Taking It To the Next Level

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Taking It To the Next Level

• Working for Policy and Environmental Change
• Healthy SI Delta Network

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Healthy SI Delta Network

• Current goal
• Reduce cardiovascular disease morbidity and
  mortality by expanding cardiovascular disease
  prevention programs in this region

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Our challenge--
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Institutes of Medicine

• It is unreasonable to expect that people will
  change their behavior easily when so many forces
  in the social, cultural, and physical environment
  conspire against such change.

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Our challenge--

• Look beyond prevention programming to
• making our communities places where it is easy to
  live a healthier lifestyle

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What we are doing now

• Increasing START walking paths
• Implementing CATCH in schools
• Working with schools on Wellness Policies and
  Committees, School Health Indexes

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More emphasis needs to be placed on environmental
and policy changes
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Why make this shift?

• More impact on more people
• Opportunity for lasting impact
• Considered Best Practice
• Endorsed by leading institutions
• Policy and environmental approach is becoming the
  standard for funding

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Many reports on making communities healthier

• Leadership for Healthy Communities---RWJF
• Local Government Actions---IOM
• Recommended Community Strategies---CDC
  

• ..\..\

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Focus is on

• Improving access to and consumption of healthy
  foods
• Decreasing access to calorie dense, nutrient poor
  foods
• Increasing physical activity

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Recommended Food Policy and Environmental Changes

• Increase access to healthy foods through grocery
  stores
• Promote fruits and vegetables in a variety of
  settings
• Increase access to free, safe drinking water

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Recommended Activity Policy and Environmental
Changes

• Reduce use of PE waivers in schools
• Promote recreational physical activity
• Make biking and walking more viable
  transportation options
• Enhance safety in activity areas
• Establish joint use agreements to increase access
  to school facilities

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Where do we go from here?

• Look at what other communities are doing
• Assess our communitieshow well do they support
  healthy lifestyles?
• Look for more opportunities to change environment
  and policy
• Include policy makers in your coalitions

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Other communities

• Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative
• ACHIEVE Communities (NACCHO)
• ENACT website includes data base of other
  communities who have implemented each strategy

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ENACT Assessment Tool

• Planning assessment and Implementation Tool
• Has identified policy and environmental
  strategies
• Assessment by sector school, worksite,
  healthcare, community, etc.

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Breakout Sessions

• We will discuss how to
• Strengthen your coalition
• Become more engaged in policy and environmental
  changes
• Provide input on state level policy changes

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• Policy work takes
• time
• lots of people working together
• Makes a significant impact.