BRATTLEBORO — The numbers don't lie. Rates of obesity and chronic diseases have reached unprecedented levels in southeastern Vermont just as they have across the nation.
Despite these troubling facts, members of the Healthy Communities Coalition of Windham County believe that most people would like to live a healthier lifestyle.
It's just that, all too often, “the healthy choice is not the easy choice where we live, work, learn and play,” according to Steve Fortier, the coalition's founder. “So, we have as our mission to stimulate and support changes in schools and other youth-serving organizations, workplaces and communities as a whole that make it easier for people to make healthier choices and live healthier lifestyles.”
A key component of those efforts - helping organizations and communities make improvements in their supports for healthy lifestyles - recently got a boost through a grant from the Holt Fund.
“We now have a full-time Assessment and Planning Project Manager, Josh Davis, who is reaching out to organizational and community leaders throughout Windham County to guide them through a self-discovery process to improve their supports for healthy eating and routine physical activity,” reports Fortier. “In his toolbox are a range of proven assessment and planning tools. Josh will listen to the leaders of an organization or community and offer resources that will help them improve in the areas that are most important to them.”
Among these tools, according to Fortier, are the Community Healthy Living Index, food assessments for both schools and communities, a walkability and rideability audit being developed by HCC member Kendall Gifford of Windham Regional Commission, and a retail store scan being developed by the Vermont Department of Health.
In 2009, Meeting Waters YMCA and its Healthy Communities Coalition were one of just 20 YMCA-community partnerships nationwide chosen for participation in the three-year Pioneering Healthier Communities training and technical assistance program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PHC brings community leaders together to help promote, support and sustain healthy behaviors through environmental and policy change.
Other efforts of the Healthy Communities Coalition include financial support of the Brattleboro Farm-to-School project so that it can be a model and resource to other schools throughout the county, sponsoring a Farm-to-School professional development class for educators throughout Windham County, and working with planning commissions throughout the county to integrate health-supporting language into their town plan.
For more information about the Healthy Communities Coalition's assessment and planning tools, call Meeting Waters YMCA at 802-246-1036 (Brattleboro area) or 802-463-4769 (Bellows Falls area) or send an e-mail to josh@meetingwatersymca.org.