The city could receive a grant to show how the program improves Americans’ health.

By ELIZABETH NENDICK‚ Rockford Register Star
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ROCKFORD — The health program that has made it into local executive boardrooms and onto restaurant menus might soon make Rockford a model for cities across the United States.

The Coronary Health Improvement Project, known as CHIP, has applied for part of a $15 million federal grant that would make Rockford one of four model cities. The money would be split among the cities, which must show that their individual programs improve the health of Americans.

It is unclear when the grant recipients will be announced.

CHIP has local church, business, school and social programs that teach people to make diet and lifestyle changes. Those changes can prevent or reverse obesity, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

CHIP founder Dr. Hans Diehl, a California cardiologist, believes his program is the key to lowering health-care costs throughout the country.

“From a national perspective, we can no longer afford to maintain our national health-care system as it is,” Diehl said. “We need to prevent diseases, we need to provide education, preparation and motivation for people to make more intelligent self-care choices. I’m very hopeful the CHIP program ... can be a template that is replicatable across the nation.”

CHIP officials say they were invited to apply for the $15 million federal grant after the program was described to Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The CHIP program was outlined for him during a national health summit April 15 in Baltimore by Dr. Roger Greenlaw, medical director at the SwedishAmerican Center for Complementary Medicine in Rockford.

Thompson mentioned CHIP during a luncheon later that day as the type of effort he wants to see from grant recipients.

“I am convinced that preventing disease by promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future,” Thompson said. “Our current health-care system is not structured to deal with the escalating costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices.”

It is not clear what the grant would pay for locally. One option would call for CHIP to offer the program to underserved residents. While the video program usually costs $325 per person, CHIP Executive Director Peter Vedro envisions taking the program into city-run housing.

“It would give us the financial wherewithal to make this a community intervention,” he said. “That funding would be used to train facilitators at the Rockford Housing Authority. That’s the vision because that’s where the greatest incidence of disease is and that’s where the greatest return on investment is.”

Mark Hunter, black male health coordinator for the Winnebago County Health Department and a CHIP graduate, says the program would be particularly effective in low-income neighborhoods if it is coupled with restaurants and shops in those areas that agree to carry healthy products.

“There needs to be an entire community transformation, where there are more stores on the west side of town that carry healthier choices,” he said. “There are people in every part of town who want a healthier life. I hope this can be the start of a sustained effort where our entire community can be empowered.”

SwedishAmerican Health System owns the local rights to CHIP and has funded the program since its inception here four years ago. It pays about $300,000 a year to run the program and makes about $175,000 in tuition and fees.

The health system supports CHIP’s national efforts but will not be the exclusive owner outside of this community, said Chief Operating Officer Rich Walsh.

“Any recognition the CHIP program can get will be positive for Rockford and for SwedishAmerican,” Walsh said. “We’ve always envisioned that, once CHIP took place in Rockford, it would become regional and national. This grant will move that along more quickly.”

Contact: enendick@smtp.registerstartower.com; 815-987-1341

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