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The local Healthy Hometown Coalition, which continues to make progress in its goals to make Albany and Clinton County a healthier community, met this past Monday afternoon, November 25 at the Board of Education’s Central Office.

A representative of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky was scheduled to be at the meeting to make a presentation and review the progress the local committee was making, but was unable to attend and will address the local coalition at the meeting in January.

Although the representative could not be at this week’s meeting, while addressing the group on hand, Paula Little, Assistant Superintendent for Clinton County schools and one of the organizing members of the Coalition, said representatives of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky have expressed they were pleased with Clinton County’s work and progress to this point.

Little also addressed the issue of obtaining matching funds to keep the Healthy Hometown initiative going past next summer, saying that roughly $100,000 total would be needed to renew the program and about one-half of that could be ‘in-kind’ services, such as time put in by volunteer members and so forth.

However, she went on to warn the remaining approximate $50,000 would have to be in actual money that could be raised through a community effort.

“We need to get our priorities down,” said Little, giving examples such as new sidewalks to schools and playground equipment.

Once priorities are set, she suggested then asking businesses, organizations and even individuals for donations showing specific goals. She also noted that a donation of, for example, $1,000 would actually be like a $2,000 donation if the remaining $50,000 needed were matched with in-kind services.

The funds are due by next September to keep the grant program going, so there is somewhat of an urgency to begin thinking about how the local funds will be raised.

There was originally a heavy agenda scheduled for the meeting, but that was set aside until January and those present voted to cancel the December meeting and tentatively scheduled the next meeting for January 30 at 1 p.m.

The board did discuss some other items, including reviewing a strategic issues relationship diagram presented by a representative from the Lake Cumberland District Health Department.

Three primary strategic issues the coalition is apparently wanting to address problems of obesity, teen pregnancy and the use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Areas created to deal with these areas of concern include assessments involving local public health, community health status and forces of change assessments. Some 48.5 percent of participants had shown an interest in a health risk assessment, which involved the three primary health issues aforementioned.

Various ways of helping curb the health problems most associated with this area were discussed, including educational programs, health fairs and others.

Monday’s meeting also included a report from April Speck, Coordinator of the Coalition, as well as comments from Lamon Tyler Hubbs, one of the C.C.H.S. students who is serving on the Coalition and working with students from Albany Elementary School in an effort to improve the health choices of the younger student.s

The vision of the Healthy Hometown initiative is to “improve the overall health and quality of life of the Clinton County population by teaching individuals responsibility, providing education, wellness opportunities, and allocating resources throughout the community.”