In 2012, health officials from Buncombe County, North Carolina partnered with a local hospitals and community organizations, to conduct a community-wide health assessment. What they learned was that close to 30% of Buncombe adults were obese; 33% were overweight; 37% of adults had high blood pressure; and 7.9% of the community suffered from diabetes. After learning about the dire health challenges that residents faced, the county health department quickly took action by coming up with a plan to improve the health of the community. As part of the plan the health department formed local partnerships and came up with six health priorities which included goals to address obesity and improve child health. These key partnerships and collaborations, led to the formation a number of ...
Middle-school students in the FreeWheels for Kids program are learning what it means to be leaders for healthy change. By bringing bike clubs to various schools and facilities across Kansas City, and its growing Latino population, this nonprofit is helping kids have fun and stay active, while teaching them how to fix bikes, build nature trails, and to voice their desire for a bike friendly community with bike-friendly streets.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Benjamin Alexander was already an avid bicyclist when he started working at a local community center, where he mentored kids in Kansas City, Kan., which is 28% Latino. “I rode my bike to work every day,” Alexander said. At the community center in spring 2011, he was fixing his bike when a middle-school student asked him how he ...
The city of Brownsville, Texas which sits on the Texas-Mexico border was desperately in need of some changes for better health. Fortunately, a diverse group of leaders banded together to implement a variety of initiatives to reach locals with improved access to healthy foods, culturally relevant opportunities for physical activity and programs to aid those with limited access to health care. In an article from Health Affairs blog, Salud Hero and associate professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Belinda Reininger recounts how some of Brownville's leaders got started with bringing about a culture of health to its residents. According to the article, in Brownsville, 48% of children live in poverty, 80% are obese or overweight, 30% of the population has ...
Hollin Meadows Elementary School, part of the 23% Latino Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, has dedicated leaders and parents who value student health. A few years ago, they started a vegetable garden. Since then, thanks to the leadership of parent Shawn Akard, the school has: developed more gardens; brought in an “outdoor education coordinator” to oversee the gardens and programming; and helped students learn to grow and value new healthy produce.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Shawn Akard, a PTA member and mother of a student at Hollin Meadows Elementary School in Alxandria, Va., appreciated the healthy changes going on in her district, Fairfax County Public Schools. She wanted to get involved. Learn: Around 2006, she talked with other parents to get ideas on how to get kids ...
Public Health officials in Grand Rapids, MI, (15% Latino) are working to connect two parks by way of a new walking path, thanks to support from a $13,900 active living grant it recently received from the Michigan Department of Community Health. The trail project is just one component of the team's plan for chronic disease prevention among the population. The idea is to encourage trail usage in an area of the city where much of the population is comprised of high risk Hispanics and African Americans. “What we are basically doing is trying to connect Roosevelt Park and Garfield Park in terms of providing a walking path,” said Jill Myer, the supervisor of the health department’s obesity initiative, in an Mlive news article . “The goal is to provide some safe walking ...
What good is physical activity if you fuel up with junk food and sugary drinks? One leader in Arlington County, Va., realized that the absence of healthy drink and snack options at parks and public buildings was sending an unclear message to the community about the importance of proper nutrition for an active lifestyle. With overwhelming community support, he drove good-for-you options into vending machines in county-owned property and local schools, creating an environment that weaves both nutrition and physical activity into the fabric of neighborhood health.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Families in Arlington County, Va., come from many different cultural backgrounds.
Among the county’s 16% Latino population, this diversity is apparent. “The Latino population is probably a bit ...
A hospital is a place for healing illness, and promoting health for new moms. However, many hospitals across the country still offer a wide range of sugary drinks in vending machines, gift shops, and cafeterias. Latino kids on average drink more of these sugary drinks their White peers. One hospital in Boston used a beverage policy to not only help patients make healthy drink choices, but also hospital administration, staff, patients’ families, and the local community.
The Obesity Crisis
Dorchester is a diverse inner-city community in Boston, Mass., where almost 20% of residents are Latino. Many of Dorchester’s low-income, high-risk factor patients get their medical care at Carney Hospital, a member of Steward Health Care, the largest fully integrated community care ...
A Call to Update National Physical Activity Guidelines Regularly A new bill--The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act--seeks to improve physical activity standards for Americans. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) have introduced the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act," to the Senate. The legislation would mandate that new guidelines be created every 10 years and that best practices in physical activity be highlighted every five years. A recent report from the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotions found that physical activity levels among Americans remain low--however, reports like the one proposed ...
In Summer of 2012, the New York City Health Department approved a ban on the sale of soda and other sugary drinks in quantities larger than 16 ounces in restaurants, movie theaters and street carts. The first of its kind in the country, the measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery stores or convenience stores. The ban is one of the many attempts of Mayor Bloomberg to combat the rise of obesity in America.
Naturally, the ban is quite controversial; the beverage industry sued the Health Department to keep the ban from going into affect in March 2013. A handful of Latino groups were against the ban, stating that the ban would hurt Latino-owned businesses and do ...
