The Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition, a relatively new effort here geared toward improving the health status of local residents and in particular the health of children in the county, held a meeting last week and received a major beneficial “shot in the arm”.

With about 25 Coalition members in attendance, the session centered around a host of reports from various members of the local group about the efforts of each in recent weeks to continue the battle against poor health practices in this county and region that adversely affect the population.

At the conclusion of those reports, the Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition heard from member Lora Cross Brewington who announced that her employer, Cumberland Family Medical, had selected the Clinton County program to be the recipient of a $5,000 gift to help with it’s efforts.

Brewington, who has been involved with the Clinton County Coalition since it’s beginnings last year and serves as Secretary for the group, made the presentation to Coalition Chairperson Paula Little.

The announcement of the donation by Brewington was met with cheers and applause from those attending the meeting last Thursday at the Clinton County Welcome Center.

Also attending the meeting last week were two representatives from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky staff, Doug Hogan, Communications Director, and Amealia Mendoza, the Senior Program Officer.

Clinton County was one of just seven communities chosen to organize a local coalition in an effort to address the concerns of the health issues of children, and especially the topics of chronic disease and obesity in children, and possible solutions to those problems that would be addressed on a local level.

The program is working from a three-stage grant funding process that is currently in it’s first year of initial funding.

It was the consensus of the group at this point that promoting more outside activity for children would be an initial target area, and likely the funding of new playground equipment for the Mountain View Recreation Park will be the group’s first project

The group also plans to raise funds through a host of various activities as well as working with other local entities for the same goals.

With the Coalition still in it’s first year of existence and funding, it previously hired April Speck to serve as the Coordinator, and the goal is to win funding for the continuation of the efforts in Clinton County.

During Thursday’s meeting, reports were heard from several agencies and individuals who summarized efforts that had been made to address health concerns of both children and adults in the area.

Included among those giving reports were: Colby Guffey, County Extension Agent; Sandra Guffey, 21st Century and Twin Lakes Family Wellness Center; Jean Harlow, Health Educator for Lake Cumberland Health Department; Lamon Tyler Hubbs, C.C.H.S student member; Bobby Reneau, Mountain View Park Director, Tyonia Sinclair, PEP Director and night grad health teacher at C.C.H.S, Stacy Smith, Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program; and Tonya Thrasher, C.C.H.S. Family Resource Coordinator.

The reports included a summary of activities that had been organized by Sandra Guffey at the Wellness Center to promote physical activity for both youth and adults.

She noted that among her programs were an organized youth basketball league, swimming classes at the Wellness Center and for the older students, organized video game gatherings that focused on games geared toward physical exertion.

Another presentation included a report from Colby Guffey who outlined several programs his organization has sponsored.

Those included teaching the value of raising healthy vegetables by helping pre-schoolers plant bean seeds to sponsoring a June Dairy Appreciation program last year to teach elementary aged children about the dairy industry.

Bobby Reneau included information in his report that bolstered the Coalition’s plans to acquire new playground equipment for the Mountain View Park, noting how much work had gone into repairing the equipment that was currently being used, some of which had originally been installed at 76 Falls Country Club when it was first founded in 1968, while another piece of equipment had been salvaged and restored after being discarded by the Lake Cumberland State Park.

Along the lines of planned activities, the Healthy Hometown Coalition is sponsoring a 5K Run for the Roses race, along with a 1K Family Run/Walk and a related Health Fair this Saturday, May 3.

Registration for the race will be at 8:30 a.m. with the race to begin at 9:00 a.m. at Mountain View Park.

An entry fee of $15 will be charged to adults, with students up to the 12th grade running without charge.

A registration form is available in this week’s Clinton County News on page 8