Lamon Tyler Hubbs was selected to participate at the Howard L. Bost Memorial Health Policy Forum in Erlanger, Kentucky on September 16, 2013, as a member of the Youth Panel discussing policy solutions with KET’s Renee Shaw.

Hubbs, a senior at Clinton County High School, was contacted by Paula Little, who has been working with the Healthy Hometown Coalition about doing the panel discussion.

“I hadn’t really looked at the health stats for Albany,” Hubbs said. “We are not a very healthy county. It got me interested in the project so I agreed to be apart of it. I then got a conference call a few days before the actual panel with the guy who was over the discussion and the lady who interviewed us on T.V. Also on the call was three of the other students who were on the panel. We discussed what we were going to be talking about on the panel.”

Hubbs said his nerves came into play a little, but once he begam the discussions along with the other panelists, it began getting smoother for him.

“It made it a little easier,” Hubbs said. “I was a little bit nervous.”

During the discussion, Hubbs’ focus was on soda consumption, childhood obesity, as well as drug abuse and overdose. He said 74 percent of Clinton County’s population is overweight.

“The national average is around 40 percent,” Hubbs said. “Our is a lot higher.”

Hubbs is a prime candidate to be a spokesperson for the Healthy Hometown Coalition. He made a conscience decision a few years ago to stay healthy and watch what he puts into his body.

“I come from a family who has weight problems, so when I was an eighth grader I realized I was a little over weight,” Hubbs said. “All I really did was quit drinking sodas and I lost like 20 pounds in four or five weeks. It wasn’t nothing drastic. I exercised a little more and the weight came off pretty quick.”

Looking at the stats for Clinton County, Hubbs said it was startling to see.

“Remembering that change and hearing how unhealthy our county was, something has to be done about it. Obviously we can make the change if we want to. It’s on a want to basis and you have to figure out what will make people want to change and that’s hard to do,” Hubbs said. “With the Healthy Hometown Coalition, I’m really looking forward to getting started in the community.”

Hubbs is one of four students involved in the Healthy Hometown Coalition and those students will bridge the gap between the adults and the students at the high school.

“They wanted the opinions of the people who were actually in the schools,” Hubbs said.

Hubbs expressed his thoughts on the coalition and hopes its does some good inside the county.

“I’m hoping it will do some good. A lot of programs like this seem to die off pretty quick, but with the people who are a part of it, they are really optimistic about it,” Hubbs said. “I think it’s really going to make an impact. If we can get the program up and running really quick and get it on its feet and just run with it. We can’t sit around and twiddle our thumbs for too long.”

The mission of the Healthy Hometown Coalition is to engage a broad spectrum of community partners to promote the physical and behavioral health and well-being of children ages five through 18 as they grow into adults, by supporting local systems, environments, and policies that reduce risks for chronic diseases and help support healthy behaviors for a lifetime.