Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. A recent report about tobacco use in the U.S. noted that adult smoking rates in 12 contiguous states exceed not only the national average, but that of many of the world’s most tobacco-dependent countries, including China, Indonesia and Brazil. Unfortunately, Indiana is one of these 12 states, which together comprise “Tobacco Nation.” In Tobacco Nation states, health outcomes are poorer than the national average. Incidences of preventable diseases linked to smoking – like lung and other cancers, and heart disease – are also higher. So it’s not surprising that life expectancy rates are lower in these states, […]

Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Every April, we celebrate National Minority Health Month in order to call attention to the health disparities that affect racial and ethnic minorities across the country. This year’s theme of “Active and Healthy” living is timely, given the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation’s recently released report on the obesity epidemic in Marion County and Indiana. This obesity report found that one in three Hoosier adults is obese, and more than two in three are overweight or obese. In Marion County, the rate is even higher with 39 percent of adults having obesity, up from 26 percent in 2005. While […]