Currently, one in three Americans suffers from at least one chronic disease (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, asthma, depression, anxiety, cardiovascular health). Evidence has been building to support the hypothesis that chronic disease outcomes can be improved by spending more time in natural settings. An increasing number of physicians and other health providers are prescribing parks and other natural areas as part of their daily routine to prevent and treat chronic disease, and to promote wellness. Park Rx America demonstrates how a park prescription program can be integrate and accepted by providers and patients alike, and replicated in diverse settings around the country.

An increasing body of research shows the positive physical, cognitive and social-emotional benefits of spending time in nature. Children who spend time in nature-rich spaces have better vision, greater agility and coordination, improved concentration and mood, increased physical activity, enhanced creativity, and more ability for self-regulation. Based on this growing body of research on health-nature connections, a unique Nature Explore (NE) outdoor space was created at the Lone Star Family Health Center (LSFHC) in Conroe, TX, which serves nearly 100,000 patients per year, primarily from underserved communities. Physicians prescribe time in this nature-rich space, which then serves as a springboard for patients to connect with nearby forests/parks and other natural areas for mental, physical and emotional well-being, through the LSFHC NatureRx initiative. The NE site located adjacent to the health center is used as an extended waiting room, a space for mental health professionals in their counseling work and for health practitioners to escape the daily stresses through nature-based connections. Initial research has revealed an increase in support of nature-based alternatives by health care providers, an increased awareness by patients surrounding the nature-based benefits provided by the NE site and an increased likelihood that patients will use the site and visit more adventuresome outdoor recreation spaces with their families. This model has served to inspire a second NE site at the University of Florida Health Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, FL, where the University of FL, USFS and other researchers, will build off of the LSFHC site in gathering important medically-driven data to determine relationships between exposure to nature and improved health. The USFS and public health partners are also considering other opportunities for expanding this model to be implemented in a variety of medical facilities in connection with this opportunity for research expansion. The USFS is the world’s largest forestry research organization, providing technical and financial assistance to state and local government agencies, businesses, private landowners and NGOs. The FS is deeply engaged in these issues, through research, programming, and technical assistance efforts. From the research perspective, many researchers, from many different disciplines, at Research Stations across the country consider connections between health and nature and is a priority topic for urban research.

After years of failure in motivating my patients to walk, the number one thing anyone can do for their health, I asked if they would join me in the park. That worked and launched Walk with a Doc in 2005. Walk with a Doc is an exceptionally unique program, as the doctors are ditching their white coats in favor of a ball cap and sneakers. They are laughing, educating, communicating and understanding each other on a level that has never been seen before in medicine.Greater than 3000 doctors and hundreds of thousands of participants are not worrying about repeal and replace; they are going rogue and transforming medicine on their own, on the trail. Walk with a Doc is expanding like a wildfire with expansion over the last several years into 326 cities in 45 states and in 13 other countries. 99% of survey respondents share they love the novel concept of meeting with a physician in the park. In an age of 7-minute office visits and a growing separation between patient and physician, Walk with a Doc is bringing us closer than we've ever been. We have been longing for this critical connectedness and it has now created a rapidly expanding healthcare revolution around the world.

Imagine parks and public lands across America linked together through one common program designed to get kids and families unplugged, active outdoors, and engaged in nature for both their health and the health of our parks and public lands. This was the vision the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation had when they formed an out of the box partnership in 2008 to create the Kids in Parks program. Today, that program has created a national network of more than 160 TRACK Trail locations in ten states and Washington, D.C., allowing hundreds of thousands of kids and families to reconnect with nature and improve their overall health. Now imagine a legion of healthcare providers encouraging their patients to get active outdoors by formally prescribing outdoor recreation on that network of trails. Through the use of the Kids in Parks program’s TRACK Rx materials, they can! That’s because Kids in Parks has created a suite of TRACK Rx materials; and, the program currently has more than 100 doctors enrolled in the system, with several more ready to join their provider network. Due, in part, to the success of the TRACK Trails and TRACK Rx programs, Kids in Parks has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, recognized by the White House with a “Let’s Move! Champion of Change” award, and reviewed favorably as a practice-tested intervention by the Center for Training and Research Translation—a program funded by the Center for Disease Control. Overall this presentation will highlight the design of the TRACK Trail and TRACK Rx programs, provide data demonstrating the program’s success, and explore the potential future for the Park Rx movement.