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!

Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Grant UPDATES:

The Leadership Team attended the Action Institute in Saint Louis in June.

Leadership Team
Auburndale School District - Gerald Eichman
Heart of Wisconsin - Connie Loden
Marshfield Area YMCA - John Nystrom
Marshfield Clinic - Ronda Kopelke
Marshfield Mayor - Chris Meyer
Marshfield School District - Bruce King
Nekoosa School District - Wayne Johnson
Pittsville School District - Terry Reynolds
Port Edwards School District - Pat Sullivan
Riverview Hospital - Tina Bart
South Wood County YMCA - Bryan Bailey
UW Extension - Peter Manley
UWSP - Jasia Steinmetz
Wisconsin Rapids Mayor - Mary Jo Carson
Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools - Colleen Dickmann
Wisconsin Restaurant Association - Don Thompson
Wood County Health Department - DaNita Carlson
Wood County Health Department - Sue Kunferman
Wood County Health Department - Kristie Rauter
Wood County Health Department - Jean Rosekrans

Interviews for project staff positions were held in which the best qualified candidates were hired.

Welcome to the team!


Kayleen Magruder
Health Educator
Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Program

Kayleen Magruder has a B.S. degree in Health Promotion from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, and an emphasis in nutrition, communication and psychology. Kayleen has been able to enhance her skills as well as develop new expertises while she was an AmeriCorps member this past year for the Healthy Lifestyles Marshfield Area Coalition at Marshfield Clinic. She has been able to enhance and promote health and wellness throughout communities and community-wide coalitions. Kayleen has also been able to design, coordinate, implement and evaluate programs for the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition as well as come alongside the coalition by providing technical assistance, consultation and training in evidence based approaches. Kayleen is very excited to work on increasing physical activity and improving nutrition among the residents of Wood County.

Something's Kind of "Fruity" at the Grocery Store

By Paj Ntaub Vang


Every Friday for the past few months, you may have noticed a banana, a carrot, and a grape prancing around your local grocery store. They looked a little fruity, and you may have wondered what they were up to, but they were not advertising Fruit of the Loom underwear. So who were they and what were they doing?

They are from the Healthy People Wood County Obesity Prevention Team and they have partnered up with your local grocery stores to provide fresh produce to patrons in order to promote “Healthy Eating, Active Living” .

Through the Wisconsin Partnership for Activity and Nutrition (WI PAN) Grant, the Obesity Prevention Team provided tools and resources to four local grocery stores aiding them in providing healthy “Grab and Go” options for customers. These “Grab and Go” stands, located near the check out lanes, provide customers the option of fruit and healthy snacks instead of soda and candy bars when they are in a rush.


In addition to this, Grocery Store Taste Testing Kiosks were developed to remind the community how delicious healthy foods can be. Coupons for produce were provided to the grocery stores to distribute to their customers. Local Child Care Centers were also invited to visit grocery stores where kids learned about the healthy “grab and go” options, and sampled fruits and vegetables.

In March, the Obesity Prevention Team promoted citrus fruits in which grapefruit, oranges, and pineapples were tasted. In April, romaine lettuce, spinach, and salad bags were given away to promote fresh greens. In May, they promoted roots by giving out free bags of carrots, beets, and taste testing sweet potato soup. In June, they promoted berries, which was the most popular among the foods. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries were tasted while packages of these berries were given away.

In a Wood County self-reported study, 76% of residents reported eating less than 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day and 50% of residents reported being completely physically inactive. Heart disease and diabetes, associated with levels of overweight and obesity, have a high prevalence in Wood County. So, while doing these activities, our goal is to change how people think about food and making our community a healthier one to live in.

Watch out for more Taste Testing Kiosks at your local grocery store. Special thanks to the following grocery stores for their participation: IGA of Wisconsin Rapids, Festival Foods of Marshfield, Piggly Wiggly of Nekoosa, Baum’s Mercantile of Pittsville. Special thanks to the child care centers of Wood County for their participation: Port Edward's South Wood YMCA and Tender Loving Children's Center, Rudolph's Little Dears, St. Lawrence Early Childhoon Center in Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield's Grace Lutheran Childcare, Christ Cares for Kids Childcare, and Childcare Centers of Marshfield.

I recently joined the Wood County Obesity Prevention Team at the beginning of June as an intern, from UW-Madison through the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Community Health Internship Program. I had a great experience being the “grapes”. Even though kids punched and hugged me all day, when I saw the bright smiles on their faces as they ate their fruit, it was completely worth it.

June = BERRY MONTH!!

Did you know that 75.7% of Adults in Wood County consume less than the U.S.D.A. recommended 5 fruits and vegetables a day??

(UW Population Health Institute, 2006)

The Healthy People Wood County Obesity Prevention Team is promoting healthy eating and active living. Every Friday of the month we promote healthy foods in the community grocery stores.

Grocery Store Taste Testing Kiosks
Wisconsin Rapids, WI - IGA
Marshfield, WI - Festival Foods
Nekoosa, WI - Piggly Wiggly
Pittsville, WI - Baum's Mercantile

June was BERRY MONTH. Customers were given a coupon for a dollar off strawberries, or they were given a free container of berries. We also had customers taste strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. This also gave them a serving of fruit for the day!


Benefits of Berries:

Berries are loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals and contain many antioxidants


Common Berries:

Strawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Try Something New!

Boysenberry

These berries are a cross between raspberries, blackberries and logan berry. They're low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. Boysenberries are also high in vitamin C, K, Manganese and dietary fiber.

LOOK FOR US THIS MONTH IN YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STORE!!

CPPW Community Forums

The Healthy People Wood County Obesity Prevention Team would like to invite you to the Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Community Forum. Wood County is 1 of the 44 communities across the nation selected to receive a Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant to improve nutrition and physical activity and address chronic disease in our county.

About 49.8% of adults in Wood County are physically inactive and 28% of adults are obese (County Health Rankings, 2006) . In children, about 9.1% of 2-4 year olds are overweight (CDC, 2001) , and 34% of 3rd graders in Wood County are obese or overweight (Wood County Health Department, 2005). The priorities of the CPPW Grant are to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and decrease obesity.

The CPPW grant activities being developed include:
*Physical activity programs for after school programming and in childcare settings,
*Farm to School programs to bring crops grown in the area to local schools,
*Community gardens to show children both how valuable crops are and to increase the appeal of healthy foods
*Implementing media counter marketing campaigns aimed to both decrease screen time and increase physical activity
*Facilitate competitive pricing of healthier choices, and
*Increase labeling of nutritional information on menus.

We will be holding community forums in Wood County to inform the community of these events that will be implemented within the next two years. You are important to the success of this and we look forward to your participation, feedback, and support to work toward accomplishing our goal of impacting the lives, and improving the health of the people of Wood County. In the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Stay tuned for more information about the CPPW Forums...

To RSVP for this event, or for more information, please contact Pajin Vang
at (715) 421-8911 or pvang@co.wood.wi.us

Welcome!!

Welcome to the Communities Putting Prevention to Work Blog presented to you by the Healthy People Wood County Obesity Prevention Team.

Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Grant

CPPW Grant term - March 19, 2010 through March 18, 2012.
CPPW Grant Intent - Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a large amount of money was dedicated to chronic disease prevention efforts administered through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). CPPW is a community capacity building program instituting population-based policy, systems and enviornmental change in communities and schools to (1) decrease overweight and obesity prevalence; increase levels of physical activity; improve nutrition; and/or (2) decrease tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Healthy People Wood County Obesity Prevention Team CPPW Goals:

Goal 1: Project infrastructure assures achievement of project goals and MAPPS interventions.

Goal 2: Create a functional and effective leadership team and community coalition.

Goal 3: Increase physical activity among residents of Wood County.

Goal 4: Improve nutrition among resident of Wood County.