Columns
Monday, October 3, 2005
healthy lifestyles: iowans show the way
By: Senator Tom Harkin
Everywhere I travel around our state, I see more and more Iowans committed to eating right, getting more physical activity and staying healthy. Our goal is to stay in shape, and out of the hospital. But our individual efforts to do the right thing can get a powerful boost when our communities encourage and support us – for instance, by building bike paths, insisting on sidewalks in new housing developments, and getting junk food out of public schools.
To jumpstart community-wide planning for encouraging healthy lifestyles, I secured $2.7 million to finance Harkin Wellness Grants here in Iowa. My aim is to turn Iowa into a laboratory of innovation by encouraging local groups to come up with creative approaches to encouraging wellness and disease prevention. Grantees were asked to focus on one or more of four priorities: nutrition, physical activity, mental health, and smoking cessation.
Several weeks ago, I announced 28 grantees, selected by the Iowa Department of Public Health. I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality and originality of these upcoming projects all across our state.
For example, the Siouxland District Health Department is going to team up with local schools, medical professionals, and an organic food store to create an after-school “Kids A Cookin’” program. Instructors will teach middle-school students how to buy fresh produce, and how to prepare and cook healthy foods. In addition, the organic food store will create a mobile food market to teach low-income and elderly Iowans on how to select and choose healthy food.
In Mahaska County, a Harkin Wellness Grant will support an aggressive new program to fight heart disease in women. In the United States, the heart-disease mortality rate for women is 10 percent higher than it is for men. Among many other things, the Mahaska program will include a bi-monthly women’s “Heart Healthy” clinic, providing screenings for cardiovascular disease and counseling for heart-healthy lifestyle changes. In addition, selected local grocery stores will create a “heart healthy” aisle, along with discount coupons for low-fat foods.
These 28 new Harkin Wellness Grants are all about giving people the tools and information they need in order to take charge of their own health. The grantees will put their ideas into practice, and monitor the outcomes. Then we’ll share the best ideas and innovations with communities all across the state.
It is time to take America’s sick care system and transform it into a genuine health care system – one that emphasizes wellness and disease prevention. We can all be proud that Iowa is leading the way.
