White House Author

Andrea Hays, MPH, is the Director of the movement Initiative and the Upgrade campaign at the Welborn Baptist Foundation in Evansville, Indiana. The overall goal of the move∙ment Initiative is to promote changes in the community that make healthy living easier for all. The Upgrade campaign encourages residents to achieve health improvements by making small lifestyle changes such as taking the stairs or drinking water. Ms. Hays’ accomplishments include launching a corner store initiative bringing healthy food access to underserved neighborhoods, establishing the area's first bike rental, expanding healthy meals at hospital and university campuses, and increasing breastfeeding initiation and duration rates. In September 2012, Ms. Hays assumed the role of Project Director for a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Transformation Grant, which is funded through the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund and was awarded to the Foundation on behalf of the Healthy Communities Partnership of Southwest Indiana to support tobacco-free living, healthy weight, and preventing chronic disease across the lifespan.