Beyond the Boardroom
Ramona Faith CEO Healthy Petaluma District & Foundation
By Rosie Padilla
R amona Faith is a fourth-generation local who prides herself on being able to improve the community in which she lives. In fact, Faith is so passionate about the healthcare industry in Sonoma County that when asked—if you had to move across the country tomorrow, where would you go and why?—her answer was simply that she has no desire to move away from the area she serves. Faith was born and raised in the unincorporated West Marin town of Tomales. When discussing how she got into the medical field, Faith says she always knew she wanted to be either a teacher or a nurse. What Faith didn’t realize is how much teaching there actually is within the nursing field. “I got the best of both worlds. As a nurse I taught nurses, I taught patients, and I taught families.” Faith is now the CEO of Healthy Petaluma District & Foundation, a public agency dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of community members. One of the projects they are currently working on is bringing so-called “blue zones” to Petaluma. Blue zones are geographic areas with lower rates of chronic disease and longer life expectancies. The term blue zone is credited to demographer Michael Poulain and popularized by author Dan Buettner, who researched blue zones in the early 2000s before founding Blue Zones LLC, which promotes longevity, provides tips and information and sells books and products about blue zones.
According to the Healthy Petaluma website— healthypetaluma.org —the agency has partnered with health and longevity staff at the Blue Zones to assess and accelerate Petaluma’s path to
health and well-being. A series of events have taken place to solicit community feedback and a kick-off event for Blue Zones Project Petaluma is scheduled for April 2024. Curious to find out more? Head to healthypetaluma.org or visit the Healthy Petaluma headquarters at 1425 N. McDowell Blvd., Suite 150.
64 NorthBaybiz
February 2024
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