In the spring of 2020, a program was held by the Nutrition Education Program Assistant from the Lincoln County Extension Office in cooperation with the FCS Agent, Ephraim McDowell Health and Stanford Baptist Church.  This program was designed to help improve heart health in Lincoln County by focusing on nutrition, physical activity and stress management. Advertisement was conducted weekly on the county radio program, with flyers, with social media campaigns and through word of mouth.  There was also a focus group held prior to the program to help not only generate interest, but also to gain insight from the community on what barriers they felt Lincoln County residents face regarding healthy eating and maintaining good heart health.  The program itself lasted a total of 8 weeks.  The first meeting consisted of free scheduled heart screenings for all participants which measured cholesterol, weight, blood sugar, stress levels, and other indicators.  These screenings were conducted by Ephraim McDowell Health. Entry paperwork for Healthy Choices curriculum was also completed on this day. The following week, classes began.  Each Wednesday, the Healthy Choices for Every Body lesson was taught at the Lincoln Extension Office by the NEP Assistant, and each Friday, the exercise and stress management class was taught by the FCS Agent at Stanford Baptist Church’s gym. 

Attendance was excellent throughout the program, and one participant even started bringing friends.  The program actually gained two extra people this way. One participant reported losing 9 pounds since starting the program.  Another participant said, “This is the most I’ve walked in years!”.  And finally, another participant was proud to report she has cut back on drinking soda since beginning the class. This was reinforced by the fact that 40% of participants were found to drink regular soda less often. Participants of this program showed improvement in diet quality, physical activity, food safety and resource management. For diet quality, 93% of the participants showed improvement in at least one or more areas.  100% of the participants showed improvement in getting more physical activity each day and 87% showed improvement in food safety and 80% showed improvement in resource management.  Although the final heart screenings were not able to be conducted by Ephraim McDowell due to COVID-19, all lessons were able to be completed and exit paperwork was completed over the phone. Overall, this program was extremely enriching for everyone involved, and good outcomes were achieved in regard to heart health and nutrition.