Though she is noticeably the shortest person in the room, Colleen Lammel-Harmon’s animated gestures and alluring voice command attention. Gathered before her are the members of the Mayor’s Fitness Council, a group of community leaders interested in improving the health of Chicago’s citizens. Everyone from the Army to the Fire Department is sitting in the room.

Chicago has hopped on the national health care bandwagon with the goal of improving health care, but at the same time cutting costs. The words ringing from City Hall to the swings in the neighborhood park are “preventive health and wellness.”

“We’re transitioning to prevention focused health care,” said Joseph M. Harrington, associate commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

The US has traditionally been lauded for its heroic strides in disease management as opposed to preventing chronic illness.

According to the World Health Organization, 60 percent of all deaths in the United States are associated with chronic disease, or illnesses that last a long period of time and develop over time. Such diseases include heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.

“In Chicago, seven out of the ten leading causes of death are related to chronic disease and could therefore have been prevented,” said Harrington. “We could be doing something to stop this by looking at the relationship between health and fitness.”

Under the Obama administration’s “comprehensive health care reform” the government hopes to make use of this relationship to help reduce disease and rising health care costs. In the past month, Congress has put forth several initiatives targeting wellness and disease prevention.

“Health care trajectory cannot continue down the same path we’ve seen in the past years, the costs have become unsustainable,” said Dr. James Galloway, assistant Surgeon General and cardiologist.

On Monday, President Obama met with the leaders of the health care industry to put forth a new health care agenda. At the meeting they pledged to cut $2 trillion in expenses over the next decade.

“The best way to reduce costs is to reduce the burden of chronic diseases,” said Galloway, and one way to do that is through patient education and public health initiatives.

“[The US] health care system in general is disease-focused, [caring] for people that are already sick. To make a difference we need to prevent disease before it strikes,” said Harrington.

The federal government is considering giving tax credits to companies that adopt wellness programs for their employees, covering such areas as smoking cessation, weight control and exercise. Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, who introduced the Healthy Workforce Act, said employers adopting wellness programs lower health care costs and increase productivity of workers.

Despite the added cost of implementation “there is a definite return on investment for wellness programs,” said Galloway.

The preventive health movement is already being applied on a state and city level.

“Everyone is poised to work on this issue so it is clear that to be successful we all have to collaborate,” said Galloway.

In Chicago the Mayor’s council was established to combat obesity and get citizens to exercise regularly.

“It’s a call to action, for fitness and eating right,” said Lammel-Harmon, its executive director and the woman in charge of getting Chicago in shape. In the first two minutes of the meeting, it’s clear you want this woman on your team.

She makes the hour-long meeting seem like a pep rally with her inexhaustible energy, infectious laughter and enviably fit body. You would never guess this is Lammel-Harmon’s first day back from maternity leave. Only two weeks after quite literally popping out her second child, she is back in full force.

“I had the easiest labor thanks to fitness and exercise,” said Lammel-Harmon who also plays the role of registered dietitian and fitness specialist for the Chicago Park District.

The city’s health department, another council member, has adopted its own “Towards a Healthy Future” policy, calling for prevention-focused health care and the creation of stable communities.

“We’re targeting health through education and physical environment,“ said Harrington.

“The idea came out of research about the advantages of prevention as a solution to disease as opposed to just treatment when it’s too late,” said Janis Sayer, chief planning analyst and coauthor of the health department’s policy.

The policy first presented last month is designed to be easily tailored to individual programs of the different stakeholders involved. “All the people who have contributed to this policy will use it in their own organizations,” said Harrington

Also in the works at the federal level is a bill introduced in Congress last month dictating healthier snack options for in-school stores and vending machines. The bill introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., would allow the US Department of Agriculture to establish nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold in schools outside of the cafeteria.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 32 percent of U.S. children are overweight and 16 percent are obese. Previously known as “adult-onset diabetes” there has also been a strong recent uptick in the prevalence of type II diabetes among children. Type II diabetes develops over time and is most commonly associated with obesity, family history, and physical inactivity. If they continue the same eating habits as adults, children become prime candidates for the same chronic diseases that lead to premature death and soaring health care costs, according to the CDC. Federal officials hope that establishing nutrition standards in schools will result in children adopting healthy habits early in life.

“As policymakers we can provide the laws that enable the community to impact the individual,” said Galloway.

The city has also been planning events revolving around health to get kids outside. Friday is Chicago Moves Day, a citywide and program-wide fitness initiative with free outdoor workouts in Daley Plaza and other locations during the lunch hour.  And last month the city sponsored a kite festival at Montrose Harbor and will be hosting the annual Bike the Drive later this month.

Along with the snack-food bill, the park district hopes to influence kids’ eating habits by teaching them to grow and to eat their own vegetables. The Community Gardens program sponsors vegetable gardens in local parks and Harvest Garden is a month-long gardening program that runs through the summer and teaches kids how to be organic farmers.

These smaller projects are the stepping stones in a federal and local partnership to create healthier Chicagoans.

“Across [the board] there are already multiple programs working towards one goal,” said Galloway who helped develop the idea.

Building a Healthier Chicago is the larger umbrella linking schools, worksite wellness programs, health care organizations, community parks, and neighborhoods.

“We are now in the action stages of this fight,” said Galloway.

The issue of disease prevention and wellness is front and center on all rungs of the governmental leadership ladder and now it’s a matter of implementation using the right tools and the right people.

“Health doesn’t just happen, you need to make it a lifestyle,” said Lammel-Harmon. And coming from the woman who went into labor while on the StairMaster, you can be sure this woman practices what she preaches.