Success Story - Fit Pick Healthy Vending

June 2008

Local Healthy Vending Campaign Has
Nation-wide Impact

Disease (s): Obesity, Diabetes

Sector: Behavior and system change impacting all sectors: Community, Schools, Worksites and Health Systems.

Objectives:

  1. To generate personal behavior change by:
    • Increasing access to healthier food options in snack and beverage vending.
    • Increasing consumer awareness about healthier vending choices.
  2. To influence system change by:
    • Creating a ready-to-use program for healthier vending
    • Promoting this program to vending operators, worksites, schools, health systems and the community.
    • Collaborating with the national organization for vending operators to make the program readily available and sustainable nation-wide

Methodology:
Collaborative effort involving community partners, government agencies, and a national trade association aimed at creating a reproducible, simple approach for increasing the quantity of healthful options in vending machines and identifying these options for the consumer.

Contact Information:

Barbe West
Executive Director, Community Choices
1101 Broadway Suite 110
Vancouver, WA 98660

Public Health Issue:

Obesity
One-quarter of all adults in Clark County are considered obese, far from meeting the target goal of 15 percent. More than one-third additional adults are considered overweight (37 percent) for a combined total overweight/obese adult population of 62 percent. Clark County rates are very similar to rates statewide and nationwide. The rate of overweight or obese adults has risen since the mid-1990s. Clark County statistics show that a greater percentage of adult males (about 70 percent) are either overweight or obese compared to females (about 50 percent). [Source: BRFSS]

Youth At Risk for Overweight, Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Physical Activity
Obesity in children and adolescents is a serious issue contributing to many health and social consequences that often continue into adulthood as well as have a significant financial impact on the healthcare system and workplaces. As with adults, there has been a dramatic increase in the percent of youth who are overweight in recent years. Poor nutrition is a risk factor for preventable diseases among youth.

In 2006, one out of four (24%) of eighth graders in Clark County was either overweight or at-risk of becoming overweight. Almost one out of three (30%) four eighth graders consumed five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily, while 37% participated in moderate physical activity 5 or more times per week. These rates are similar to the rates for Washington State.

*Overweight students are in top 5% of BMI by age and gender based on CDC growth charts. At risk for overweight students are in top 15% but not top 5%. **Moderate physical activity that did not make you sweat and breathe hard for at least 30 minutes 5 or more times per week. Source: WA State Healthy Youth Surveys.

Lack of Healthy Options in Vending
Snack and beverage vending is a $30 billion per year industry. Each day, it is estimated that over 100 million Americans purchase vended items from one of 7 million vending machines. Approximately 16% of vending machines are located on school campuses and approximately 40% are located in manufacturing facilities. Traditionally, these machines contain only 1 or 2 “healthy” items out of 40 or 50 total items.

Intervention:

In 2006, Community Choices and the Steps to a Healthier Clark County initiative convened a group of employers, school districts and vending operators in Clark County, Washington who shared the common goal of increasing access to healthy food in area vending machines. Together, this team researched nutrition criteria, labeling options, products and their placement in machines, as well as marketing and promotion concepts.

In 2007, the Steps vending team conducted limited pilot tests in vending machines at the City of Vancouver, Clark County and the Vancouver School District. Coincidentally, the National Automated Merchandising Association (NAMA) introduced Fit Pick™, a system of stickers and window clings for vending machines that serve to identify nutrient-controlled products. The Steps team adopted the Fit Pick™ program. Fit Pick offered a sustainable solution at a reasonable cost with nationwide availability of an attractive identification system, supported by a professional organization of vending operators.

Fit Pick™ nutritional criteria specify two levels of standards. The first dictates:

The second set of standards are based on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation criteria which also include limitations on trans fat, calories and beverages.

In Clark County, WA, the Steps team agreed that Fit Pick™ machines would be stocked with an increased the percentage of qualified products from the previous level of 1 to 5% of machine contents to 25 to 35%. Following implementation, many machines now contain up to 50% healthier items.

Although NAMA’s Fit Pick™ program offered stickers to NAMA members, it lacked the support material, tool kits, and marketing collateral that the Steps team had identified through their pilot tests as critical to the successful launch of a healthy vending initiative. Therefore, the Steps team initiated a collaborative relationship with NAMA to augment the Fit Pick™ program with the resources that vending sites need to ensure Fit Pick™’s success.

Outcomes:

In 2008, the Steps team summarized the knowledge they gained into tool kits for 4 distinct audiences: worksites/community organizations; schools; vending operators; and community-wide initiatives. These tool kits provide tips, techniques, forms, sample policies, promotional strategies and a step-by-step guide for implementing and promoting healthier vending. The Clark County Steps team also created collateral material to support on-site marketing and promotion of healthy products. These items include machine toppers, table tents, posters, mini-posters/payroll stuffers, handouts, and announcement postcards. An adequate supply of these items was printed to cover the needs of sites in the geographic area of the Steps grant.

To provide this information to the community, the Steps team created a website (www.fitpick.org) from which the tools and resources listed above can be downloaded and/or printed. In addition, the website provides links to a number of related sites, tracks registrations to assist in measuring the reach of the program, and provides a means to request further information.

By the program’s launch week of April 14, 2008, Fit Pick™ was fully installed in all vending machines at four Steps partner organizations in Clark County. A county-wide media and direct mail and e-mail blitz was conducted to publicize Fit Pick™. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil Fit Pick™ and a new era in vending took place on April 17 at the Marshall Center in Vancouver, WA. Mayor Royce Pollard, Commissioner Betty Sue Morris, Vancouver School Board President Mari Greves and Jackie Clark from NAMA addressed the gathering and expressed their support for healthier vending options as another step in creating a healthy environment in Clark County.

News of the launch was carried by major publications and websites across the country. A complete list is available in the attachment to this document. The Fit Pick™ logo and announcement of the launch flashed six times during rush hour on the Jumbotron screen in Times Square, New York.

The Fit Pick™ website has received over 12,500 hits in its first 45 days of operation. In addition to visitors from Clark County and throughout the U.S., website registrations have been received from as far away as the U.K., South Africa and Bermuda.

Due to the direct effort of Clark County Steps Vending Team partners, Fit Pick™ is currently in place at the following local sites:

Steps’ work in creating the first county-wide Fit Pick™ launch confirmed the commitment of the National Automated Merchandising Association to the Fit Pick™ program and succeeded in convincing them to open the program to both members and non-members of NAMA. NAMA has agreed to sustain the Fit Pick™ website following the termination of the Steps grant and is independently seeking funding to further the reach of the Fit Pick™ program.

Clark County Partnership Unveiling Media Coverage – 5.13.08

Media Outlet -- Date
Fox Business -- April 16, 2008

Washington Examiner -- April 16, 2008

Northwest Newschannel 8, Portland OR -- April 16, 2008

Sun Herald, Mississippi -- April 16, 2008

Mississippi Sun Times -- April 16, 2008

Puget Sound, Milwaukee and -- April 16, 2008

Austin Business Journals

WCNC Charlotte -- April 16, 2008

KRNV Reno -- April 16, 2008

WATE , Knoxville -- April 16, 2008

Newsblaze, Folsom CA -- April 16, 2008

Reuters.com -- April 16, 2008

New York Sun

KFVS TV 12, Cape Girardeau MO -- April 16, 2008

KATC.com, Lafayette LA -- April 16, 2008

WANE.com, Ft. Wayne -- April 16, 2008

KHNL.com, Honolulu HI -- April 16, 2008

WTHR.com, Indianapolis -- April 16, 2008

KLTV, Jacksonville -- April 16, 2008

FOX 29 Palm Beach -- April 16, 2008

Forbes.com -- April 16, 2008

AP Photo Desk (ran logo and brief mention) -- April 16, 2008

MSN -- April 30, 2008

Photo and description on Times Square Jumbotron --

April 16, 2008 7:36 a.m.
April 16, 2008 4:27 p.m.
April 17, 2008 7:37 a.m.
April 17, 2008 4:25 p.m.
April 18, 2008 7:36 a.m.
April 18, 2008 9:34 a.m.

American Nursing Assn. web newsletter

American Diabetes Assn. newsletter

SpokesmanReview.com

ReviewJournal.com

Playmeter.com

AMOnline.com

Businessweek.com

NewRx.com

BioMedicine.com

HighBeam.com

NordstromNews.com

VendingBiz.com

SmartBrief

Health and Medicine Week (p4273)

Food and Beverage Close-up

Cnbc.com

RT – Respiratory Therapy

PublicWorksOnline.com

JRJ.com

Yahoofinance.com

Newstin.co.uk

Southwest Washington Medical Center Newsletter

Civil Tongue – City of Vancouver employee newsletter

Daily E – City of Vancouver daily employee e-newsletter

Vancouver Chamber of Commerce Newsletter

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