October 19, 2012

Kathy Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal

The California Museum has a new digital multimedia exhibit in downtown Sacramento that invites visitors to explore health beyond doctors, diet and exercise.

“Health Happens Here,” created in partnership with the California Endowment, uses high-tech games to educate visitors in an interactive journey through a virtual school cafeteria, a brush with school-yard bullies and a chance to take an interactive journey up a virtual city street confronted by good and bad health choices.

Built on the idea that health depends largely on where people live, learn, work and play, the exhibit challenges Californians to think about health beyond the doctor’s office. The program is based on U.S. Census statistics and Measure of America’s human development research, which shows ZIP codes can predict life expectancy.

“You don’t change the conventional wisdom about health with a conventional exhibit, and ‘Health Happens Here’ is anything but conventional,” Daniel Zingale, senior vice president of the California Endowment, said in a news release. “It is more than an exhibit. It’s the voice of everyday Californians who know their health and their lives depend on where they live, work and play.”

The ongoing exhibit opened Oct. 16.

To get a taste, select games are available at HealthHappensinCA.org. For more information, go to CaliforniaMuseum.org.