Healthiest County 2015: La Crosse » Accomplishments

Healthiest County 2015 - Accomplishments

Partner Accomplishments

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Healthiest County 2015: La Crosse on Prezi

7 C's (7 county health initiative--formerly LAHI)
- Collaborating with public health agencies in each county
- Implementing smoke free workplace law
- Conducting youth compliance checks for sale of tobacco products (Noncompliance rates are currently 5-20%; goal is <5%)
- FACT (Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco) project: working in schools and at the Boys & Girls Club
- Partnering with Monroe County Drug-Free Community grant
- Turning focus to non-smoking nicotine products (fruit/mint/chocolate flavored--appealing to youth)
Driftless Region Bicycle Coalition
- Bike to Worship effort
- Bike to work week--held each May
- Community events
- Successfully achieved 501(c)(3) status
- Active in bicycling advocacy efforts--Complete Streets, etc.
Bike Pedestrian Advisory Committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)
- Complete Streets at MPO level
- Modifying funding prioritization process to encourage communities to include bike, ped, and transit accommodations
- $100,000 in funds brought into area for bike-ped-transit planning projects (e.g., bike racks at bus stops)
- Looking at multimodal ways to get to train stations
- Adopted a bike route map to go in River Valley Transit Center
Hunger Task Force (HTF)
- Worked with farmers markets in 2010 to get healthier foods donated
- Seeds of Hope campaign: challenged donors to plant an extra row in their gardens for HTF
- Share the Bounty program: Two farmers markets donated 30,000 pounds of produce; 57 area food programs benefited
- Cooking, food preparation demonstrations at Kane St. Community Garden
- Working with Hmong community to plant traditional foods
- Guides created for buying, keeping, and storing vegetables and fruit
- Added a Q&A section to their website
- Hosted Interns from all three higher-education campuses; would like longer-term interns
- Food Recovery program: recovered post-expiration date but still good food for after school programs
- Provided resources for those conducting food drives
- Salvation Army partnered with UW-Extension for food preparation of donated food at the South Side Neighborhood Center
Coulee Region Childhood Obesity Coalition
- Celebrated 10 year anniversary in 2010
- Moved focus from awareness to addressing problems
- Was the impetus behind Footsteps to Health program in area grocery stores
- Walk Around the World challenge: YMCA after-school sites and Head Start gave kids a "travel" log to record the distance they walked every day so they could earn "miles" toward incentives. The program will open up to schools (public and private) and families in the future
- Completed a Turn Off the TV challenge in April, both for schools and families
- Implemented a Walk to School challenge
Changing the Culture of Risky Drinking Behavior Coalition
- Conducted alcohol safety assessments for area festivals
- Preparing recommendations for festival organizers related to providing healthy food options and safe alcohol practices
- Completed Strategic Plan for reducing alcohol-related injuries among 12-20 year olds in La Crosse County
- Received three-year Impact Award from Medical College of Wisconsin's Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program to reduce underage access to and use of alcohol in La Crosse County
- Received planning and implementation grant from the Wisconsin Department of Human Services to reduce binge drinking among 18-25 year-olds in La Crosse County; Renewed for second year of implementation
- Presented policy recommendations to college/university leaders
Healthy Living Collaboration:
- Provided leadership for the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant from the Centers for Disease Control
- Created a Strategic Plan for La Crosse County to make choices in healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco use easier
- Granted funds to the Boys & Girls Club for the youth-led Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco (FACT) group at the Mathy Center and Erickson Center
- Supported Wise Guys/Smart Girls tobacco-free program
- Granted funds to YMCA and Boys & Girls Club for fruits and vegetables to be served in after school programs
- Boys and Girls Club changed its guiding tenets to include an emphasis on health, which will affect all future decision-making
Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant: a $2.2 million federal grant (CDC) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve nutrition and physical activity to prevent obesity in La Crosse County
- Partnered with Gundersen Lutheran to expand its 500 Club into 21 Kwik Trip stores in La Crosse County
- Partnering with Stansfield Vending to expand their Wellness Warriors program, which prices healthier items more competitively, and to set "healthy zones" in the vending display. This model is being piloted at the County building in La Crosse.
- Implemented Footsteps to Health, a grocery store-based program to increase fruit and vegetable purchases in three Festival Foods stores and three Quillin's and Hanson's stores. Features "fruit/vegetable of the month" and other informational materials about eating healthy
- Bike-Ped project installed bike racks, created new bike lanes, provided active commuting toolkits to employers, and worked to get a Complete Streets policy in La Crosse County
- Safe Routes to School project is getting kids to move more and eat healthier in 13 schools. Established a liaison for the schools, is implementing a "walking school bus" every day, and is developing special "walk/bike days" for middle school students
- Farm to School project is in place in four school districts in La Crosse County. Arranging for lightly processed food to appear on lunch menus, including a "harvest of the month" and food tastings for students to help develop menus
- Formed after school partnerships to get kids more active
- Complete Streets policy work would allow for safer, more walkable, bikable, disability-friendly streets in La Crosse County. Project is attempting to localize the current state policy. West Salem is completing their policy. Work is occuring in the City of La Crosse, La Crosse County, and in the City of Onalaska. Metropolitan Planning Organization is also working on a new policy
- Onalaska received federal funding for streetscaping and a local market
- City of La Crosse approved a new bike-ped bridge with a $4 million grant
Pioneering Healthier Communities:
- 20 new bike racks have been installed in La Crescent
- "Apples for Everyone" project in partnership with Stansfield Vending is providing healthy foods
- School board administration challenge Onalaska and Holmen school district employees to a 12-week "get active and lose weight" campaign
- Hosted a Harvest Dinner based on local and seasonal food
- Installed 40 new bike racks in La Crosse in partnership with the City of La Crosse and Mid-City Steel
- Launched a new healthy worksite online toolkit
Mental Health Coalition:

Held 2010 Shooting Star Awards
Held two strategic planning sessions with mental health partner organizations

La Crosse County Human Services:

CARE Center opened in La Crosse

La Crosse Area Suicide Prevention Coalition:

Hosted 2010 Suicide Prevention Summit

Violence Prevention subcommittee of the Family Policy Board formed

Infectious Disease partners

Agreed to consolidate past committees into a single, new group dedicated to preventing communicable diseases