PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND NUTRITION

WHY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND NUTRITION?

Being physically active and eating a healthy diet helps prevent chronic disease and excess weight gain.¹ Respondents to the CHA Survey identified obesity as the #1 overall health concern and chronic disease as the #4 overall health concern facing Hendricks County.² Participants in the focus groups and town hall meetings repeatedly identified a poor nutrition environment and physical inactivity as top concerns facing the county. Many stated that a healthy community included one with walking and biking trails, parks, and access to reasonably priced recreation facilities and produce, but felt Hendricks County lacked in these areas.³
Additional primary and secondary data suggest physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and the built environment are problems in Hendricks County. Over 70% of respondents to the CHA Survey report that they use parks, rivers, lakes, and/or woods for recreation and physical activity, but nearly half of residents live more than a half-mile from a park and one mile from a recreational facility.⁴,⁵ This may be contributing to 28% of adults who report participating in no leisure-time activity and the 34% obesity rate in the county.⁶,⁷ Additionally, about 10% of residents face food insecurity, and 25% indicated that the cost and lack of health foods are top factors in keeping them from a healthy weight.⁸,⁹ About 76% of adults do not eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. ¹⁰
Additional information about accessing and utilizing health care can be found in the 2016 Hendricks County Community Health Assessment.

PRIORITY AREA LEADERS AND PARTNERS

PRIORITY AREA LEADER: Anna Lothe, Public Health Education Specialist
Hendricks County Health Department
PRIORITY AREA PARTNERS: Danville High School, Danville Middle School, Central Indiana Center on Aging, Jump IN for Healthy Kids, Hendricks Regional Health, Purdue Extension — Hendricks County, Top 10 Coalition

GOAL: By December 31,2018, decrease the percentage of Hendricks County residents who are physically inactive from 29.3% to 28.8% as reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVE: By December 31, 2016, enroll 10 hospital systems, health care providers, and or employers in Hendricks County into the physical activity referral system as reported by Hendricks Regional Health.

STRATEGIES:
Identify hospital personnel, health care providers, and employers to participate in the referral network.

Assess current mechanism for referring and/or addressing physical activity among patients/employees and determine gaps in service at identified hospitals, health care providers, and employers.
Develop and implement referral mechanisms for each participating referring partner.
Develop education measures and evaluate effectiveness for the referral system.
MID-TERM OBJECTIVE: By December 31, 2017, increase the percentage of Hendricks County schools with shared use policies to 90% as reported by the Top 10 Coalition.

STRATEGIES:
Assess current shared use policies and procedures at all Hendricks County schools/districts.
Write sample policies for schools without shared use policies and assist all schools with adopting and implementing policies.
Assist schools in developing messaging and marketing of the shared use policy within their schools and community.
Develop evaluation measures and evaluation measures and evaluate effectiveness of the polices.
LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE: By December 31, 2018, increase the number of Hendricks County municipalities with a Complete Streets policy from 0 to 1 as reported by the Physical Activity and Nutrition work group.

STRATEGIES:
Meet with each municipality and identify one municipality interested in adopting or pursuing Complete Streets.
Host an Active Living Weekend within the municipality.
Conduct walk audits, photo voice, and other activities at locations identified during the Active Living Weekend as needing review and write a report about how Complete Streets would benefit those areas.
Draft model Complete Streets policy and present to municipality policymakers.
GOAL: By December 31, 2018, decrease the percentage of Hendricks County Residents with inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption from 75.9% to 75.4% as reported by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVE: By December 31,2016, enroll 10 hospital systems, health care providers, and/or employers in Hendricks County into the nutrition referral system as reported by Hendricks Regional Health.

STRATEGIES:
Identify hospital personnel, health care providers, and employers to participate in the referral network.
Assess current mechanisms for referring and/ or addressing nutrition among patients/employees and determine gaps in services at identified hospitals, health care providers, and employers.
Develop and implement referral mechanisms for each participating referring partner.
Develop evaluation measures and evaluate effectiveness of the referral system.
MID-TERM OBJECTIVE: By December 31,2017, increase the percentage of Hendricks County residents who grow their own food from 12% to 14% as reported by the Physical Activity and Nutrition work group.

STRATEGIES:
Identify and map all community garden locations in Hendricks County.
Assist organizations who operate community gardens in developing marketing and messaging to increase participation in the gardens.
Identify locations in the county with limited land to use for gardens and provide at least one container/urban gardening class within those locations.
LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE: By December 31, 2017, assist 12 Hendricks County food establishments in identifying and marketing produce options and consumption as reported by Purdue Extension- Hendricks County.

STRATEGIES:
Develop program outline and sample materials for identifying and marketing produce options at food establishments.
Identifying food establishments to participate in the program and conduct focus groups to determine effectiveness of program outline and materials in food establishments.
Assist food establishments in identifying produce options in their menus that adhere to the program requirements and implementing program materials.
Host a kick-off event featuring food establishments participating in the event to highlight their menu options.
Develop marketing and messaging samples to promote the program and food establishments using them to residents.