Evo Terra (Host): Welcome to another episode of Outer Banks Health, the official podcast of Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Group. I'm Evo Terra. And today, it's a discussion with Dr. Sheila Davies, Director of Health and Human Services for Dare County; and Amy Montgomery, Executive Director of Operations. Our topic is Thrive OBX, a joint initiative between Dare County and Outer Banks Health that seeks to foster coastal wellbeing and longevity. Amy, Dr. Davies, thank you very much for joining me today.

Amy Montgomery: Thank you.

Dr. Sheila Davies: Thank you.

Host: Dr. Davies, I'll begin with you. Talk to me a minute about Thrive OBX and it's this idea of community-centered wellbeing.

Dr. Sheila Davies: Absolutely. Well, first off, I just have to say we are so thrilled to be part of this partnership with Outer Banks Health and bring in this initiative to Dare county. And at the crux of this is just community connectedness. What we are going to be doing with this is having avenues and opportunities for everybody in our community to engage on their path to stronger wellbeing and longevity.

As we were preparing to launch this initiative, we went through kind of an exploratory phase, gathering data and information. We engaged over 300 stakeholders to attend in some of our initial meetings and events from representatives from the schools, community, just citizens, all of the municipalities in the county and county government; Outer Banks Health team members from nurses, doctors, in the pharmacy, in the cafeteria. We had restaurant stakeholders, just parks and recreation, clergy. Kind of amazing, the number of individuals that said, "Hey, we want to get on board with this." We live in an incredibly special place in the Outer Banks. And I think this initiative is going to help take us to the next level of wellbeing and longevity and living.

Host: That's great. And, Amy, I know that prior to this, we had another program called Blue Zones Ignite OBX. Why did we switch?

Amy Montgomery: We sure did, and I want to give a shout out to Blue Zones because they really inspired our new initiative that we're calling OBX Thrive, and we're still great partners with Blue Zones. And those of you listening who've been in the community for a while, watching what we've been doing, we did bring our friends from the Blue Zones to the community twice last year, and they helped us with the assessment that Dr. Davies just spoke about. And they really helped us think of some ways that we can enhance wellbeing and longevity here in Dare County and for visitors to the Outer Banks and residents as well.

And we decided to pivot just a little bit and develop OBX Thrive, and the Blue Zones would agree, we are already a light shade of blue here on the Outer Banks. So, we're really not starting from square one. We already have so many assets in the community. We have so much talent in the community. We are already doing so many things right in the community. A lot of that's based on the years of partnership between the health department and Outer Banks Health in the area of community health needs assessment and community health action that we wanted to keep our resources that can be limited sometimes, right? Financial resources. Time, talent, treasure, those are the three things that it takes to really get something off the ground. We have a lot of that here and we want to keep it here. We want to really lean all in. And so, we decided to develop our own brand, which is you're hearing it today, OBX Thrive. And we're developing the website. So, I know at the end of this, we may call out a website. And I just want people to know that this is brand new and we are building the plane while we're flying it. And we are so excited to bring OBX Thrive to the community.

Host: It does sound like a very exciting opportunity that's going on right now. Amy, I'll stick with you for a moment. I know that a big part of any sort of health outreach program is preventative health and education. Talk to me for a little bit about the initiatives focus upon those things.

Amy Montgomery: Yeah. Well, so the big question is why, right? I mean, we're a healthcare organization, we're a hospital. So, why are we in this business? Well, for one, it is part of our mission. Wellness is part of the mission of OBX, Outer Banks Health. And it is the big mission for Dare County Health and Human Services, right? Prevention is key.

The way we feel about it is, how do you take care of your vehicle, right? The experts, your mechanic and your mechanic knows all the tricks and trades of keeping your vehicle on the road the longest, right? And so, your financial advisor knows all the tricks to making sure that you can invest and retire and make your money last the longest.

And so, what we really believe here at Outer Outer Banks Health, and Sheila will agree with this as well, this is one of their values, is if we know the tricks of the trade to helping your body and your mind live the longest and be the healthiest, we need to give you those secrets. We need to let you know what they are, and we need to help you with the tools to making it happen. So, that's why we're doing this. So, that's our big why.

And then, so I talked about values. One of the first things that we are doing is all, is working internally, with both of our teams. And so, we're going to embed the value of wellbeing as a value, as a corporate or an entity value into what we're doing, and then develop programs and initiatives and opportunities to help our team members really lean all into wellbeing. So, really start with ourselves, right?

And we're also going to be partnering with the leadership in the schools and providing opportunities for students as well as teachers and administrators in our schools. We know that about 15% to 20% of our population is in the school every day. So, that's a great opportunity to provide information to a large constituent of our community. So, we're going to be doing some special partnerships with the schools to help spread OBX Thrive.

As well, we know that our physicians, our providers, our nurse practitioners, and physician's assistants are really important people in our healthcare team. So when individuals are seeking out ways to become healthier, maintain their health, get back to their health, your physician or your mid-level provider is one of the first places you go. So, we are going to be providing additional opportunities for training and lifestyle medicine to our local providers. That's really a strong initiative of ours.

And then, we are on a path. We had our first meeting this morning to develop what we're going to call OBX Thrive Month. So, the month of February, 2026, we're going to have a full month long of activities that engage the entire community in the areas where people can thrive. And those areas are movement, organic movement of your body, nutrition, and the foods and substances that you put into your body. We like to say food is medicine. Connection, so social wellbeing. Really leaning all into your purpose is another important factor. And then, last but not least, sleep and stress. So, those are the five areas that we're going to call the Five Thrive.

Host: That sounds like a very holistic approach to everything out there. Dr. Davies, I'll let you comment about that holistic approach more. I really loved your analogy, Amy, about the mechanic keeping your car on the road for the longest time, and do I ever feel that. True. But again, Dr. Davies, more about that holistic approach, please.

Dr. Sheila Davies: Yeah, absolutely. And I'll keep moving Amy's analogy forward. When you think about the car and all of the different parts of a car that can affect your experience in the car. So not just as the car drive, but you know, is your air condition working when it's really hot outside or is your heat working when it's really cold outside? And does your music work to help you get through that long drive?

So if you think of the body, there are so many aspects to our wellbeing. When we want to look at a holistic approach, we're not just looking at the physical, we're looking at the mental, we're looking at the spiritual, we're looking at the lifestyle. And so, it's really important if we're looking at how do we advance longevity of lifestyle is ways people can engage in all different kinds of activities to tap into those parts of the holistic approach to the body and to wellbeing.

Amy touched on those five pillars and that's where we're going to focus these initiatives. We're committed to making sure that there are initiatives that give everyone some level of connection. People are very different people are unique. They live in different circumstances. They have different challenges in their day-to-day living. Our challenge as organizers and leaders and facilitators is to make sure that we have something that everyone can connect to in their own way.

So, that's kind of a big task, but we have such an amazing team behind us. Outer Banks is and no short supply of talent and passion from people, from those who are in our retiree phase, or those who are in the workforce, or those who are, you know, we're going to engage students in this initiative as well. And keeping that holistic approach is really going to offer the greatest opportunity for us to make an impact.

Host: I think it's definitely clear that the people of Outer Banks are definitely going to benefit from this particular program. Amy, you mentioned that you're just getting started. Let's get a preview. What's coming up? What are some events or activities folks in the Outer Banks can look forward to?

Amy Montgomery: Well, so what's coming up is we will be displaying our brand. So, we're developing our mark right now, so our logo, so to speak. People can look forward to seeing what our brand and our logo will look like, and I'd say within the next month or so. Then, we'll go live with our website and individuals can start to tap into the events that are coming up.

And I know that this summer our community outreach team has plans with the Center for Healthy Living to provide some workshops for teachers over the summer to lean into their wellbeing. So, one of our first initiatives is going to provide some opportunities for our teachers in our schools. So, we're really looking forward to that. So, those are the first couple of things that I think our community can look for.

Host: That is great news, Amy. Thank you for joining me today. Sheila, also, thank you as well for being here.

Amy Montgomery: Thank you.

Dr. Sheila Davies: Thank you.

Host: And we hope our discussion on Thrive OBX, that initiative has inspired you to embrace a healthier and more holistic lifestyle. Again, I want a big thanks to Dr. Sheila Davies and Amy Montgomery. And remember to learn more and also participate in upcoming events, you'll soon be able to visit the website at outerbankshealth.org/thriveobx. I'm Evo Terra, inviting you to join us next time as we continue to explore health and wellness topics that matter most to you and your loved ones right here on Outer Banks Health. Thanks for watching.