Author: Elizabeth Kingsland
Major Program: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
Fayette County Family and Consumer Sciences Agents coordinate and teach a series of special interest classes with the help of volunteers, Master Clothing Volunteer, Campion Food volunteers and other community partners. These classes have been conducted for many years. Many of these special interest classes attract residents of the county that are not familiar with the services Extension offers and introduces them to opportunities to become leaders and participate in civic projects or e
Author: Melissa Goodman
Access to healthcare services is critical to good health, yet rural residents face a variety of access barriers.Ideally, residents should be able to conveniently and confidently access services such as primary care, dental care, behavioral health, emergency care, and public health services. According to Healthy People 2020, access to healthcare is important for:Overall physical, social, and mental health statusPrevention of diseaseDetection and treatment of illnessesQuality of lifePreventable de
Author: Valerie Holland
Two-thirds of Kentuckians are classified as being overweight and 1/3 are classified as obese. With an increase in the obesity rate in Kentucky over the last decade there is a higher risk for many chronic diseases. According to the Kentucky Health Facts, 66% adults are overweight or obese in Jefferson County. The Jefferson County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences partnered with the Portland Health Center to present a monthly nutrition program. Each lesson contained hands on fo
Author: Tracy Cowles
The Butler County Nutrition Education Program Assistant, the Butler County Family and Consumer Science Agent, Andrea’s Mission for Men, and Andrea’s Mission for Men’s Dietician, came together to accomplish the goal of eating a healthy diet. Each week The NEP assistant taught Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum to Andrea’s Mission for Men Rehabilitation facility.?The assistant observed an inconsistency in their diet, portion sizes, and affordability o
Taking the fear out of going to the doctor for preschool and school aged youth was an effort of the Family & Consumer Sciences Agent. What’s in a Doctor’s Bag?, a children’s book, was used to teach preschool, head start, kindergarten, first grade and second grade youth healthy lifestyles and to jump-start them as “medically” literate consumers.The story is about a child who is left alone in a doctor's office & who accidentally knocks over the
Author: Gregory Comer
Kentucky ranks third in the Nation with the highest number of overweight and at risk for overweight children and tied for 5th with the highest number of obese adults. Obese adults and youth are at risk for many chronic health conditions. To address this family issue, the Beaver Dam Community Farmer’s Market hosted the 3rd Annual “Children’s Farmer’s Market Day” The event this year was the biggest and the best yet. The &l
Author: Nellie Buchanan
According to the CDC, Stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death in KY. At least 6.4% of deaths were stroke related. This statistic, along with District I Extension Homemakers requesting the workshop on Stroke Awareness, led to FCS programming to address the concern. As a result, FCS agent trained leaders in 10 counties on Stroke Awareness. Believing the adage, "Knowledge is power", participants in the program gained information of the two types of stroke: B
Author: Rita Stewart
SUCCESS STORY: One of the goals of the Family and Consumer Sciences program is to empower families to make proactive choices. By making better choices related to their health and their families’ health, individuals will have less risk of chronic disease, spend less on health care, experience fewer sick days, and have a better quality of life. Families will increase the practice and promotion of physical activity and healthy eating on a daily basis. Participants will learn to better ma
Author: Hannah Mayrand
According to the CDC, 15.6% of adolescents in Kentucky are considered overweight and 17.6% are obese. Unhealthy dietary behaviors and lack of physical activity contribute to this statistic. To improve the unhealthy behaviors, the Montgomery County FCS Agent partnered with the local health department, and middle school to offer an after school group to middle and high school boys and girls who may be classified as overweight according to their body mass index (BMI). The program was called Healthy
Author: Natalie Jones
Partnerships between The University of Kentucky Family Consumer Science Extension and faith-based organizations is a relatively new concept. Faith-based organizations are trusted entities within many Kentucky communities. They provide spiritual refuge and renewal and have served as powerful vehicles for social, economic and political change. These communities provide inherent benefits for successful FCS Extension programming, including infrastructure and dedicated membership. Programming focused
Author: Ruth Chowning
The Bullitt County Extension Service partnered with the Health Department and the Kentucky Cancer program to offer our 14th annual breast cancer awareness program. With 79 of 117 attendees cancer survivors, 106 reported the special speaker's lesson on genetics was helpful and interesting. 105 reported they benefitted from the food demonstration and enjoyed the "Wear Pink" contests.
Author: Tiffany Bolinger
“What’s in a Doctor’s Bag” curriculum is a series of 10 lessons based on a book written by medical doctors to introduce children to the doctor’s office and all the sights and sounds they experience when going to the doctor. Elementary school age children are often frightened by doctor’s visits. The curriculum teaches basic health concepts and links these concepts to visiting the family doctor or primary health provider. It also introduces the child to the medi
Author: Thays Flores
Overall, pre-post comparisons of participant responses to the assessment instrument show that the program enhanced participant understanding of the nutrition concepts covered in the program. Average total score on the test increased from 11.50 in the pretest to 14.13 in the posttest (out of a maximum of 15). Table 3 presents additional information on the number of participants that provided the correct response to each question on the pre-posttest. The pre-posttest also included seven items that
Author: Andrea Slone
The Floyd County Family & Consumer Science Agent was approached by the school staff at Floyd County Elementary School for nutrition education. It had been expressed that the students lacked basic nutrition education and the schools reach out to the Floyd County Extension Service as an external resource. The Floyd County Family & Consumer Science Program presented the first lesson of the “Wellness In Kentucky” curriculum. The program entailed identifying foods from each food g
The terms vegetarian and vegan have become more and more prevalent in our society. Studies show that 5% of all Americans are now either vegetarian of vegan. Back in 2009, that percentage was only 1%, so there has been a huge increase of people following this diet. The Estill County FCS agent conducted a Vegetarian 101 lesson to all of the counties in the Bluegrass area as a Homemaker Training. In this program, the participants learned the different definitions related to these two diets as well
Author: Lora Pullin
According to the CDC Data report, the obesity rate for Greenup County is 35%. Research has shown there is a natural link between nutrition, physical activity, and chronic disease. The Greenup County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Program partnered with the Healthy Choices, Healthy Communities Coalition to hold the Festival of Fitness in Downtown Ashland for the first Friday event in May. Forty One vendors set up along Winchester Ave. to educate the community on services provided re
The Greenup County Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Agent and Snap Ed Assistant partnered with the Greenup County 21st Century Program to assist in educating youth during summer day camps. The series of camps lasted four weeks ranging in themes from The Amazing Race to Shark Tank. The camps are designed to enrich reading and math skills during summer break in creative ways. During the camps students were involved in hands-on experiences to enrich these skills. The Greenup County Fam
The 2012 Green River Community Health Assessment, for Ohio County, showed 41% of Ohio Countians’ reported no consistent physical activity or exercise. In addition, 30% of adults are obese, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher. The Trail Town Taskforce, formed in 2014, was established with the goals of creating a county-wide network of certified land and water Trail Towns. The Trail Towns will consist of hiking, cycling, horseback riding, kayak and canoe trails. These tra
