America's Healthiest Hometown

[Villages PL]

On what basis did The Villages earn the title "America's Healthiest Hometown"?

Apparently, we got this title when the alliance first formed between USF Health and The Villages. It was printed on the first hand-out at the first lecture, long before the USF Health Survey.

But then it was stated at one of the lectures that we would be compared to other retirement communities. This was to find out how we rank. In addition to that, a letter was mailed to every Villager, in advance of the survey, stating that the information gathered would be compared to other populations across the U.S.

The goal was stated from the very beginning that the purpose of the alliance was to make The Villages America's Healthiest Hometown. Then when we were told in advance that the results of the survey would be compared with other communities, that brought it down to the level of a competition. This, in my opinion, renders the survey invalid. It's a biased faulty-study. Junk-science.

What about the next survey, can it be fixed? I don't think so. (The cat is out of the bag.) It will just be more wasted public money and it's our money that's being wasted.

[Mikeod]

The title was not an indicator of an achievement, but a stated goal of the alliance. The surveys' intent was to see where TV stands in comparison to similar and other communities. You need to know where you are in order to know whether you have progressed subsequently. Give 'em a break, VPL.

[NYGUY]

On what basis did The Villages earn the title "America's Healthiest Hometown"?....

I think the "title" was made up by some marketing person...:loco:

[Villages PL]

The title was not an indicator of an achievement, but a stated goal of the alliance. The surveys' intent was to see where TV stands in comparison to similar and other communities. You need to know where you are in order to know whether you have progressed subsequently. Give 'em a break, VPL.

Yes, I stated in my opening post that it was their stated goal to become America's Healthiest Hometown. But they actually took the title long before any attempt at earning it.

I also agree that the survey was to see where TV stands in comparison to similar and other communities. However, to do good science (i.e. to keep bias out) they should never have told us. Essentially, it was likely interpreted by many Villagers that we were in competition to see who's the best/healthiest.

The majority (about 2/3?) did not participate. Were they the least well among us? Would some drop out because of not wanting to be a drag on the overall result?

[Villages PL]

I think the "title" was made up by some marketing person...:loco:

I think you hit the nail on the head. And the fact that USF Health adopted it as their slogan, from the very beginning, was a bad sign that the fix was in. They received BIG grant money to come here and, by gosh, they were aiming to be successful, no matter what.

[dewilson58]

It's a slogan. We are the friendliest too.

[Mikeod]

Yes, of course it's a slogan, not an earned distinction. As stated it's a goal. Does it really matter if they design a survey that would tend to place them in a favorable light? Does anyone trust a marketing slogan to make health decisions? Or do they evaluate the care they are receiving to see if it meets their expectations and needs.

Does anyone see the enormity of the task to try to make a community of mostly seniors who have had 30, 40, 50 years or more of questionable lifestyle habits into the healthiest hometown?

[Villages PL]

Yes, of course it's a slogan, not an earned distinction. As stated it's a goal. Does it really matter if they design a survey that would tend to place them in a favorable light? Does anyone trust a marketing slogan to make health decisions? Or do they evaluate the care they are receiving to see if it meets their expectations and needs.

Does anyone see the enormity of the task to try to make a community of mostly seniors who have had 30, 40, 50 years or more of questionable lifestyle habits into the healthiest hometown?

This thread is not about "the enormity of the task". Let's not change the subject.

Does it really matter if they design a survey that would tend to place them in a favorable light?

Yes, it certainly does matter if one is trying to do good (unbiased) science. The survey should not be in any particular light, whether favorable or unfavorable. What good are the results when influenced by the researchers?

Otherwise, what is the purpose of a double-blind study when drugs are tested?

[Barefoot]

Yawn....

Agree. This is right up there with deflategate.

:popcorn: As Mikeod said, it's a marketing slogan, not an earned distinction!

[dotti105]

It is a slogan and a goal. Just like being the "Friendliest HomeTown".

I am a RN who just moved here within the last year. It is very evident to me that they are working hard to make health care convenient and effective. We have been very impressed. The union with USF helps not only us, but it certainly gives the Medical school access to a large pool of seniors. The research they obtain from this population here in TV, will help improve healthcare for seniors everywhere.

The activities offered for our population, the health related seminars, the accessibility to primary care and specialists make this a very unique place. I applaud the slogan!

Not real sure what point you are trying to make.

[pqrstar]

USF pulled out of the study

Here is their explanation

USF pulls out of its $4 million specialty care clinic at the Villages | Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/usf-pulls-out-of-its-4-million-specialty-care-clinic-at-the-villages/2198191)

[dotti105]

Wow! That is news to me.....I must admit. Funny how you don't see that in "The Daily Sun".
I think if they had waited and seen the numbers in the 2nd year and the winter high season, they might have made a different decision.
Very disappointing!

[bike42]

USF pulled out of the study

Here is their explanation

USF pulls out of its $4 million specialty care clinic at the Villages | Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/usf-pulls-out-of-its-4-million-specialty-care-clinic-at-the-villages/2198191)

USF did not pull out of the study. They are not staffing the clinic. Big difference. The article says: "University officials insist they are still committed to the Villages. Public health research, which was the first piece of the project, continues. The medical school has sent its first resident to the area to train with Villages physicians."

[hansel]

I am thinking "SALES HYPE" just like America's Friendliest

[Happinow]

When I first moved here I saw the words "Healthiest Home Town" and thought to myself wow, here's a place that must be serving healthy food at more restaurants than what I'm used to. I thought it had to do with food. Now, I realize that it maybe due to the amount of activities available to each of us at any given time so that we may be healthier from an exercise and activity point of view. So, if we eat all of the fried, fatty foods that are available to eat at least we can work it off!

[Villages PL]

:popcorn: As Mikeod said, it's a marketing slogan, not an earned distinction!

That's a valid point to which I already agreed. Marketing slogans are used all the time. It's no big deal when used in marketing.

But I would like to know why USF Health adopted it as their slogan for their very first lecture at Savannah Center(June 21, 2011). They handed out an information leaflet/flyer with the words "America's Healthiest Hometown" on the front.

What were they marketing?

[Barefoot]

It is a slogan and a goal. Just like being the "Friendliest HomeTown".
Not real sure what point you are trying to make.


But I would like to know why USF Health adopted it as their slogan for their very first lecture at Savannah Center(June 21, 2011).

I'm not sure why a slogan used in 2011 is important in 2015.
There may be more recent developments that deserve focus.
This was recently posted by pqrstar.

USF pulls out of its $4 million specialty care clinic at the Villages | Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/usf-pulls-out-of-its-4-million-specialty-care-clinic-at-the-villages/2198191)

[rubicon]

If The Villages can claim that it is America's Healthiest Hometown, without validations, then I guess that I have the right to claim my home is the healthiest home in America's Healthiest Hometown. that's my story and I am sticking to it

[Villages PL]

In legitimate studies, testing comes at the very beginning before anything is done and sometimes nothing is done, depending on the type of study.

One example of a study is the study for Alzheimer's. The first thing researchers do is give each participant a memory test. Then comes the intervention, whatever it may be. Also, there's a control group that gets no active ingredient or intervention. Then at the end of a year they repeat the same memory test and compare one group with the other to see if the intervention had any value. It's a double-blind study so that the participants don't know whether they're getting a placebo or the active ingredient. Not even the person who hands out the pills would know. This is to keep participants from being unduly influenced.

An example of a poorly designed study is where the participants are highly influenced, as in The Villages Health Study.

What they should have done is take a survey before they did anything at all - no lectures, no slogans, no telling people they would be compared with other communities to see who's the healthiest. They should have simply sent out a letter announcing The Villages/USF Health Alliance. A simple statement that they hope to achieve some helpful suggestions/innovations for better health care in The Villages would have been sufficient.

Then they could have said: "In order for us to know where we need to concentrate our attention, we ask everyone to please complete the enclosed health survey. It's very important and we thank you in advance."

Then at the end of X number of years, perhaps five, they could retest to see what health improvements have been achieved, if any.

[dewilson58]

I heard we are America's Threadiest Hometown.

[Hancle704]

I remember when Chesterfields was the cigarette brand that more doctors preferred. Just advertising hype not backed up with hard evidence.

[pqrstar]

They should have simply sent out a letter announcing The Villages/USF Health Alliance. A simple statement that they hope to achieve some helpful suggestions/innovations for better health care in The Villages would have been sufficient.


Well, they did.
They had a number of group meetings with residents chosen at random.

These were small groups which met before the health survey was sent out to the villagers.

Each of these groups consisted of 10-12 residents and all comments were tape recorded. They listened carefully to all the comments.

I know because I was a member of one of the groups and I have friends who did this also.

[tumbleweed]

I sent this (long) post to The Villages Media on 9/4/2012. I also participated in a small group where the survey was discussed and we were told that USF would publish results, etc. To date, I am not aware of any peer reviewed, journal articles from USF or any other credible entity. So, I believe that my original concerns are valid.

"The design, analysis and evaluation of results of these surveys leave a lot to be desired. The Health survey had a sub-tagline as "America's Healthiest Hometown" in the caption when it was distributed, before the data was collected and results compiled. This a priori assumption seems to have been a significant factor in the survey construction and subsequent analysis, evaluation, and reporting of results.

Any competent student of survey methodology can easily point to issues that call the reported results into question. Both surveys are biased, as respondents self-selected their participation. The sample is biased. The published reports mix the number of residents with the number of respondents with erroneous or miss-leading results. Although the actual number of respondents to the Resident survey has not been given (to the best of my knowledge), one reported result was that 100% of Residents visited the town squares weekly. Perhaps 100% of the Respondents so reported, but it is difficult to believe that 100% of the 89,000 residents do so. Poor analysis, poor reporting, or both?

The September issue of the Villages Voice boldly proclaims "Villagers Happiest And Healthiest in U.S." Based upon what metrics, one asks? The first sentence points to the answer- Villagers have rated themselves so! Based upon another self-selected sample, with its inherent biases. So, it must to factually true, right? And, what metrics of health were compared, with other populations, before the conclusion was reached and announced? Surely something besides the answers to Questions 21 and 64 in the survey were used to reach this conclusion!

I have been a resident in The Villages for over 9 years. I believe that I have been a respondent to each annual Resident survey. Each year I have anticipated some improvement in the methodology, analysis, and reporting. And each year I have been more disappointed. Responses to open-end questions seem to be ignored. Statistics about participation and responses to the actual questions are not provided. Selected (favorable?) information is presented in dribs and drabs, and negative results (there must be some!) are noticeably absent.

Unfortunately, some of these same issues seem to be emerging from the USF/Villages Health survey. Results from a biased sample of some 33,00 are being extrapolated to the entire 89,000 population. No statement of quantitative or qualitative metrics (there are a lot of healthiness metrics that could be used) is given; no specifics are given about comparable studies for comparison; and selected results are being dribbled out, as opposed to publication of total results, complete with data sets and methodology. One mark of a competent study is the ability for it to be replicated by others. Maybe even suitable for publication in professional journals. Thus far, this study is woefully lacking in so many ways. In fact, I am surprised and dismayed that USF links its name to such a pedestrian approach. Basic reliability and credibility questions need answers I do not see enough results to support the a priori assumption that Villagers are happiest and healthiest in the U.S.

Yours for reliable and credible studies, improved methodology and evaluation, and full/complete disclosure of all results (at least via Internet) to all participants and other interested parties."

BTW, I believe that a diligent search will find that TV applied for a FL a trade/sales mark or something similar about the time the survey was launched. I have not idea as to its status.

[Bonanza]

Regarding America's Friendliest Hometown and America's Healthiest Hometown -- neither are true.

I have met more nasty people here than I have met in any other place I've lived. Yes, I've met plenty of nice ones, too, but the nasty ones win the prize.

How could TV ever become America's Healthiest Hometown when we are predominantly a senior community? We all are destined to have things go wrong relatively soon and ultimately become ill or incapacitated and die.

Both of these "marketing tools" are laughable!

[rubicon]

Tumbleweed: I moved here in 2006 and I agree with your assessment. The residents survey reads like one that could be found on a cruise line trying to determine how best to entertain their customers. The survey has no substance and does little to get at the root of actual concerns of its residents.

The allusion to an adult Disney World is indeed damaging because the hyperbolic marketing here plays off that fantasy. Its deceptive and dishonest and the Daily Sun and VHA are complicit in this charade which is unnecessary because it causes expectation that are too high to meet

I don't want to live in someone's vacation destination. I paid top dollar to be settled in a retirement community and all this fake pollyannish publicity distracts from the real issues that face this community. It is unnecessary because there are many better ways to promote this community preserve its character and properly manage its budget

[Polar Bear]

THE VILLAGES DECLARED HAPPIEST, HEALTHIEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL, MOST ENJOYABLE HOMETOWN!!!

No survey or study. Just the opinion of some of my friends.

[manaboutown]

I just checked. "AMERICA'S HEALTHIEST HOMETOWN" is a trademark. https://trademarks.justia.com/855/50/america-s-healthiest-hometown-85550971.html

It is owned by HOLDING COMPANY OF THE VILLAGES, INC..

"AMERICA'S HEALTHIEST HOMETOWN PROMOTING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE" is also trademarked by HCOTV, INC.

[Bogie Shooter]

This too shall pass................................

[downeaster]

Tumbleweed: I moved here in 2006 and I agree with your assessment. The residents survey reads like one that could be found on a cruise line trying to determine how best to entertain their customers. The survey has no substance and does little to get at the root of actual concerns of its residents.

The allusion to an adult Disney World is indeed damaging because the hyperbolic marketing here plays off that fantasy. Its deceptive and dishonest and the Daily Sun and VHA are complicit in this charade which is unnecessary because it causes expectation that are too high to meet

I don't want to live in someone's vacation destination. I paid top dollar to be settled in a retirement community and all this fake pollyannish publicity distracts from the real issues that face this community. It is unnecessary because there are many better ways to promote this community preserve its character and properly manage its budget

Very well said.

Your views on this are identical to mine. At times I find this constant barrage of pollyanish publicity having a negative effect on me.

[Bogie Shooter]

Of course, their are options.

[Shimpy]

I always chuckle when I think of the label "AMERICA'S HEALTHIEST HOMETOWN" then read about a recipe in the "Villages" newspaper that is loaded with salt, butter, cream etc.

[bobbym]

Seeing how good the people in The Villages look takes the worry out of having birthdays.

[Barefoot]

Perhaps the secret to a healthier life is drinking more red wine.
VPL, don't shoot the messenger, I am kidding! :girlneener:

A glass of red wine is the equivalent to an hour at the gym, says new study - MyDaily UK (http://www.mydaily.co.uk/2015/01/26/a-glass-of-red-wine-is-the-equivalent-to-an-hour-at-the-gym-says-study/)

[dbussone]

Perhaps the secret to a healthier life is drinking more red wine.
VPL, don't shoot the messenger, I am kidding! :girlneener:

A glass of red wine is the equivalent to an hour at the gym, says new study - MyDaily UK (http://www.mydaily.co.uk/2015/01/26/a-glass-of-red-wine-is-the-equivalent-to-an-hour-at-the-gym-says-study/)


Bare - I like the way you think.

[rubicon]

One of the clearest non sequitur and short sighted statements I find on this forum is the one that goes something like this. "If you don't like it then move " or "you have options" meaning then move, etc.

If that statement had true validity then this country would never have come to fruition. The founding fathers didn't leave when they disagreed with the governing powers at the time, now did they? No they stayed and they formed the greatest democracy on earth, one, that nation after nation attempt to emulate

So too we find residents who have legitimate concerns and/or possible solution about this community but instead of getting support we have some residents who find a need to chide and discredit their concerns and dismiss them out of hand

[Polar Bear]

One of the clearest non sequitur and short sighted statements I find on this forum is the one that goes something like this. "If you don't like it then move " or "you have options" meaning then move, etc.

If that statement had true validity then this country would never have come to fruition. The founding fathers didn't leave when they disagreed with the governing powers at the time, now did they? No they stayed and they formed the greatest democracy on earth, one, that nation after nation attempt to emulate

So too we find residents who have legitimate concerns and/or possible solution about this community but instead of getting support we have some residents who find a need to chide and discredit their concerns and dismiss them out of hand

Can't argue with those observations, rubicon. But there are also a few who find fault with almost everything...and not in any constructive way that I can see. That is a totally different situation imho.

[Bonanza]

Perhaps one of the biggest charades here is the "Lifestyle Visit."

The Lifestyle Visit is nothing like living here. It is a complete charade under the pretense of being a Disney World for adults.

The only way to know what it's like to live here is to rent for a few months. There are those who have said, If I knew then what I know now . . ."

[Polar Bear]

Perhaps one of the biggest charades here is the "Lifestyle Visit."

The Lifestyle Visit is nothing like living here. It is a complete charade under the pretense of being a Disney World for adults.

The only way to know what it's like to live here is to rent for a few months. There are those who have said, If I knew then what I know now . . ."
Couldn't disagree more. And yes, we did the lifestyle visit...twice. It is what you make of it.

[looneycat]

I always chuckle when I think of the label "AMERICA'S HEALTHIEST HOMETOWN" then read about a recipe in the "Villages" newspaper that is loaded with salt, butter, cream etc.

really? i lost 65 lbs eating food like that, just less of it. If I had to eat crappy 'diet' food I never would have stuck to it......

[manaboutown]

[QUOTE=Barefoot;1004699][SIZE=3]Perhaps the secret to a healthier life is drinking more red wine.
VPL, don't shoot the messenger, I am kidding!

Or perhaps about drinking the Kool-Aid and relocating to The Villages.

Studies are showing that socialization is a very important factor contributing to longevity. The Villages provides wonderful opportunities for socialization.