High level wellness and the HSAs: a health planning success story

If one wants something badly enough, one can usually find a way--right? Isn't that the message from Don Quixote? Rocky? And Calamity, above? In addition, it seems that a considerable number of HSAs have, with no support from the BHPRD, major forces in organized medicine, or their professional organization, exhibited a substantial determination to make health promotion or wellness planning a priority function within the U.S. planning system. This article reports on the findings of a survey of all HSAs regarding the extent to which wellness initiatives had been mounted as of May, 1978. The nature of plan commitments and the range of specific wellness strategies suggest that local citizen boards and planning staffs will, on occasion, do what they believe is of greatest consequence--whether or not there is support for such endeavors at the federal level and irrespective of the odds against them in doing so.