Jump Start on a Healthier Community – Clinton County Achieve

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Submission Date: December 2011

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: Indiana

States/Territories Involved: Indiana

Domain Addressed:

Environmental Approaches

Public Health Issue:

  • Clinton County Indiana has a higher premature death rate than the national average, meaning more years of potential life lost before age 75, according to County Health Rankings; also, about 22 % of adults in Clinton County smoke and about 29 % are obese.
  • Parents cited safety concerns such as lack of good sidewalks as a primary reason for not allowing their children to walk or bike to school.

Program Action:

  • With funding as an ACHIEVE (Action Communities for Health, Innovation and Environmental Change) community from the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Healthy Communities of Clinton County Coalition, team members from many local agencies and organizations developed a Community Action Plan following an Action Institute.
  • Three major goals were identified:  Creating a safer physical activity environment throughout the county, implementing systems change policies to impact chronic diseases, and building leadership for these systems change policies.

Impact/Accomplishments:

  • City officials were motivated by the ACHIEVE Action Institute to take immediate steps to change the Clinton County community for better health – for example by changing the food served at their own meetings and pledging $29,000  to immediately construct news sidewalks for a walkway to school
  • The ACHIEVE Community Action Plan is now included in the County Comprehensive Plan for use in planning county health and recreation improvements.
  • Leveraging of additional funds is promoting a healthier community:
  • $75,000 for non-infrastructure improvement to increase opportunities for student physical activity
  • $2,000 from Fuel Up to Play 60 for family nutrition and physical activity events
  • $1,500 from SPARK to assist with structured physical activity in afterschool programs
  • $1,300,000 from the Indiana Department of Transportation to reconstruct a street connecting 4 neighborhoods affecting 10,000 residents
  • $20,000 from Merck through the Indiana Cancer Consortium for a community promotora to increase screening and disease management in under-served Hispanic women
  • A local bank now provides coverage for free tobacco cessation services for employees.
  • A local restaurant is now smoke-free and its owner is advocating for more smoke-free sites.
  • A new school policy provides education on cessation rather than punishment, for students violating the school’s smoke-free policy.
  • Alerted by ACHIEVE, superintendents for Frankfort and Clinton Central School Corporations learned about and were helped to apply for the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Program which will make fruit and vegetable snacks available at no cost to 3600 children beginning in August 2012.

Program Areas:

Healthy Communities (general)

State Contact Information:

IN
Carol Price
St. Vincent Frankfort Hospital
765-659-3240
cjprice19@comcast.net

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