BY MISTY MILIOTO
The modern wellness industry has perfected the art of individual optimization. We track our steps, monitor our macros, and time our sleep cycles — all in isolation. But what if the most powerful health intervention is found in each other? Here’s a look at two innovative health programs proving that community connection isn’t just a nice addition to healthcare; it’s also medicine itself.
Dr. Benjamin Emmert-Aronson, co-founder and director of operations and Dr. Elizabeth Markle, co-founder and executive director, both at Open Source Wellness, coined the term “Community as Medicine.” Their work, which is primarily focused on underserved communities, is driven by the idea of health equity.
“We saw early on that folks who are able to access systems and structures to help them make lifestyle changes necessary for good health — how we eat, how we move, how we handle stress, and how we connect meaningfully with others — had a shot at actually making those changes,” Emmert-Aronson says. “However, for those who didn’t have that same privilege, trying to make these changes in isolation, amidst the challenges of their daily lives, it was a prescription for failure. Working on goals together in community is vital to actually making changes in health and wellbeing.”
Open Source Wellness built what Emmert-Aronson describes as a Behavioral Pharmacy — a place where people can actually access the support they need to make lifestyle changes. But the innovation isn’t in the individual services. It’s in doing these activities together that makes all the difference.
The prescription looks like this: Paraprofessional health coaches lead two-hour Community as Medicine sessions that include 30 minutes of movement, five minutes of mindfulness, a health lesson, and 60 minutes of group coaching over a plant-based meal.
“Open Source Wellness was built to be a community where people make these changes together,” Emmert- Aronson says. “This is especially vital for folks who don’t have the ability or privilege to hire a health coach, take a Pilates class, or shop at Whole Foods.”
In research partnerships with Stanford University and the University of California San Francisco, participants experienced a 77% decline in emergency room visits, a 57% decrease in depression, and a 21-point drop in blood pressure. For Emmert-Aronson and Markle, these findings were deeply ironic — they are both psychologists, but they didn’t expect to see changes in depression or anxiety.
“[The mental health improvements] have been some of our most consistent improvements to date,” Emmert-Aronson says. Whether it’s full-service support, training and licensing, or consulting to help amplify the effectiveness of an existing program, Open Source Wellness works with organizations to deliver Community as Medicine.
“Our direct service work is almost exclusively through low-income Federally Qualified Health Centers,” Emmert-Aronson says. “In our training, we support
YMCAs in running similar groups with clinics in their area. We also provide extensive technical assistance in partnering with clinics, funding their work sustainably, and collecting and analyzing outcomes and data. We now have partners from California to Minnesota to Florida, and I’m deeply proud to see the increase in accessibility of this work.”
Meanwhile, Walk with a Doc is proving the same principle through radical simplicity. Started in 2005 by Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Columbus, Ohio, the program now has more than 644 chapters in 39 countries. The formula? Doctors invite patients to walk together in nature, share a brief health talk, and continue the conversation while moving.
Rachael Habash, chief operating officer, says the simplicity is precisely what made scale possible. “We’ve learned that people are craving something uncomplicated and human: move your body; go outside; talk with a trusted healthcare provider; and meet neighbors,” she says. With 71% of participants increasing their physical activity, Habash says that the magic is in the combination of nature and community.
“Nature reduces stress and lifts mood, which makes people want to return,” she says. “Community adds accountability and joy — you’re not walking alone; you’re walking with friends. Then there’s the physician’s presence. It’s subtle but powerful.”
Clinicians, who typically face impossible time pressures, also are finding benefits in the program.
“Many clinicians tell us they feel disconnected from why they entered medicine in the
first place,” Habash says. “At our walks, the hierarchy drops away and there is an opportunity to humanize healthcare. We consistently hear physicians say that leading walks reduces burnout and reminds them what healing is supposed to feel like.”
And instead of white coats, which carry authority but also intimidation, physicians wear sneakers and baseball caps to encourage approachability.
“Participants ask questions they might not ask in an exam room,” Habash says. “Doctors explain concepts in plain language. There’s no time pressure. There’s mutual humanity. Education becomes relational rather than transactional, and retention is much higher.”
Both programs represent a fundamental challenge to traditional wellness thinking.
“The traditional model says, ‘If you’re not healthy, you’re not trying hard enough,’” Habash says. “We reject that. People don’t need more guilt; they need more support. We create environments that make the healthy choice the easy and enjoyable choice.”
Emmert-Aronson also has experienced this firsthand through his years of communal living.
“When I lived in community, I found it so easy to be healthy,” he says. “In my last co-op, I cooked dinner for the house two nights a month, as did all of my housemates. When we make healthy decisions easy, people choose them naturally.” Although community connection has been undervalued in American healthcare, the evidence for change is mounting. According to Habash, Walk with a Doc is solving a core problem in today’s modern world.
“We solve disconnection: disconnection from our bodies, from nature, from our communities, and from our healthcare providers,” she says. Meanwhile, Emmert-Aronson is seeing unprecedented momentum. “We have never seen so much support for social prescribing, lifestyle medicine, or holistic care,” he says. “It is clear that how we are doing healthcare currently is not working, and more and more people are linking arms to help create something different.”
Open Source Wellness has ongoing trainings available to individuals and organizations interested in bringing Community as Medicine to the places they live, learn, work, heal, or play. For more information, visit www.opensourcewellness.org.
If you’d like to start a Walk with a Doc chapter in your community, connect with the team at www.walkwithadoc.org/start.
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