Nutritional Health Partnerships

Problem:
There was no coordinated nutritional health planning in Guthrie County that connected consumers with producers. Consequently, there was no clear consensus about what nutritional health issues and problems needed work and no coordinated action on nutritional health issues. Guthrie County also had little or no collaborative infrastructure to find funding and support programming and activities that would address the nutritional needs of the county.

Response:
ISUE, Guthrie County Public Health Nursing, Guthrie County Hospital and interested citizens brought to the table this year participants of Growing Food and Profit and Guthrie County Tourism that formed a partnership that became a nutritional health planning group of stakeholders from the county. This group has worked over a period of 2 years to:

• express a vision for nutritional health and exercise in the county to serve as a guidance system for the project and to create a healthy community by

  1) making health a community based concern,

  2) emphasizing education, prevention, and wellness programs, and

  3) working to see that good health is available and affordable for all county citizens

• study trends and mapping data from the county to name broad and comprehensive health issues in the county and nutritional linkages that are under utilized. Issues addressed

  1) the importance of prevention and education,

  2) the relationship of good health to nutritional health care and adequate exercise

• work with established stakeholders and bring aboard new partners as issues change and to survey a random sample of county citizens about these issues taking reports from all geographic areas in the county
  
• consider the list of top categories of nutritional health and physical concerns revealed by the survey and mapping exercises to find the best way to deal with them and the communities health issues
  
• fitness or wellness system or center, related to education/prevention
  
• coordinate countywide activities for health and wellness through the marketing of health related programs and physical activities
  
• build linkages—link all health assets to create healthy communities.

Impacts:
Over 400 people in the county were involved in the process over the past 2-year period. Mapping was conducted to show the linkages of food production to the consumer and the lack of networking that is going on within the county. People involved were amazed at the amount of fruit and vegetables grown at their door step that they were unaware of. Education played a large role is reacquainting people with activities that afforded family physical activities that were little or no cost to them. People learned about resources available in the county, just one example: a young family with three obese children were in need of physical exercise and more nutritional meals. Through county resources they were able to adjust their family time to “activity” time and then “reward” the children with fresh fruits from the Farmers Markets. The parents have noticed not only positive physical changes in their children but behavioral as well. “My kids are calmer eating fresh fruits and drinking flavored waters rather than sodas.”

Contact:
Regina Lloyd
Guthrie County Extension Education Director
212 State Street, Guthrie Center, Iowa 50115
Phone (641) 747-227;  Fax (641) 747-2277
Email glloyd@iastate.edu

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