Wellness Challenge dares Wood County residents to stay fit

Marshfield News Herald- February 4, 2011
Kirsten Sebold has an idea for her fellow teammates on the Wood County Wellness Challenge -- they all could go cross-country skiing together.

"It's really fun, we should do it," said Sebold's teammate Jodi Ertl.

Diane Fehrenbach, another teammate, looked down at her card of wellness activities and said, "Now we're talking about it."

Not only are they talking about skiing together, they're talking about bowling, tubing and snowshoeing -- a host of activities the five team members wouldn't have talked about before joining the wellness challenge.

Sebold, Fehrenbach, Ertl, Ben Corcoran and Josh Nagel are teachers or counselors at Auburndale Elementary School and are one of three teams from the school that have enlisted in the Wood County Wellness Challenge, which began Feb. 1 and runs through April.

"The goal of the challenge is to help them make healthy choices every day," said Amber Engen, a coordinator of the Wellness Challenge at Marshfield Clinic. Participants can be teams or individuals, but they had to join the challenge before it started.

About 60 teams in the Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids areas are competing against one another in the challenge by using bingo cards that assign an activity for the next three months.

February is the Moves month and encourages teams to dance for 10 minutes, go ice skating or play a Wii Fit for at least 30 minutes. In March, teams are challenged to drink green tea, eat whole grains or try skim milk.

Finally, in April, the teams can mix up the activities and attempt to go a full day without television, recycle or volunteer their time.

Each time a team or individual fills out their card, they can enter a prize drawing at the end of each month, Engen said. One of the prizes is a membership to a local gym.
The Auburndale school team members have different reasons for participating in the challenge, but they agree leading a healthier lifestyle is the central goal.

"I figure basically during the winter people are pretty sedentary and don't work out," Corcoran said. "It's nice to do something in a group and have it be physical."

There also is a benefit of doing a challenge like this in a group, Engen said. The Auburndale group plans on joining two other teams for a bowling match in order to knock off one of their bingo squares.

"They always say if you have other people to exercise with and do activities, it energizes you to do better," Sebold said. "We'll be more successful."

At the Opportunity Development Center in Marshfield, Kathy Becker is the team leader of the only client-based team for the nonprofit vocational service agency.
Every day she's encouraging team members Janet Winch, 55, and Sherry Fitzel, 50, to read food labels and eat healthier.

"It's kind of harder with getting that message across to people with disabilities," Fitzel said. "But we're trying to promote it and reinforce that they have fruits and veggies."

When Fitzel views one of the team members picking a healthy snack on their own, she points out that they've made a good choice.
Even once the challenge is over, there's no need to stop, Fehrenbach said.

"I'm making copies of my bingo cards so I can keep it going," she said.

You're Invited

(Click on invite to enlarge)

The problem of obesity is complex. The solutions don't have to be. We know what works to prevent obesity, and we need your help!

Email jjung@co.wood.wi.us to RSVP!

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana again"

Kristie Rauter
Project Director
Communities Putting Prevention to Work

Kristie Rauter is a Community Health Improvement Planner at the Wood County Health Department. She facilitates the Healthy People Wood County--Community Health Improvement Plan.

Here Kristie is standing next to the produce expert at Piggy Wiggly in Nekoosa. This picture was taken during a fruit taste testing that was held at the grocery store. Keep your eyes "peeled" for other fruit and vegetable character spottings around Wood County.

In her free time Kristie enjoys running, playing volleyball, camping, hiking, and being outdoors! Her passion for health and wellness is something she lives in her work and at play.

Newest Team Member - Layne Cozzolino

Layne Cozzolino

Health Educator

Communities Putting Prevention to Work

Layne has just joined the team as our newest Health Educator. Her experience comes from a variety of fields ranging from agriculture and food service to marketing and customer service. She moved to Central Wisconsin from Milwaukee to attend graduate school at UW-Stevens Point. Her interest in health and food policy brought her to study Nutritional Science with an emphasis in community food systems and sustainability. This past summer she lived and worked on an organic farm in order to learn about that aspect of the food system. Currently, she is researching Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) acceptance at farmer's markets.

Layne believes in the power of community and looks forward to helping Wood County learn more about healthy and sustainable living through several CPPW initiatives.

Meet the Communities Putting Prevention to Work Program Coordinator

DaNita Carlson has been a Health Educator for the Wood County Health Department for almost 10 years. Hired in 2001 as the Tobacco Prevention Specialist, she worked on tobacco control initiatives and was instrumental in building a Wood County coalition to support and drive the passage of Wisconsin's comprehensive Smoke Free Air law, implemented July of 2010.


In recent months, DaNita has transitioned into the role of Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Program Coordinator. Her focus will be educating Wood County residents on the obesity epidemic plaguing our nation, state and county.


DaNita has been married for nearly 20 years to Don and has 2 teen daughters named Presley and Peri.

New Health Educator

The Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant team welcomes new Health Educator

Renee Fox
Health Educator
CPPW


Renee is enthusiastic about working with the community to create a healthier Wood County. Through her role on the CPPW grant, she will implement nutrition and physical activity programs in an effort to decrease rates of obesity and prevent disease among residents.

She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Nutrition from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and has a passion for helping people achieve their best optimal level of health. Renee’s background includes 10 years of corporate and marketing communications, and she looks forward to leveraging her skills to keep the community informed of the healthy initiatives designed to improve nutrition and increase physical activity.

The Leadership Team had it's monthly meeting last Thursday, August 19th. In addition to meeting the newly hired Health Educators, attendees were also provided with updates on our progress with the grant objectives.

The Health Educators have been working hard to identify the key contacts related to each of our objectives, and what the next (or first) steps are to getting everyone on board! With such a huge undertaking, it's definitely easier to break things down into more manageable pieces! The breakdown of the initiatives among the Health Educators is:

Kayleen Magruder
- Increase the number of Wood County residents with access to fresh fruits and vegetables - includes Farm to School, CSAs, and community gardens
- Increase the number of Wood County residents participating in social physical activity networks

Renee Fox
- Implement policies that require daily physical activity and healthy snacks in all Wood County schools and regulated childcare centers
- Provide nutritional foods and menu labeling in all restaurants with 19 or fewer locations and all Wood County schools

The coalition continues to schedule and make presentations throughout the County to educate our community about the grant and how to get involved. Our most recent presentations include the Pittsville School Board, the Marshfield Toolkit, the Wellness Committee at Riverview Hospital and the Pittsville Teachers and Staff.

We want to continue to get the word out about this grant and the positive changes that we are going to make in Wood County. If you have an organization that would benefit from the information or wants to get involved, contact Kristie today!