Growing healthy communities

Healthy Futures Forum to look at next steps for Healthy Communities Project

MOSES LAKE — It's onward and upward for the Moses Lake Healthy Communities Project this week.

As representatives from several organizations and the general public prepare to gather Wednesday for the Moses Lake Healthy Futures Forum, the main focus will be where to go next with the HCP that began in Moses Lake back in 2002 as a way to promote physical activity and nutrition.

With high rates of obesity and other related health care problems on the rise, it's time to raise community awareness and get community members involved said Sally Goodwin, community coordinator for the Moses Lake HCP.

The forum is a component of the HCP that will focus on combating obesity and other related health care problems, increasing youth outreach, and discussing what the next steps in expanding the project should be.

The three components that currently make up the HCP are Community Paths and Trails, the Moses Lake Breast Feeding Coalition and the Moses Lake Community Garden.

"It's not just happening across the street or county, it's happening in our own area, to our own bodies and minds," Goodwin said of obesity. "We need to make people aware of what the situation is and what the answer is."

As health care costs continue to rise, educating future generations on how to make healthy lifestyle decisions is one reason the forum is seeking to include representatives from as many organizations and individual families as possible.

"The Healthy Communities Project has been in place for three years and it's time to grow it," said Dr. Monica Dixon, a nutrition consultant with the DOH who will be present Wednesday. "We need folks to take it to the next level."

Dixon added that the forum will be a jumping off point for individuals and civic, public and private entities to ask questions, share resources and get involved in the HCP.

Challenges in maintaining collaboration and involvement in the HCP over the past three years are challenges Dixon said she hopes can be alleviated by having as many groups as possible attend Wednesday's event.

"There are still entities missing or that we need strengthened and we hope it brings leadership," Dixon said, placing emphasis on a need for representation by businesses and community leaders. "We really need to get the service community connected."

With every school district in the state required to review its physical fitness policy by Aug. 31 of this year, Wednesday's forum will be an important step in working towards that for local school district administration.

"We want to be part of the discussion," said Steve Chestnut, superintendent for the Moses Lake School District.

Goodwin said measuring whether the event will be a success or not will be a matter of bringing new faces and resources to the discussion table.

The community needs "a group of people that are wanting to get involved in doing something about this and not just talking about this," Goodwin said.

Representatives from the Washington State Department of Health, Grant-Adams County Medical Society, Moses Lake School District and the HCP will be present.

The general public is encouraged to attend.

The Moses Lake Healthy Futures Forum is a free event open to the public and will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 on the fourth floor education wing at Samaritan Hospital.

Food and refreshments will be served.

For more information, call 764-1745.