Health improvement initiative notching up some successes

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Nearly three-fourths of the way through its funding cycle, Kandiyohi County Public Health’s Statewide Health Improvement Program has notched up several accomplishments.

Initiatives have been launched at three schools to help serve meals that are more nutritious and that expose kids to new fruits, vegetables and grains.

Local child care and preschool providers have been given some tools for incorporating more physical activity in children’s daily routines. And a project is under way with a handful of local employers to promote more healthful choices in vending machines and catered meals.

Health educators with Kandiyohi County Public Health gave an update Wednesday on the progress of SHIP. A second similar meeting will be held today.

The public health agency also is seeking feedback and ideas for projects that might be tackled during the next six months.

Tobacco use and obesity are particular targets, BobbiJo Berg, a health educator with SHIP at Kandiyohi County Public Health said. “You can’t ignore it. It’s affecting our health care costs. It’s affecting our children.”

But changes involving people’s health-related behavior don’t happen quickly, she and health educator Roxanne Lorenz said.

“Many of these things are very time-consuming,” Lorenz said. “We’ve started them.”

The participants at Wednesday’s meeting came from a cross-section that included schools, child care, transportation planning and sustainable food development.

Several of them said the Statewide Health Improvement Program is having some influence.

Rebecca Knutson, who coordinates the child care resource and referral service at Heartland Community Action Agency, said she’s seeing more awareness of the need to promote physical activity. This year the regional committee that reviews grant applications for the agency decided to make physical activity one of its priorities, she said.

“It’s resonated with people,” she said.

SHIP has helped launch a community discussion about options for fostering more walking and biking, said Jarrett Hubbard, bike and pedestrian coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

“I think it really will help organize and put our local communities and certainly the schools towards safer routes to school,” he said.

One of the priorities suggested at the meeting Wednesday was more outreach to the smaller communities in Kandiyohi County to help them identify and implement their own local projects.

Berg said a round of mini-grants will be made available within the next couple of months.

“With $15,000 to $18,000 available, we can fund a lot of people,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunity there.”

The future of SHIP funding beyond June 2011, when the state’s fiscal year ends, is uncertain. It’s possible that it will be reduced or eliminated, Berg said. Until the Minnesota Department of Health knows for sure, however, “they’re going ahead as if there will be funding,” she said.

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