Ned Noel

The man who helped create the recently adopted health chapter of Eau Claire’s comprehensive plan – which focuses on improving citizens’ health through the physical environment around them – has won a public health award. Ned Noel, associate city planner, received the Community Champion Award from Eau Claire Healthy Communities, a coalition focused on “the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities.” Noel was nominated for the award by Lieske Giese, director of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department. According to the group, the health chapter “focuses on impacting the built environment in ways that will make the healthy choice the easy choice in the city of Eau Claire. This plan moves the community forward to having a ‘health in all policies’ approach, to include health considerations in the way cities are designed and built.” In particular, the health chapter tackled important issues of chronic disease and high-risk alcohol use. If Eau Claire gets healthier in the coming years, Noel will be among those we all can thank.