improve their overall health:
- Get regular checkups.
- Get active.
- Eat a healthy and balanced diet.
- Prioritize your mental health.
- Practice healthy behaviors.
You can get regular checkups at your Primary Care Provider’s (PCP) office. If you’re an uninsured person living in Duval County, we can help connect you to free and charitable primary care! Contact us here to get connected to a free clinic.
One free way to get active in Jacksonville is by using the Jacksonville Riverwalk! The Riverwalk is a “1 1/4-mile concrete boardwalk [and] is usually filled with joggers, tourists, folks sitting on benches, and lovers walking hand-in-hand, all of them watching the riverboats, the shorebirds, and downtown`s skyline reflected in the water”. Along the Riverwalk, you’ll even find a free outdoor gym called Corkscrew Park. The park has workout equipment and amenities including free weights, yoga mats, jump ropes, medicine balls, pull-up bars, and exercise rings.
We are not unfamiliar with the fact that healthy food can be expensive. Feeding Northeast Florida is one of our favorite organizations that is fighting food insecurity locally. They’re the largest, most efficient food bank serving Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam & St. Johns Counties. You can always contact us if you need access to healthy foods here in Jacksonville. We have over 50 food pantry resources on file for our clients and community members.
Prioritizing mental health is no easy task. Oftentimes, it takes working with a mental health professional to be able to work through things. If you, or someone you know, needs access to free and charitable behavioral health care in Jacksonville – check out the Mental Health Resource Center.
Committing to getting regular checkups, getting active, eating healthy foods, and prioritizing mental health are all ways to practice healthy behaviors. Health has no gender. Whether you’re a woman, a man, a gender-nonconforming person, or anything in between – your health matters and you should treat it as such.
