Nutrition and Health for Lucas County Nest
Staff involved: Pat Swartzlander, Joyce Lash, and Marilyn Jackson
 
Problem:
Many parents of young children fail to follow simple dietary and activity recommendations and do not encourage their children to adopt these recommended dietary and activity behaviors either. Low resource families experience an additional challenge in choosing and preparing healthy foods within a limited budget. 
 
Response:
A series of classes for mothers of children prenatal to 3 year of age was planned and delivered though the local Nest program. The Nest serves primarily low resource families. Approximately half of the participants are immigrants from the Ukraine. Lucas County Extension partnered with the Wayne County Nutrition Coalition and Lucas County Public Health to obtain partial funding from the Iowa Department of Public Health through a BASICS (food stamp nutrition education)grant. The classes focused on parents as the primary role model in helping influence their child(ren) by example to develop healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.

The series consisted of six lessons spread over a four-month period.  The BASICS, “Pick A Better Snack” social marketing materials were integrated into the series.
 
Results:
Twenty-eight mothers attended one or more of the series of Nest classes with an average attendance of 19. Pre (N=14) and post (N=15) assessments were used to identify changes.
At the end of the series the respondents reported:

• 54% ate 3 or more servings of fruit per day for an average increase of nearly ½ (.49) of a serving per day
• 60% ate 3 or more servings of vegetables per day for an average increase of .44 of a serving per day
• 60% ate 3 or more servings of whole grains per day for an increase of over 1/3 (.37) of a serving per day
• 87% spent 15 minutes or more per day together with their child(ren) in moderate to active physical activities. Only 23% of the respondents reported this frequency of shared physical activity at the initial assessment
• 100% recognized the “Pick A Better Snack” social marketing logo and 87% correctly identified the message as promoting fruit and vegetables as fast and easy snack choices
• 8 reported completing 2-4 "Snack and Act Bingo cards" along with their child(ren).

The new working partnership between the Wayne County Nutrition Coalition and the Lucas County partners enables nearly $2,000 of grant funds to support nutrition education in Lucas County.
 
Contact:
Pat Swartzlander
County Extension Education Director Wayne and Lucas Counties
Wayne:  PO Box 281  Courthouse Corydon, Iowa 50060
Lucas:  48293 Hy Vee Rd Chariton, Iowa 50049
Phone 641-872-1755 (Wayne office); 641-774-2016 (Lucas office)
Email pswartz@iastate.edu

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