Shape Up RI Doctors
Primary Care Wellness Program

 

About the Program

The Rhode Island Foundation has awarded Shape Up RI a $250,000 three year grant through the Fund for a Healthy Rhode Island to enable and empower physicians to prescribe wellness for their patients. With a mission to support and enhance primary care in Rhode Island, this grant will help us provide physicians with a simple and effective tool to encourage their patients to pursue a healthy lifestyle through physical activity, nutrition, and weight management.

Over the next three years, we will use these generous funds to establish a primary care outreach program called Shape Up RI Doctors. We will develop a process for primary care doctors to quickly and effectively refer their patients for participation in our evidence-based wellness program and other proven community-based wellness programs.

Planning for this program has begun, and one of our first tasks is to recruit Shape Up Docs. Over 100 doctors from the Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corporation are already on board, and the Rhode Island State Nurses Association is helping to make this program a reality. We are inviting all Rhode Island physicians to join them in this pilot program. While the commitment will be small, the rewards for their patients will be enormous. If you (or your spouse, friend, neighbor, or co-worker) are a primary care physician interested in learning how to become a Shape Up Doc, please email us at .

This is the largest grant we have received since our inception four years ago, and it speaks to the impact that we have already had on the health and well-being of Rhode Island. Our important work has been noticed and bolstered by the Rhode Island Foundation. Now, with your help, we can continue to increase our reach by making it easy for doctors to encourage their patients to focus on wellness and take personal responsibility for their health.

For more information about the grant:

Providence Journal Primary Care Focus of Grants

Rhode Island Foundation Foundation Makes Grants of $1.6 million for Primary Care

Providence Business News RI Foundation Awards $1.6 million for Health