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As California government strives to lead the nation in health, all who feel passionately about the subject are invited to submit their input on how to get better through Let’s Get Healthy California “Innovation Challenge.”Community leaders, health practitioners and wellness groups are encouraged to participate by sending their suggestions to California Health and Human Services agency through September 30, 2015. Improvement recommendations should cover the following subjects:• Healthy Beginnings• Living Well• End of Life• Redesigning the Health System• Creating Healthy Communities• Lowering Cost of CareFinalists from each goal area receive recognition at the statewide Innovation Conference in early 2016. Selected submissions are also set to appear on the Let’s Get Healthy California website, which launches in 2016. Additional attention is slated for the statewide Open Data Fest in spring 2016.“This Innovation Challenge allows people to think outside of the traditional public health framework to create innovative solutions that support the Triple Aim of better health, better care, and lower costs,” said Dr. Karen Smith, CDPH Director and State Health Officer. “We hope that these ideas will launch Californians on a path to living healthier lives.”And while the challenge takes place on a statewide level, a Scotts Valley based business has already been in the innovation mode with its effort to make people healthier.Since its inception in last year, Nourish Balance Thrive has helped more than 400 people get healthier with customized plans that consider the whole body, not just its illness. Their regimen considers the body as a mechanism capable of self healing once it’s set on the right track.Through dietary modifications, exercise and stress management techniques, Nourish Balance Thrive leads each client to their desired goal.When asked about the subject of getting healthy, co-founder Christopher Kelly said that nobody really knows what a healthy diet is.“Further compounding the problem is the fact that what might be healthy for you could be unhealthy for me. Everyone has different goals, and those goals change from time to time,” he said.Kelly, a professional mountain biker, formed his business with three others. The team includes Kelly’s wife, who is a food scientist, another pro mountain biker, who is a doctor, and a registered nurse. Kelly functions as the coach who helps clients find their way to optimal health.He claims to have healed his own issues by following Nourish Balance Thrive’s methods. By getting healthy, he became even faster on his bike.“I was racing amateur before all of this, I fairly recently upgraded to pro,” he said. “To do that you have to beat all the other amateurs. The real win is living to tell the tale! Longevity and health is what I really care about.”And while the whole body approach is already a step away from conventional medicine, the fact that Nourish Balance Thrive does it all remotely is yet another proof of how the road to getting healthy is changing.“All the coaching takes place over the phone or Skype and we all work from home,” said Kelly. “People prefer it this way, especially the men who only go to doctor as a very last resort.”In addition to coaching and nutritional support, Nourish Balance Thrive offers lab testing of various sorts as part of their services. That way the whole body picture can be explored to the fullest.Fatigue, insomnia, digestive or hormonal problems are evaluated using scientific methods. The labs Nourish Balance Thrive uses may be considered uncommon in a traditional setting. So having these types of sources only helps form a better picture of health for everyone.“Often people come to us for help because they’re doing all of the above and they’re still not getting the brochure experience,” Kelly said. “Perhaps they’re still not sleeping, or their sex drive is gone, or they’re still tired. In these circumstances the testing we do is extremely helpful for performing a critical evaluation of the person’s biochemistry.”And while the innovation seems to take place with or without the state’s initiatives, there is still much work ahead for being able to get the services and support one may want at an affordable cost.“Insurance will pay for the drugs that manage a disease, but they won’t pay for all of the above which probably would prevent the disease from ever happening,” said Kelly.To submit ideas for the California Health and Human Services agency, visit Innovate@chhs.ca.gov. To learn more about Nourish Balance Thrive, visit www.nourishbalancethrive.com.  

The murder suspect with a mustache in red-and-peach jail attire chuckled to himself and leaned back to the left, as the Superior Court hearing came to a close on Sept. 2. James Collier had just won a victory—the delay of his plea hearing by a...

On Saturday, June 21, 2014, Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter and Friends of Watsonville Animal Shelter will host the Healthy Dogs Shots Fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Planned Pethood South Clinic, 150a Pennsylvania Ave. (one block north of Ramsay Park) in Watsonville. Dogs will receive FREE rabies shots, FREEdistemper/parvovirus shots, FREE microchips (includes registration) and information on low-cost spay or neuter options.

Joan Hellenthal of Bonny Doon has participated in the DoonArt Tour every year since it began in 2010, but 2020 got the best of the event—and Hellenthal.  “The fire came as close as the next ridge to my house and studio before it was stopped...

Despite Santa Cruz County’s reputation as one of the least affordable places to live in the state, if not the country, real alarm has been expressed at recent Scotts Valley City Council meetings about the housing boom the city is facing in the not too distant future.  Public comment at city council meetings has included emotional criticism and strong recommendations of caution- that the small town character of Scotts Valley is directly threatened by actual and proposed housing developments.

The Bear Fire burns through trees and brush in the Santa Cruz mountains.