Sahuarita Times: Rancho Sahuarita Leads Industry Toward Healthy Living

The Rancho Sahuarita Wellness Program Offers Healthy Living

In recent years, trends in the real estate industry have indicated the increasing popularity of healthy communities, with particular emphasis on communities with wellness programs and options that are readily accessible to all residents. The industry-wide trend toward healthy communities is reflective of the many initiatives the Rancho Sahuarita Wellness Program has integrated, well ahead of the industry, into its own community.

Since the first residents moved into the development in 2002, Rancho Sahuarita has been building a healthy community that is nationally celebrated as a benchmark for communities striving to improve public health. The amenities and programs that have made Rancho Sahuarita an industry forerunner are intended to inspire residents to adopt healthy habits and have evolved in response to resident needs and advances in health and wellness best practices.

“The goal of our community is to help people live better – and, ideally, longer,” says Jeremy Sharpe, Rancho Sahuarita’s vice president of community development. “Through amenities designed with health in mind, partnerships and a great team, Rancho Sahuarita has been offering its residents the building blocks of healthy living for over a decade.”

Partners in Health

Key to the Rancho Sahuarita Wellness Program is its emphasis on partnerships with local organizations. The award-winning Sahuarita Unified School District (SUSD) is one of Rancho Sahuarita’s key collaborators in improving the health of the community. The district has located six schools throughout Rancho Sahuarita and promotes student well-being through innovative teaching practices and health-related curricula. The neighborhood schools allow for families to walk to school and teachers to use the outside amenities as teaching tools. The district has enacted various wellness programs, including the grant-supported Communities Putting Prevention to Work program, and the Healthy School Zones Recognition program. Both initiatives enhance the district’s ability to promote physical activity, nutrition and wellness through school and community collaboration.

The Rancho Sahuarita Wellness Program also offers residents medical and health information and activities through a relationship with Carondelet Health Network. Carondelet has placed a primary care office in Rancho Sahuarita to serve local needs and improve public health. The health care network has also supported community health activities, including a children’s summer camp, Health and Wellness Day and Walk with a Doc, an outreach encouraging physical activity.

Other partners include the Special Olympics and United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, who support Rancho Sahuarita’s programs for children with special needs; Rural/Metro Fire Department, who sponsors many community health events; and the Town of Sahuarita, who works closely with Rancho Sahuarita to host events like the Sahuarita Triathlon, bike races and Fiesta Sahuarita.

Leading the Industry

Rancho Sahuarita’s efforts to enhance community health through accessible amenities and collaborative partnerships have drawn national recognition and praise. A recent Urban Land Institute case study identified Rancho Sahuarita, along with several other developments, as an industry standard in building healthy communities.

Rancho Sahuarita continually refines its commitment to health by enhancing its wellness program with input from residents and industry best practices. The same vision that inspired the creation of a development that considers health and wellness a key value continues to generate innovative additions to the Rancho Sahuarita community.