The Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition hired a April Speck as Project Coordinator last Wednesday, August 7, to be in charge of the effort to identify and act on health concerns of the community’s youth.

Speck was one of four applicants for the job and was chosen by the coalition to assist the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Clinton County was one of seven communities chosen from 50 organizations for the grant. The board announced the approval of the funds in June and is now ready to proceed with the program with the hiring of Speck.

Speck’s duties will include: organizing and leading a variety of community, planning and training meetings related to the project; work with the coalition executive team to plan monthly coalition meetings that yield outcomes; coordinate monthly coalition meetings; ensure timely completion of the activities as outlined in the scope of work in the contract with the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

She is also charged with maintaining strong local and regional contacts to secure matching funds for future phases of work; organize and manage coalition-led community events; represent the Healthy Hometown Coalition at various community events, functions and meetings; and other project-related duties as assigned by the Healthy Hometown Coalition.

“It’s a lot of collaborating with the health department, other health agencies, hosting community forums and kind of seeing what the needs are,” Speck said. “I know nationally, four out of 10 children between the ages of 10 and 17 are obese. We will be trained. Someone is going to train us on community assessments so we will know how to assess the county and figure out what needs we need to focus on. I have a lot of people showing their support and helping me.”

Speck is excited to get started on her new assignment.

“I really like it,” Speck said. “It’s a little overwhelming right now, figuring out what has to start first, but I have a lot of people who are giving me good support. This can be a five-year plus grant, but it just depends on how this year goes. It’s going to be a hard year. This is really going to benefit kids and parents as well.”

Officers of the Healthy Hometown Coalition include, Clinton County Schools Assistant Superintendent Paula Little as Chairperson, Albany Mayor Nicky Smith as vice-chairperson, and Lora Brewington with Cumberland Family Medical Center was selected as secretary.

The Healthy Hometown Coalition is made up of more than 25 members of the community, including civic leaders in the city and county, medical personnel as well as others in the community.

Investing in Kentucky’s Future (IKF) initiative is a five-year, $3 million program to seek innovative ways to reduce chronic disease risks for school aged children.

Qualifications that helped Speck obtain the position was her degree in mental health as well as her experience with the Safe Schools grant and the Early Childhood grant through the governor’s office.

Speck says the main part during the first year of the grant is to get the word out about the program. Social media, Facebook and Twitter, will be the main outlets to educate the community about the project. Their Facebook page will be “Kentucky’s Healthy Hometown Initiative – Clinton County and social media gurus can follow them on Twitter @HealthyHomeKY.

“The main goal is for my teams to follow me and then re-tweet my posts,” Speck said. “We also will survey the kids and get a community assessment. We want to know what their eating habits are as well as their parents. We will do community forums and teach as many parents as possible. I will also be helping Tyonia Sinclair at the high school and middle school doing body mass index (BMI). The main thing right now is sending out a survey and seeing where we stand.”

Clinton County Schools’ initial grant of $27,755 includes funding for planning, training and technical assistance so community groups can determine the most promising strategies to launch effective, sustainable models to improve children’s health.

The goal of the coalition is to help children grow up in a physical, social, and cultural environment that supports good health habits.

Other organizations which were selected for the program includes: Fitness for Life Around Grant County; Green River Area Development District (Partnership for a Healthy McLean County); Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky (Perry County Wellness Coalition); Kentucky Heart Foundation, INC. (Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, Ashland); Kentucky River Community Care, INC. (Breathitt County); and Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness.

Chronic diseases are diseases that last over time, decrease quality of life and increase the risk of early death. They include conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Substance abuse and some mental illnesses are also chronic. These chronic diseases occur at higher rates in Kentucky than in surrounding states. National statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal Kentucky’s children are also above the national average in several chronic disease risk factors:

• One in every 400 children and adolescents either has or will be diagnosed with diabetes.

• More than one in four (26 percent) high school students smoke cigarettes.

• When children grow into adulthood, Kentucky is above the national average in deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke.

The Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition will meet the last Thursday of each month at 1 p.m. at the Clinton County Board of Education’s office.