1. Mississippi State University Extension Service
Working Together Toward Healthier Communities
Rachel Welborn
Community Health Coordinator
March 23, 2006

2. Major Components Individual Choices Youth Healthy Choices
Adult Healthy Choices
Community Development
Access
Resource Development
The efforts of MSU-ES to improve the state’s health fall under two main headings:
Individual choices: with programs for both youth and adult to encourage healthy behaviors
Community Development: with programs to help communities address issues surrounding access and resource development in the realm of health

3. Youth Health: Body Walk
First, we will take a look at youth programming
Body Walk – Target audience: K-5. What better way to educate children about making healthy choices than to have them walk through a human body to see the importance of those choices first hand? While we don’t actually have a giant human volunteer for this task, MSU-ES has the next best thing: The Body Walk. The Body Walk is a 40-foot by 40-foot walk-through exhibit representing the human body. As students walk through the exhibit, they participate in hands-on learning activities to help guide them toward healthy choices.
MSU-ES is joined by several dedicated partners to bring this learning opportunity to our state. Our thanks for this support goes to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the MS Rural Health Corp., the MS Office of the Attorney General, and the Partnership for a Healthy MS.
Body Walk, an extraordinary exhibit that consists of:
A 40-foot by 40-foot walk-through exhibit representing the human body, 
Classroom activities for use prior to and following the students’ walk through the exhibit,
A take-home book for students to read with their families,
A list of additional nutrition education resources
Information to help publicize the event and communicate with the media. 

4. Youth: Delta HOPE School Assembly Program OrganWise Guys Materials
Books (Younger Years Kits and AR Books)
Videos (Educational, Health-related videos featuring the OWG)
Educational Doll
TAKE 10! Grade-specific materials kit
10 minutes of physical activity integrated with academics delivered in the classroom
Delta H.O.P.E. (Healthy Options for People through Extension) – Target audience: Children K-5. The project is funded by a four-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the Mississippi Alliance for Self-Sufficiency (MASS), a cooperative outreach including The Mississippi Food Network, Inc. of Jackson, MS and the Mississippi State University-Extension Service Family Nutrition Program.
Efforts focus on the implementation of a comprehensive, school-based nutrition and physical activity program to address childhood overweight and at risk for overweight. Utilizing the TAKE 10! ® curriculum tool featuring the OrganWise Guys®, ten minute increments of physical activity are introduced into the school day several times a week in a fun (and educational!) way. The project is geared toward children, while meeting educational standards for the State of Mississippi. In addition to 65 Mississippi Delta schools, the grant provides funding for 10 schools in Louisiana and 10 schools in Arkansas in the Delta region. The OrganWise Guys®/TAKE 10! ® program consists of innovative, educational materials such as books, activity books, videos, CD-Roms and more. These materials all feature The OrganWise Guys®. This cast of characters brings the body to life and facilitates the communication of important health issues in a manner understood by children. The International Life Sciences Institute Center for Health Promotion owns the TAKE 10! ® Program and is participating in the evaluation portion of the project. Wellness Incorporated is providing project management and training on their OrganWise Guys® materials.

5. Youth: Take 10
Integrates multiple 10 minute periods of physical activity with core curriculum learning objectives in K-5 classrooms, (language arts, math, science, social studies, and health)

6. Youth: Organ Wise Guys
The OrganWise Guys® are a cast of characters that bring the body to life and facilitates the communication of important health issues in a manner understood by children.

7. Youth: Health Is Academic
Target: Schools
Three steps for success:
Gather input & assess situation
Develop a wellness policy
Implement wellness policy
Target audience: schools.
Funded by the Office of Healthy Schools, with support from the Bower Foundation, Health Is Academic focuses on working with local schools to implement three steps for success:
Gather input and assess the current school health situation;
Develop and approve a school wellness policy; and,
Implement and approve a school wellness policy.
Schools apply through competitive grant applications to the Office of Healthy Schools to receive $3,000 grants. These grants are intended to provide assistance for peer development/support on the “how to do” a coordinated school health program. MSU Extension Service FCS staff are facilitating this process. Two of the six priority health risk behaviors established early in life as identified by the Centers for Disease Control are unhealthy dietary behaviors and inadequate physical activity. Beginning with the school year , Health Is Academic has implemented 40 start-up grants to address these two issues with plans to increase the number to 100 by the school year

8. Adult: Family Nutrition Program
Purpose: Improve the quality of life for persons of limited resources
Participants will learn to:
Improve dietary practices
Effectively manage available food resources
Safely handle food to prevent illness
Target Audience: Food Stamp recipients and those eligible
Sponsors:
Mississippi State University Extension Service,
the Mississippi Department of Human Services, and
the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service.
Purpose: Improve the quality of life for persons of limited resources
Participants will learn to:
Improve dietary practices
Effectively manage available food resources
Safely handle food to prevent illness

9. Adult: Take Care of Yourself
This 1-hour workshop teaches participants to
Observe and describe health changes
Recognize true emergencies
Manage minor health problems at home
Decide if a health professional is needed this workshop.
This 1-hour workshop teaches participants to
Observe and describe health changes
Recognize true emergencies
Manage minor health problems at home
Decide if a health professional is needed this workshop.
As a result, participants
improve the quality of their healthcare
avoid unnecessary expense
use medicine more wisely

10. Adult: Take Charge of Your Health
Emphasizes the importance of incorporating healthy habits into daily life and
Helps families to understand why it is important for them to Take Charge of Their Health.  

11. Adult: Strong Women Program
*A fitness program for women*
Women learn how to
Stay strong,
Feel better, and
Maintain their independence  
A fitness program for women
Women learn how to
stay strong,
feel better, and
maintain their independence with exercises that are easy to learn, and have been proven safe and effective.  

12. Adult: Know Your Numbers
Encourages participants to monitor four important measures of health:
Cholesterol
Blood pressure
Blood sugar
Body mass index
This program is presented in partnership with the Mississippi Chronic Illness Coalition

13. Adult: Mississippi in Motion
 Adopt a new healthier lifestyle!
 Improve your health and well-being!
 Increase your physical activity!
 Kick the "couch potato" habit!
 Share your successes!
 Work through your challenges!
 Motivate one another!
Enjoy a little healthy competition!  
Get five people (co-workers, family members, and friends) who want to get moving and live healthier.
Choose a name for your team.
 Each week, attend an educational session and share the information with team members who could not attend.
 After 12 weeks, teams who meet the physical activity and education goals will be honored.
Mississippi in Motion is a 12-week educational program focusing on developing healthy habits for life.

14. Adult: Mississippi in Motion
Personal Goal Setting
 Becoming Physically Active
 Better Planning for Better Meals
 Cooking Healthy
 Diabetes
 Eating Out Smart
 Fad Diets
 Healthy Heart
 My Pyramid
 Stress and Emotional Eating
 Flexibility and Strength Training
 Physical Activity/Walking
MS in Motion lessons

15. Serve Safe Geared toward food service establishments
Required: at least one person
Five year certification

16. Tummy Safe Geared toward child care providers 5 year certification
Food safety training required for licensed daycare facilities
Sanitizing toys
Bottle feeding
Preferred training for child care providers because of the specific issues covered.

17. Agromedicine Program Part of the Delta Health Alliance
Serves the farming and rural community and their health care providers
Provides information, education, service, and trainings
The Agromedicine program is a new program under the Delta Health Alliance umbrella. This project was launched through a partnership between Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. It was created to increase awareness in preventing agricultural related illness and injury in rural areas, specifically the Mississippi Delta. The Agromedicine Project serves the farming and rural community and their health care providers by providing information, education, service and training through workshops, summits, and new technology. Through a collaborative effort with the Centers for Disease Control the Agromedicine program is also doing a community needs assessment of the entire Delta. This information will help to identify health priorities and support future planning efforts.
Specific Activities:
Annual Health and Safety Summits
Progressive Agriculture Farm Safety Day Camps for children
Partnership with Bolivar County in an ATV Safety Project and grant
Partner with Delta Coalition for Disease Prevention in MS in Motion (Shape Up Washington County)
Partner with Washington County Diabetes Council and Support Group
Beginning work in a collaborative effort with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by doing a community needs assessment in the Delta.
Partner with MSU Agriculture Engineering Department to build a roll-over tractor demonstrator to be ready next year.
Created interactive software programs to be used in education with youth. The first ready is ATV Safety and will be uploaded to an interactive website in the upcoming months.

18. Community Development: Access

19. Rural Medical Scholars: Overview
Dates - July 2 through August 4
Take two college level pre-med courses.
Shadow a physician.
Tour the Univ. of MS Medical School.
Make new friends.
Interact with previous Scholars.
Rural Medical Scholars is a program designed to encourage youth to pursue careers in primary care medicine. The program is open to high school students between their junior and senior years of high school.
During the month of July (MSU’s second summer session), the students:
Take two college level pre-med courses. (principles of zoology, college algebra)
Shadow physicians every Tuesday afternoon
Tour the Univ. of MS Medical School.
Make new friends.
Interact with previous Scholars.

20. Rural Medical Scholars: Cost
7 hours of college tuition
Books
Housing fees
Food Allowance
The only cost to the students is a $35 application fee. The package value is over $2000.

21. Rural Medical Scholars: Qualifications
Between junior and senior year of high school.
Minimum composite score of 25 on the ACT
High academic achievement
Interest in a career in Family Medicine.
Mississippi resident.
Students apply through their closest Community College. The community colleges then recommend up to two students per college for a total of 30 students.

22. Community Development: Resource Development
HealthConnect
Health Coalitions
Leadership Development
Volunteer Development
MSU-ES is active in a number of health resource development activities.

23. HealthConnect Economic Impact Analysis Health Care Directory
Community Health Survey
Health Care Providers Survey
Health Care Coverage Analysis
Community Forum
Strategic Planning Retreat
Balanced Scorecard
Leadership Development Training
Health Connect is a process designed to engage both community members and health care systems in a planning process to benefit both. The process involves recruiting a planning team, engaging in a comprehensive community health needs assessment, and devising a strategic plan that addresses concerns of health care providers, health care entities, and the community itself.

24. Health Coalitions State Coalitions County/Community Coalitions
The counties in dark blue indicate the presence of a county or community-based health coalition that is actively working on a health concern in that area.
In addition, a number of statewide coalitions are actively seeking to improve the state’s health, many of which are presenting today.
Contact information for many of these organizations is on the msucares web site:
Msucares.com
Click Health
Click Partnerships

25. Training & Support Building Effective Partnerships Asset Mapping
Establishing Goals and Objectives
Prioritizing Needs
Moving from Conflict to Consensus
Getting the Group Active
Constructing a Logic Model
Measuring Success
Grant Writing Basics
These are examples of some of the training and support that MSUES provides to state, county, and community health coalitions:
Building Partners – One of the challenges of establishing a health coalition is garnering the support and participation of community members. This workshop looks at identifying appropriate partners for a community health initiative and framing a message to attract involvement.
Asset Mapping – Traditional approaches to community work involve looking at the problems. This workshop promotes a focus on using community assets as building blocks to success.
Establishing Goals and Objectives – In order for a coalition to foster meaningful change, a clear direction must be established. Defining the goal is essential to achieving success.
Prioritizing Needs – In any community, a number of concerns exist. Deciding on which of these to address first can be frustrating. Yet, by working together to sort out the issues, the coalition can build unity toward a common mission.
Moving from Conflict to Consensus – Conflict is an inevitable part of group work. Conflict that is channeled can produce a better result. However, left undirected, conflict can destroy relationships and progress.
Getting the Group Moving – In almost any community you can find individuals who are concerned about an issue. Many of them have good ideas about what could be done. Harnessing the energy generated by the concern and ideas to generate forward movement will result in positive community change
Constructing a Logic Model – Whether seeking grant funds or just wanting to carefully guide a community program, Logic Modeling is an effective technique for developing a strong program foundation. This workshop takes a simple step-by-step approach to creating meaningful program models.
Measuring Success – How does a coalition know if it has made an impact in the community? Many good efforts have faltered and many good intentions have been misdirected. One essential key to successful programming is establishing a clear method for measuring progress along the way. This allows to group to monitor, correct, and progress toward its goal.
Grant Writing Basics – Finding funding for community-based projects is a challenging task. Learning to identify appropriate sources, decipher complicated grant forms, and communicate your plans effectively are key skills to successful grant writing.

26. LeadershipPlenty Finding leaders Identifying community assets
Managing groups effectively
Making meetings more productive
Managing conflict
Building strategic partnerships
Moving from talk to action
Valuing evaluation
Communicating for change
Strengthening race relations
One leadership set that is available to both health focused groups as well as any community-based group is LeadershipPlenty. The 10 module curriculum is designed to engage community members in actively pursuing a solution to a jointly identified concern.

27. Master Health Education Volunteers
Objectives:
Accurate health information
Community health resource
Relevant community health programs
Youth health initiatives
Volunteer leadership
Objectives of the program are to:
Expand MSU-ES’ capacity to deliver accurate health promotion information
Build a respected, responsive community health resource
Foster community support for positive healthy lifestyles through relevant community sensitive programming
Support youth health initiatives
Enhance participants’ opportunities for personal growth through skill development and education

28. Master Health Education Volunteers
40 hours of training
40 hours of community “pay-back”
The training to become a Master Health Education Volunteer involves 40 hours of education.
In return, the volunteer agrees to give 40 hours back to his or her community in the form of health promotion activities: teaching, helping to organize health events, etc.

29. Citizens’ Health Care Listening Sessions
Tupelo/Verona – Monday, March 27
Wesson (Co-Lin Community College) – Wednesday, March 29
Hattiesburg, Thursday, March 30
Clarksdale, Tuesday, April 11
Greenville, Tuesday, April 18
Newton, Thursday, April 20
Finally: An series of events is going on right now that we believe will impact the future of our health care system in the nation in significant ways. The Citizens’ Health Care Listening Sessions are a part of a nationally mandated initiative to go to health care consumers across the nation and listen to their concerns and ideas regarding the nation’s health care system.
The results of these sessions will be compiled and transformed into a set of recommendations that will go to the President and to Congress.
This initiative was created as a part of the Medicaid Reform Act of It specified that both rural and urban voices be sought for the sessions. However, Mississippi is the only state that is holding sessions in rural communities. Therefore, getting consumer voices at these sessions is vitally important!
Sessions have already been conducted in Jackson and in Starkville. The remaining sessions are being held in the locations listed on the screen. Participation is free, but registration is required.
For more information on the sessions, go to the web site listed, or contact Rachel Welborn

30. Contact Information
Web site: msucares.com
Rachel Welborn
You have a contact sheet for MSUES programs in your packet. However, if you need information on any program and cannot find the right person to contact, please let me know and I will be glad to make the connection for you.