| Healthier lifestyle program will live on after Preston WIN grant ends
“Preston’s residents have stepped forward to make these programs their own,” says Julie Harker, a registered dietician working for the UI and WIN the Rockies Idaho state coordinator. “They’re self directed. They have ownership. It’s going to be very easy for me to phase out, while the programs remain up and running. Photo above: Elementary PE teacher Debbie Wilson checks pedometer on 3rd grades Riker Hobbs while Lindsee Dowd watches. They found pedometers work just fine for students on crutches. Photos by Rod Boam. “We call that ‘capacity’ building within the community,” adds Harker. Helping communities envision ways to be healthier, and enabling them to do it was all part of the grant’s goal. Designed to fight obesity with sensible, sustainable nutrition and exercise, the program uses pedometers to inspire and document the actual amount of walking by participants. At least three times a year, for 8 to 12 weeks at a time, a significant percentage of rural Preston has risen each morning, strapped on a pedometer, and walked toward the goal of logging 10,000 steps before nightfall. When snow flies, citizens can take to the high school gym, which opens at 4:30 a.m., since Preston has no mall for off-hours walking. But most important is that from the beginning locals helped design the programs. They ran them. They have evaluated them. And they are the ones who will keep them running. At least
four programs will continue Medical center. Rachelle Oliverson, volunteer Walk Program Coordinator and physical therapist at the Franklin County Medical Center, helped design the “Preston on the Move” walking program, following guidelines established by WIN the Rockies. “It’s been a multi-generational thing,” says Oliverson. “It’s really brought everyone in the community together with a common goal: physical activity.” When the grant ends, Oliverson will continue to coordinate the community’s program with the support of Mountain West Physical Therapy. She schedules the 8- to 12-week, city-wide walking programs, checks walkers’ progress in their log books, and produces a walkers’ newsletter. Elementary school. Debbie Wilson, Oakwood Elementary physical education teacher, expects to continue working pedometers into many of her PE classes for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. She also uses them in her afterschool running club and will soon implement a WIN the Rockies grant to build a fitness trail for Preston. “Kids love the pedometers,” says Wilson. “Giving them out is just like waving a magic wand. They can’t help but be more active.” Pedometers seem to have a motivating effect regardless of age. “Our janitor gets in over 20,000 steps a day,” Wilson reports with pride. High school. Preston High School PE teacher Launa Moser has also been creative, working pedometers into her weight lifting curriculum, walking and running activities, and as an extremely effective “reality-check” in her health classes. There she has students bring in some of their favorite foods, note the calorie count, and estimate whether they have worked the food off in their week’s activities. “Then I tell them that 2,000 steps is equivalent to 100 calories,” said Moser. “It’s quite a revelation.” UI Extension programs. UI Extension nutrition educator Laura Sant has adopted the WIN the Rockies 8-week curriculum for Preston 4-H’ers. It includes an hour-long meeting weekly, where kids learn fitness and nutrition, and report the steps they’ve logged. “The goal is to increase the number of steps each day,” Sant said. Under the grant, Sant also taught a body image program for adults called “A New You: Health for Every Body.” She plans to continue both programs indefinitely. “The whole world is focused on weight, obsessed with it,” said Sant. “By focusing on what we can actually do through diet and exercise, we can live healthy, happier lives.” Editor’s Note: WIN the Rockies wellness interventions come to American Falls in February 2004.
Documenting Program's Success
In the study, “demonstrator communities” like Preston adopt wellness interventions that support healthy lifestyle choices. A “comparator community”—American Falls in Idaho—receives no intervention until the final 8 months of the study, allowing researchers to compare the two. Each January, a sample of 50 adults and 40 children are weighed and heights are taken. For adults, fasting insulin levels, glucose levels and lipid panel, insulin resistance and cardiovascular health are documented. Kids’ and adults’ BMI (Body Mass Index) are also measured. Soon after grants end next September, results will be quantified. For results summaries, e-mail Julie Harker at jharker @uidaho.edu. --Donna Emert © 2003 University of Idaho, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. |
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When
a 3-year $4.3 million federal Wellness IN the Rockies grant ends
in January 2004 in Preston, a southeastern Idaho community of 4,600,
chances are healthier lifestyles for residents of all ages will
remain.
Sure, pedometers may be fun, and inspire action. Preston citizens
have been walking more diligently and eating more thoughtfully under
the auspices of the wellness research and education project, WIN
the Rockies (Wellness IN the Rockies). But what impact has the program
actually had on school children and adults in the last 3 years?
The
grants selected Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming communities of 3,000
to 10,000 residents, with extension offices and WWAMI Medical Education
Program presence or Area Health Education Centers to receive the
intervention. Pedometers are given free, or sold at reduced prices,
with proceeds used to purchase more pedometers. Participants also
are given log books and instructions to document their daily number
of steps, to help them monitor and progressively increase daily
activity.
