Update from Wood County: Get Active Makes Progress in 2011

Get Active Makes Progress in 2011, by DaNita Carlson for The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune

The close of 2011 marks nearly two years since Wood County became one of 50 communities across the country to receive a $2.3 million Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant.

During the past year, the CPPW national obesity prevention program, known locally as Get Active Wood County, has made tremendous progress toward attaining its goal of making healthy eating and active living an easy choice in Wood County.

Led by the Wood County Health Department, the Get Active coalition of local businesses, schools and nonprofit organizations has successfully implemented numerous initiatives focused on nutrition and physical activity that have, and will continue to have, an impact on local residents well into the future. Some of these initiatives include:

» For the second year, all six Wood County public school districts and YouthNet offered Fit-tastic, an after-school program that emphasizes healthy eating and active living. The program served more than 225 students during fall/winter 2011.

» All Wood County public school districts took part in the second year of Farm to School monthly taste tests. Students had the opportunity to taste test locally grown produce that included apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, slicer tomatoes, cherry and grape tomatoes and carrots. Taste tests will continue in school cafeterias monthly through June.

» Seventy-five percent of farmers markets in Wood County now accept FoodShare. The program bridged a gap between FoodShare participants and local farmers, helping reconnect participants to fresh, locally produced food and farmers to federal dollars. More than $4,000 FoodShare dollars were spent at the Wood County Farmers Market at Rapids Mall during the 2011 season.

» Seventeen businesses in Wood County are in the process of implementing healthy food worksite policies. Ten of these businesses also are updating worksite wellness policies that promote employee physical activity.

» Fifteen Wood County restaurants implemented, or are in the process of implementing a Smart Meal program where they label their menus with meals lower in calories, fat and sodium; and higher in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

» Eighteen childcare centers and four Head Start centers throughout Wood County received child care curriculums that promote nutrition and physical activity. In addition, they are receiving assistance and support to update wellness policies that incorporate more physical activity and better nutrition into children's daily routines.

» Fourteen new Wood County facilities opened their doors as Shared Use Facilities, which allow community members to walk in or use space for physical activity or nutrition education.

The Get Active coalition would like to thank the entire Wood County community for advocating for and supporting all of the many Get Active initiatives. But the hard work can't stop now. With the start of 2012 comes the opportunity for everyone to make an effort toward sustaining the Get Active mission of creating a healthier Wood County.

The incentive to do so is great. Right now, two-thirds of Wood County adults are overweight or obese, and childhood obesity rates are higher than ever before. Obesity and other chronic illnesses related to a lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet place substantial stress on the local economy, our community and all of us as individuals. Together, we can make a difference. Make it your New Year's resolution to Get Active, Wood County, and Cause. Community. Change. Get involved at getactivewoodcounty.org.

This is a great example of leveraging earned media as well. 

Link.

Childhood obesity best battled in schools, research finds, in Scientific American.

Obesity rate falls for New York schoolkids

In last week's New York Times. 

The number of obese New York City schoolchildren fell by 5.5 percent over five years, federal and city officials said Thursday, offering a glimmer of optimism about one of the country’s intractable health scourges.

The decline, documented by annual fitness exams given to most of the city’s kindergarten through eighth-grade students, was the biggest reported by any large city. Over all, the rate of obesity dropped in New York City to 207 children per 1,000 in the 2010-11 school year, down from 219 five years earlier, meaning that 20.7 percent were still considered obese.

“This comes after decades of relentless increases,” Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city’s health commissioner, said Thursday. While the 5.5 percent drop may seem slight, he said, “What’s impressive is the fact that it’s falling at all.”

The results, published Thursday in a report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed that the declines in obesity were sharply higher among middle-class children than among poor children. They were also higher among white and Asian children compared with black and Hispanic children, and among very young children — those entering kindergarten or first grade — compared with older children.

Still, the drops held up to some extent across all grades, races and economic levels.

“Because of coordinated, sustained action I am happy to say our children are benefiting from our campaign against obesity, which has plagued communities here in New York and across the nation for nearly three decades,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.

Mr. Bloomberg said the 5.5 percent drop translated into roughly 6,500 fewer obese children in the public schools. He said that an overwhelming majority of parents think their children are fit and at a healthy weight, but that “the facts tell a different story.”

Dr. Farley attributed the progress partly to the city’s aggressive advertising campaign against sugary sodas, which he said may have altered what parents were providing to their children. The city has also tried to add healthier options to school lunch menus, enacted strict rules on the calorie and sugar content of snacks and drinks in school vending machines, and even put limits on bake sales, a move that caused some grumbling.

Buoyed by the results, city officials also announced Thursday that the restrictions on school vending machines were being expanded to machines in all city buildings, and that they were forming a multiagency task force to recommend further initiatives to combat obesity. Dr. Farley also noted that salad bars were now in cafeterias at many schools, including Public School 218, near Yankee Stadium, where the mayor and the commissioner announced the results at a news conference.

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The decline in obesity was documented by the city in FitnessGrams, annual physical education tests that are now completed by most of the city’s kindergarten through eighth-grade students.

As a follow-up question, the New York Times asks, what has your school been doing to encourage healthy habits in students?

Childhood obesity work featured on Wisconsin Public Television!

Live54218, the obesity prevention group in Brown County, WI, was featured on Wisconsin Public Television's "Teen Connection" on Wednesday evening! You can view a 10-minute clip from this feature on YouTube: