M
y program focus of Nutrition, Health, and Food Safety involves a lot of direct education activities through various workshops and classes. More and more though, our work is moving toward building a culture of health through policy, systems, and environmental change or PSE work.
While education can and does influence individual behavior choices, addressing environmental barriers and community conditions is a crucial aspect of supporting and encouraging healthy behavior change in communities. Where you live affects how you live – you cannot make healthy choices if healthy options are not available to you. So, building community relationships and partnerships which help foster PSE changes can help empower community members to become engaged and advocate for their own health, thus creating a culture of health.
The past month has been a lot about PSE activities. In late June, our Family and Consumer Sciences team attended a PSE Boot Camp sponsored by K-State in connection with the Culture of Health Grant that we received. It was a great opportunity for networking as well as reviewing the goals set forth in our grant, tweaking, and planning next steps.
Other PSE activities included in my schedule this past month include:
Wilson County’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) conducted a Community Health Needs Assessment last fall and in July they invited community members to join them in Fredonia and Neodesha for a number of focus group sessions to discuss the findings. I was privileged to be a part of six of those sessions, including one centered on K-State Research & Extension.
Shaping Health, Improving Fitness Together (SHIFT) is the coalition in Labette County. Their July meeting featured the President and CEO of Thrive Allen County who discussed how to encourage programs, policies and resources that promote access to healthcare, healthy lifestyles, and positive community conversation to improve the well-being of county residents. Very inspiring!
Live Healthy Montgomery County reviewed county health rankings and discussed Coffeyville’s new tobacco free parks policy among other things at their July meeting. I was able to share opportunities being offered by Wildcat District to help improve the health of community members and discuss some options for partnering with other agencies for future activities.
The Montgomery County Coalition for Children Families and Communities is another opportunity to build relationships and partnerships that I have participated in for a number of years. At the July meeting one discussion item was partnering with them for the “All About Kids” End of Summer BASH coming up on Saturday, August 3, 2019.
I also completed online classes and required exams to recertify for my dual role status as a Certified ServSafe Instructor and Registered ServSafe Examination Proctor for the National Restaurant Association. Recertification is required every three years.