Communications tips from Prevention Institute - share your prevention work!

With August Recess winding down, we want to make sure that our legislators continue to hear about the good prevention work our communities are accomplishing. It is up to all of us to speak up and make sure that we are actively shaping the dialogue around community prevention, so that the media and our legislators can understand what we already know: prevention works.

Here is just a sampling of the media coverage our community has accomplished so far during the recess:

• In an op-ed in the Wisconsin State Journal, "Getting kids to eat their vegetables," health educator Maggie Smith captures her community’s resolve to develop local solutions to better the health of their children: “The success that La Crosse County and others implementing Farm to School programs are enjoying could never happen without the commitment, dedication and contributions from the wider community.”
  


• In the Portland Tribune,"We all have a stake in fighting obesity," public health officer Dr. Gary Oxman pens an op-ed effectively responding to a piece that ignored the environment’s role in shaping our health: “…obesity didn’t just 'hit' our community. It took decades of complex and often subtle shifts in what children eat and how much they move.”
  


• In a Miami Herald feature, “Miami-Dade initiatives target childhood obesity,” Penny Parham, Miami-Dade Public Schools’ food and nutrition director, deftly cues the environment first when describing her program’s goals: “We need to give our kids the best foods from which to select and then teach them to want to make the right selections.”



• “New options in store at two tienditas” in the San Antonio-Express News highlights why changing the environment in San Antonio is crucial to changing behaviors and ultimately health outcomes: “People buy what's available. It's easier to walk across the corner to pick up (whole) milk instead of taking two buses in 100-degree weather to buy skim at H-E-B.”

It’s not too late to broadcast your community’s successes, too. Here are the core messages we need to share with legislators and media alike:

• Community prevention is evidence-based.



• Community prevention is local.



• Prevention is good for business.



• Government has a role in public health.



• The American people want prevention.

We’ve compiled all of our media advocacy resources, including talking points, sample op-eds, and messaging and framing strategies in one easy-to-use Media Advocacy Toolkit for your review.

What you can do

• Send a letter to a Member of Congress to educate your legislator about the importance and value of community prevention. Prevention Institute provides easy-to-use, tailored e-mails that you can send directly to your legislator.
  


• Write an op-ed, blog post, or letter to the editor of your local paper.



• Issue a press release highlighting the work taking place in your community.

From Prevention Institute.

Wisconsin Complete Streets Network

Guest post written by Julie Logue, Technical Assistance Coordinator for Physical Activity, Communities Putting Prevention to Work program at the WI Department of Health Services.

What if these roads had been constructed with people in mind or Complete Streets? Pedestrians, children, seniors, bicyclists, and people using wheelchairs can safely move along and across a complete street. Bikeable/walkable roads have been shown to reduce injuries to pedestrians, improve air quality and make it possible for our children to be active. Research shows that people who live in neighborhoods with complete streets get an average of 30-45 minutes more exercise per week than those who do not. When roads are made safe for bicycling and walking, more people choose to use them. By improving the “built environment,” communities improve the health of people in their communities as well. While individuals are responsible for their own health, communities can encourage healthy behaviors by the policies they create.

We are lucky to have a strong state Complete Streets Law in Wisconsin, but in La Crosse County, for example, 53% of road projects use local funding and wouldn’t be covered by our state and federal Complete Streets laws. Through the adoption of local complete streets policies, we can create a seamless network of cities, towns, streets and highways that encourage people to walk out their front doors and be active.

To help support Complete Streets, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, in partnership with the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, has formed a state-wide Complete Streets Network. Complete Streets state-wide networking calls are hosted bi-monthly, and are open to individuals throughout the state who are interested in learning more about the benefits of local Complete Streets policies, and how individuals and organizations can effectively develop Complete Streets initiatives in their communities. To join or learn more about the Complete Streets network, please contact Julie Logue via email at julie.logue@wisconsin.gov. To learn more about La Crosse’s Complete Streets initiative, please contact Jack Zabrowski at zabrowski.jack@co.la-crosse.wi.us. You can follow progress in La Crosse by visiting the “LaCrosse Complete Streets” Facebook page, and/or the GetActive La Crosse website.

Photo from pedbikeimages.org

Friday, Feb. 25

A sampling of obesity in the news this week:

Wisconsin

Column: American Heart Month; State of the State
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink, 02/19/2011 “(Obesity) is a major contributor to heart disease and continues to affect larger numbers of American youth. We must promote physical activity for our children and ourselves in order to maintain healthy lifestyles and communities,” wrote State Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink, D-Milladore.

The problem: Obesity and lack of physical activity
La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse County Health Department, 02/19/2011 “Nearly 1 in 4 high school students and 2 of 3 adults in La Crosse County are overweight or obese. Overweight or obese youth are at higher risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease at a young age.

Nationally (adapted from RWJF News Digest: Childhood Obesity)

Hurley Elementary Is Inspiring Students to Run Toward Better Health
Visalia Times-Delta, Hillary S. Meeks, 02/21/2011
Sun or fog, during January and February, youngsters at Hurley Elementary School in Visalia can be seen running around the makeshift track that was created five years ago for the aspiring marathon runners. Four laps, past the basketball courts and through the soccer fields and back around the playground equals one mile. Each time the 1-mile marker is hit, the participating student gets another flip-flop charm to add to his or her necklace of “soles.” Eventually, those charms will add up to 26.2 miles — a full marathon — one mile at a time. About 80 percent of the student body participates, said Julie Berk, the school's principal.

Jackson Elementary Promotes Better Nutrition With Salad Bar
Whittier Daily News, Tracy Garcia, 02/24/2011
They've already amped up their Physical Education program and educated parents about health and nutrition - and now, a new salad bar at Jackson Elementary School is giving upper-graders more of a say in the food choices they make. The portable salad bar, funded by a $3,000 grant from the Kaiser Permanente Downey medical office, was rolled out for the first time last week at Jackson - and it's the first such salad bar in the Whittier City School District.

A sampling of obesity in the news this week:

Wisconsin
Obesity increases risk for life-threatening illnesses
Green Bay Press-Gazette, Steve Contorno, 02/14/2011
“If recent trends continue, Wisconsin costs could as much as quadruple within the decade," said Beth Kaplan, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Column: Obesity prevention program launches
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, DaNita Carlson, 02/16/2011
“When you stop to think about it, we are surrounded by things that make it easy for us to eat poorly and avoid physical activity. Unhealthy food is cheap and within arm's reach. And we have to search for opportunities to be active. The good news is that in Wood County, we're working to change that,” wrote DaNita Carlson, Wood County Health Department health educator.

Help Make this Real – Wisconsin launches on Facebook.

Nationally
(adapted from RWJF News Digest: Childhood Obesity)

Inactivity Linked to Obesity, Diabetes; Highest in South
USA Today, Mary Brophy Marcus, 02/15/2011
Southern states have the highest rates of inactivity, according to a new government survey that looked at people's physical activity county by county. The new survey by diabetes and obesity researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reflects data collected from 3,141 U.S. counties, from adults who report no physical activity or exercise outside of their jobs.

Separate Bikes-Only Lanes in Cities Cut Injury Rate: Study
HealthDay, Alan Mozes, 02/17/2011
Cyclists using special bike-only tracks that are physically separated from street traffic have fewer accidents compared to bikers pedalling alongside motor vehicles, a new study finds.

Get Your Hot Dogs, Get Your Edamame
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Norman Draper, 02/15/2011
Can healthy snacks sell at a basketball game? Researchers in Anoka-Hennepin schools are about to find out. Using grant money from the Minnesota Department of Health's Statewide Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), they are supplying concession stands at four of the district's five high schools with healthy snacks.

La Crosse County: Early Farm-to-School Successes

Since the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, the La Crosse County Communities Putting Prevention to Work program has already coordinated the purchase, processing and distribution of more than 6,000 pounds of fresh local produce for more than 9,300 students in four La Crosse County school districts.

By the end of 2010, the four school districts will have served the following local, minimally-processed products:

• 3,700 ½-cup servings of fresh carrot sticks
• 4,200 ½-cup servings of frozen carrot slices
• 4,500 ½-cup servings of frozen, ready-to-roast multi-colored potato mix
• 2,200 ¼-cup servings pre-roasted, heat-and-serve Red Kuri winter squash wedges
• 3,500 ½-cup servings of broccoli florets

“We’ve always served fruits and vegetables," said Joni Ralph, La Crosse School District nutrition supervisor. "What this is bringing them is local, seasonal produce. Kids will get to experience a lot more choices of different produce they may not have tried before."

The CPPW Farm to School Coordinator, Josh Miner, built a network of new partnerships between more than a dozen area producers, local food wholesale distributors, and a new community access kitchen based in Mineral Point (http://www.wi.innovationkitchen.org/) to handle food processing.

Challenges remain, but by the end of the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant period in March 2012, La Crosse County hopes to have demonstrated that a coordinated, local supply chain that delivers locally-produced, minimally-processed, heat-and-serve produce products to school districts is healthy for students and staff, the local economy, and the community at large.

For more information about La Crosse County's F2S efforts, contact Sara Tedeschi at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems or Amy Alvig at the Department of Health Services.

Photo: Students in the La Crosse School District's Franklin Elementary after-school program taste test apples. Photo courtesy of La Crosse County Public Health Department.