2012-13 Rural Community Grant Recipients
Emergency Medical Responders for Hilbert and Potter
Calumet Medical Center
Calumet Medical Center and Ambulance Service and Gold Star Ambulance Service collaborated to recruit and train six Emergency Medical Responders (aka First Responders) to serve rural communities in Calumet County. These Responders filled a gap in EMS coverage and assisted the Hilbert/Potter Emergency Medical Responder group to build a solid personnel base, making future personnel recruitment easier.
Alcohol Related Injury Screening and Education (ARISE)
Edgerton Coalition for a Healthy Community
Edgerton Hospital partnered with several local agencies to develop a program to address the high rates of alcohol related injury, especially among youth. The partners developed an SBIRT system (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) that could be employed by all pre-hospital professionals, including police and EMS. They also developed a media campaign addressing alcohol mis-use.
Live LiFe Iron County
Iron County Health Department
In response to an adult obesity rate of 28%, the Iron County Health Department collaborated with the County Human Services Agency, University of WI Extension and Aspirus Grand View Hospital to plan a program of environmental changes supporting healthy food choices and increase physical activity opportunities. The coalition worked with the community to conduct a needs assessment. They also performed an inventory of the built and natural environment to identify current assets and opportunities for physical activity and developed plans for enhancements.
Jackson in Action Initiative
Together For Jackson County Kids
A coalition of Jackson County agencies, Black River Memorial Hospital and the Black River Falls School District partnered to plan a program in response to a recent county needs assessment, which found there was limited access to physical activity opportunities, poor nutrition and eating habits, and a lack of education regarding ways to improve health among children. The coalition used the first year of a two year program to implement an awareness campaign around the impact of obesity and pilot a community “take-out” garden program; the coalition provided families with tools and resources to construct home gardens and increase their fresh food consumption.
Live It! Real Life Nutrition for Teens
Columbus Community Hospital
Columbus Hospital collaborated with the UW Departments of Nutrition and Food Sciences to implement the Live It! program in Columbia County schools. This evidence based program targets child obesity prevention by increasing awareness of healthy food choices and the importance of physical activity. Learning is achieved through class and home-based activities for which students receive points, such as preparing a healthy recipe and learning to read food labels. Students and classes competed against each other for rewards.
Move to Improve Families
Memorial Health Center-Medford
Memorial Health Center lead a coalition that implemented a family based, twelve week healthy lifestyle program to reduce the incidence of chronic disease in rural Taylor and Price counties. The program focused on nutrition and exercise and used fitness coaches recruited from the communities to work one-on-one with families in small group, weekly sessions. Activities included cooking demonstrations and one hour weekly exercise sessions.
