Grant-funded health initiative begins third year locally

For the third consecutive year, Healthy Schools Healthy Communities (HSHC) is working with local communities to help kids and their families become more active and eat healthier.

HSHC is an initiative of the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) primarily designed to address the national trend of childhood weight issues. The MFH was formed in February 2000 as a result of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s changeover from a nonprofit to for-profit company, because federal law requires that proceeds from the sale of tax-exempt entities be directed toward charitable purposes.

In 2014, Cabool was the first area community to benefit from the five-year HSHC grant period. Houston was added last year, and Willow Springs joins this year.

HSHC has new local leadership this year, as Earlene Stoops has taken over the position of Community Wellness Coordinator (she also covers Willow Springs). HSHC’s local headquarters has moved from the Cabool YMCA to the Texas County Health Department.

“This is an outstanding organization,” Stoops said. “HSHC is a great resource for the region, working with communities and nonprofits to generate and accelerate positive changes in health. As a catalyst for change, the foundation works to improve the health of Missourians through a combination of partnerships, experience, knowledge and funding.

“They care a lot about kids and want to help them have a healthy weight. They want them to be active and have the opportunity to get out and do things, because if they’re not involved in some sort of activity, a lot of them will just sit around and play video games.”

Since its inception locally, HSHC has funded numerous events, activities and community improvements, including cooking classes, walking clubs and the introduction of healthy foods in schools, and the addition of water fountains next to the path at Cabool’s Montgomery Lake, hydrants adjacent to the new Cabool community garden, color-coded signage around Houston’s Village Trail sidewalk system, and signage for the Houston Farmers Market. HSHC has also partnered with Downtown Houston Inc. to fund installation of commercial cooking equipment in the soon-to-open annex at Houston’s Lone Star Plaza,

Stoops said she hopes to gain approval from MFH officials to this year use grant-funding for several similar purposes, but to also include activities like a Frisbee golf tournament and a family-style “biggest loser” event in which entire families weigh in together along the way.

A planning meeting is set for late February, and after proposals are reviewed by the MFH, a schedule for the rest of 2016 should be in place by the beginning of April. Stoops said there are several big ideas – or “dreams” – begin considered.

“We may not get to do everything we want to do,” she said, “but I like to dream big. Maybe if we’re way, way out there, we’ll get a fourth of it done and that will be a lot.”

Stoops said HSHC’s promotion of the Houston Farmers Market is part of a push to positively affect the area’s culture, by getting young people and their families to embrace a better diet.

“Anyone who has eaten fresh food like you get at the farmers market knows there’s no comparison,” she said. “What we’re doing is forming new generations that are healthy and more active. I look at it as we’re empowering them, because when you eating better and you’re active, your brain works better and you’re happier.

“It’s just a win-win situation.”

But for kids to benefit from a better lifestyle, adults must embrace the concept as well, Stoops said.

“It’s a family thing,” she said. “If kids don’t have a foundation and support system when they go home, they’re not as likely to stick to what we might get them started on. The whole thing about this grant is sustainability – being able to start and then make it a lifetime habit, not just doing something for six months and then stopping, because that doesn’t do anyone any good.”

‘RAT RIDE’

Cabool resident Jerry Honeysuckle has taken his love for health and fitness to a level well beyond most local residents.

Honeysuckle single-handedly organized a walking and riding event at Montgomery Lake on Jan. 1 of the past two years. Now he has launched the idea of HSHC conducting a “rat ride” bicycling event that would feature a course beginning at the far north end of Texas County and ending in Cabool.

Participants would have the option of riding the entire distance, or joining the “pack” at several designated stations along the way. Stoops said vehicles and trailers would be nearby in case people require being shuttled or removed from the course.

“Hopefully we would have a big crowd at the end,” she said. “It could really be quite a deal.”

EXERCISE LEADS TO BETTER HEALTH

Stoops shared two examples of local people whose stories prove that exercise and proper diet can often lead to improved health.

Cabool resident Tom Carr was diagnosed with diabetes in September 2010. That spurred Carr to change his diet and begin regularly riding his bicycle.

He was taken off his medication in March 2011 and hasn’t taken any since. Now Carr rides 15 miles a day on the paved path at Montgomery Lake in Cabool.

“Once he got on that bike and started to control his diet, it only took him about six months to get off of medication,” Stoops said. “That’s awesome.”

Also a Cabool resident, Jennifer Ross owns a Welsh Corgi named Buddy. Buddy had surgery on his leg, and ultimately had to embark on an exercise regimen as part of his recovery process.

As a result, Ross began walking Buddy daily at Montgomery Lake – or as she would say, having him walk her. Now Buddy is better, and Ross is enjoying her healthier lifestyle.

“These are both great examples of how exercise and eating right can change a person’s life for the better,” Stoops said. “Our challenge is getting more people to realize that and take action. That’s hard – our society has gotten away from that kind of thing, but we’re doing what we can to change the direction.”

Buddy even has his own Facebook page, “Buddy the four paw drive Corgi.”

Stoops said she welcomes anyone to get involved with HSHC as a volunteer.

“The key word to this is ‘team,’” she said. “Everybody has to be on board and be a team.”