Extension
It Starts With Us
Benificial Lifestyle Choices
Safety and Health for Families
Heather Cheek, Karen Douglas, Macy Fawns, Tad Campbell
Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (Curriculum)
Promoting Healthy Homes and Communities (general)
Securing Financial Stability (general)
Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
The obesity epidemic threatens the quality and years of life of Kentuckians. Obese individuals are at
increased risk for many chronic health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancers. The obesity rate in Kentucky increased 90 percent over the last 15 years. Thirty percent of individuals in the Commonwealth report no leisure-time physical activity. Increased consumption of unhealthy food, stress, and built environments that promote physical inactivity are largely responsible for the obesity epidemic. As a result, Kentuckians are dying from heart disease and cancer at higher rates than all Americans and they have a lower life expectancy, 75.5 years, compared to 78 years for Americans. In Mason County the obesity rate is 24% with the lack of physical activity being at 36%, and only 18.3% of Mason County residents are receiving their daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.
A decrease in the number of obese and overweight children, youth, adults and elderly
•Increase in the practice and promotion of physical activity and healthy eating daily
•Improvement in the built environment to promote physical activity and healthy eating
•Improvement in the mental health and wellbeing of residents of Mason County
•Manage and prevent the risk, debilitation, and premature death related to diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke and hypertension
•Increase the estimated health savings in dollars for chronic disease.
•Increase policies that address obesity, physical inactivity and promotion of poor nutrition
Decrease in # of accidents on farm and in homes.
Practice healthy food choices and strengthen individuals’ ability to build healthy eating plans and patterns.
•Maintain appropriate calorie balance during each stage of life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, pregnancy and breastfeeding and older age
•Practice of physical activity in families and communities and decreased time spent on sedentary behaviors
•Community members advocate for policy Changes related to obesity, physical activity and healthy eating.
•Strengthen community coalitions or partnerships to address obesity, physical inactivity and chronic disease.
•Practice healthy lifestyle decision-making that strengthen individuals’ ability to cope with normal life stressors.
Youth learn safety around firearms, home and equipment (farm and lawn)
Healthy lifestyle choices
•Childhood and youth obesity
•Adult & youth weight management
•Healthy aging
•Practice and promotion of daily physical activity
•Policies that that reduce the level of obesity
•Reduction of chronic disease
Youth physical activity program
Farm / Home safety day camp
Initial Outcome: Knowledge Gained
Indicator: Participants are able to recognize the difference between good and bad habits
Method: Written or Oral Evaluation, Pre and Post Test
Timeline: Immediate
Intermediate Outcome: Behavior Change
Indicator: Making the choice to practice good behaviors including eating nutritious foods, Increasing Physical activity, avoiding substance abuse, etc.
Method: Oral and Written Evaluations, Pre and Post Tests.
Timeline: 1-3 Years
Long-term Outcome: Changes in the health and lifestyles of Mason County residents
Indicator: Lower obesity rates, higher life longevity, increased physical activity, lower substance abuse rates
Method: Noticeable changes in census data, health organizations data, and policy changes that promote healthy lifestyles.
Timeline: 10 years
Audience: Middle School Students
Project or Activity: WIN: Wellness in Kentucky
Content or Curriculum: WIN: Wellness in Kentucky
Inputs: Curriculum, samples, publications, and incentives
Date: August 2016-May 2017
Audience: 8th grade students
Project or Activity: Truth & Consequences
Content or Curriculum: Truth & Consequences
Inputs: Agents, community partners, extension volunteers, and curriculum
Date: October 2017
Audience: High school freshmen
Project or Activity: Farm to School
Content or Curriculum: Farm to School
Inputs: Curriculum, agents, and local farmers
Date: Fall 2017
Audience: The aging population
Project or Activity: Health Forums
Content or Curriculum: Diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, Depression, Stand up to falling, UK health care
Inputs: Agents, community partners, local doctors and specialists, incentives
Date: Fall & Spring
Audience: Adults
Project or Activity: Health Fair
Content or Curriculum: Various Health topics
Inputs: Agents, Meadowview Hospital, Health Department, community partners, extension volunteers
Date: May 2017
Audience: Adults and Children
Project or Activity: Growing to Cook series and workshop
Content or Curriculum: Learning to grown and then cook various produce.
Inputs: Agents, publications, samples, demonstrations
Date: Summer/Fall 2017
Audience: youth
Project : Physical Activity workshop series
Content: New curriculum from youth Dev. Institute
Date: Annual
Audience: families
Project; Safety day camp
Content: Farm and home safety
Date: spring , early summer
Author: Heather Cheek
Major Program: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (Curriculum)
According to StopBullying.gov, between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 students in the United States are bullied at school or online. 70.6% of young people say they have seen bullying in their schools. When bystanders intervene, bullying stops within 10 seconds 57% of the time. Most bullying happens in middle school. In one large study, about 49% of children in grades 4–12 reported being bullied by other students at school at least once during the past month, whereas 30.8% reported bullying others durin
Author: Mary Jane Little
Major Program: Family and Consumer Sciences 4-H Core Curriculum
According to research by Tuffs University, youth in 4-H are two times more likely to make healthier choices."Twice as likely to make healthy choices. That is very good news. In a world filled with unhealthy options, young people need to know how to choose what is best for their own health and well-being. Healthy living is a top priority for the 4-H youth development program. In 4-H, youth of all ages learn by developing a passion in their areas of interest and lead as they innovate and serv
Author: Heather Cheek
Major Program: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
Based on statistics gained from Kentucky Health Facts, 13% of adults in Mason County have diabetes and 53% have hypertension (well above the state average of 39%). 31% of adults in Mason County report a lack of physical activity. According to the Mayo Clinic, physical activity has many benefits including maintaining a healthy weight, preventing or managing health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes, strengthening bones and muscles, and improving one’s mo
Author: Heather Cheek
Major Program: Food Preservation
Twelve participants returned evaluations from the Mason County Food Preservation program, including three new to Cooperative Extension programs. They learned the water bath, pressure canning, freezing and drying methods of food preservation. Participants identified their current skill levels as mostly intermediate (67%) with 25% identifying themselves as novices and 8% as skilled. Half of the participants reported learning about the program via the Homemaker newsletter; others from friends and o
Author: Heather Cheek
Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
Mason County FCS partnered with the University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program to bring Super Star Chef to Mason County. This program is a 3-Day Cooking Camp for ages 9-18. Below is a result of the pre and posttests that show the initial outcomes of the camp. This report is based on the data from fourteen (14) respondents to the pre- and posttests. Of these participants, ten (10) were female and four (4) were male. Table 1 presents additional information on the characteristics of the par
Author: Heather Cheek
Major Program: Youth Fruit & Vegetable Access
The State of Obesity Organization states the combined rate for overweight and obese adolescents is 33.5% making Kentucky fall among the highest 15 states for overweight and obese children. According to the CDC, around 49.7% and 43.2% of adolescents in Kentucky report consuming fruits and vegetables, respectively, less than one time a day. In an effort to increase the fruit and vegetable intake of children in Mason County in hopes of decreasing the obesity rates, Mason County FCS partnered with t
Author: Mary Jane Little
Major Program: Family and Consumer Sciences 4-H Core Curriculum
"Research shows 4-H Youth Excel Beyond their Peers The longitudinal study discovered that the structured out-of-school time learning, leadership experiences, and adult mentoring that young people receive through their participation in 4-H plays a vital role in helping them achieve success. Compared to their peers, the findings show that youth involved in 4-H programs excel in several areas: Contribution/Civic Engagement • 4-H’ers are nearly 4 times more likely to make contributio
