The efforts of a relatively new group of leaders in Clinton County whose goal is to promote a healthier lifestyle among it’s citizens and especially the youth here, was the subject of a Kentucky Education Television production that was released for public view last week.

The KET segment took an up-close look at the Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition and it’s recent efforts to change the lifestyle habits that have resulted in Clinton County being listed as one of the worst counties as far as chronic disease, obesity and premature death rates and a host of other negative health issues.

Despite the subject surrounding the problems of unhealthy lifestyle choices and results that plague local residents in their adult years, the production put the Healthy Hometown Coalitions’ efforts in an extremely positive light.

“I was glad to see a positive piece about Clinton County and to see the good work that the Healthy Hometown Coalition is doing be highlighted,” Healthy Hometown Chairperson Paula Little told the Clinton County News on Monday during a brief interview. “We’re always glad for any attention we can get for out program, hopefully that will result in more support and maybe even more funding to support what we are trying to do. We also want to encourage other communities across the state to get on the good health bandwagon and to try to improve life outcomes for their children.”

The Healthy Hometown Coalition was formed here a few years ago and is primarily funded through an initiative from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky called Investing in Kentucky’s Future.

Little, who is the Clinton County Schools Assistant Superintendent and Supervisor of Instruction for the school system, leads the group that is made up of one of the most broad cross sections of any group ever assembled here.

Members of the Healthy Hometown Coalition who regularly attend meetings as well as promotional events, include educators, members of the local business sector, health field workers, elected officials and government representatives and private individuals.

Recognizing that the main focus of the Coalition’s efforts is geared toward helping the youth develop healthier habits in order to enjoy a healthier adult life in their future, the Coalition also has brought in several students from Clinton County High School to sit alongside the adults in an effort to make reaching it’s goals even more successful.

One of the student members, Dalton Gregory, was the subject of one brief interview featured in the program.

The KET segment is the result of at least three visits to Albany and Clinton County by camera crews and reporters, and the final production gives a detailed summary of some of the Coalition’s efforts, projects and results.

In addition to Little, the production also included individual interviews with Albany Mayor Nicky Smith, Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coordinator April Speck, Clinton County Schools Food Service Director Georgia Rigney, and Chief Compliance Officer of Cumberland Family Medical Center Inc. Lora Brewington, all of whom are members of the Coalition.

The eight-minute long segment shows viewers, in addition to the aforementioned individual interviews, looks at physical activities available at the Mountain View Recreation Park including children and adults using the playground equipment, walking track and basketball courts.

The crews also visited school lunchrooms and gave views of children choosing healthy foods – vegetables and fruits – from available selections.

The segment includes short stays with kindergarten and elementary students taking breaks from behind their desks, to enjoy some in-room physical activity and exercise.

The Coalition’s efforts to improve youth nutrition options and habits was also a very large part of the KET segment as well, with much of that being the summer feeding program that utilizes a school bus that has been customized into a mobile restaurant and delivers healthy, nutritious meals to several locations throughout the county during the summer months.

“What we try to do with our mobile bus is try to figure out which areas of our county has the most students gathered in one location, and then we get the bus to that location,” Rigney explains during the program.

The Bus Stop Cafe will once again be serving breakfast and lunch to area youth this summer.

“We feed them breakfast and when the breakfast line is all done, we load it back up with lunch and we go back out and feed them lunch,” Rigney said.

The Coalition, by design, is an effort to also be proficient in working with other groups in the county to help achieve the same goals, which was something the Brewington touched on during her interview segment in the KET program.

“We have a lot of great groups, that do a lot of great things, but if everyone is going for that same goal, and the resources are not combined, you’re not going to accomplish anything. And once we get everybody together and on the same page, by combining resources, we’ve been able to do some great things,” Brewington says.

The concept of working together was also touched on by Little during her interview with the Clinton County News Monday.

“Community partners are one of the keys of the Coalition, bringing a bunch of different community folks together and everybody brings their expertise and their resources and we can use it all,” Little said.

The program also gave brief looks at other programs that are being sponsored by the Coalition, including Clinton County Library based events as well as the effort last year that saw the Coalition bring the community together to purchase, site prepare, and assemble the new playground equipment that is now at Mountain View Park.

Little told the Clinton County News that she hopes the positive nature of the KET feature would mean more good things not only for the Healthy Hometown Coalition, but perhaps to nudge other communities toward similar efforts as well.

“We’re always glad for any attention we can get for out program, hopefully that will result in more support and maybe even more funding to support what we are trying to do,” Little said. “We also want to encourage other communities across the state to get on the good health bandwagon and to try to improve life outcomes for their children.”

Simply providing healthier choices in terms of food and physical exercise opportunities isn’t the only goal of the Coalition, but those involved are hoping that those new chances will also result in the local youth developing better habits at their young age, which will carry through to their adult years, and hopefully begin a reverse in the trend that has resulted in Clinton County’s unfavorable ranking when health statistics are concerned.

“If you look at the statistics, what happens to folks living in Clinton County by the time they get older, we are more likely to have chronic health problems than folks living in other areas.,” Little said. “After a needs assessment, we decided that childhood obesity would be our focus because if we can improve that and address the need to be more physically active and develop better habits when they are young, they would be less likely to develop bad health as they got older.”

Little said she, along with the other members of the Coalition, are extremely proud of the accomplishments for the community’s well being that have been made so far, and there are plenty of plans in the works to keep the effort moving in a forward direction.

“We are going to continue to support having more fresh fruits and vegetables in the schools, having more physical activity for the students in their curriculum, support improvements and changes at the Mountain View Recreation Park such as the project last year that brought the new playground equipment for the community,” Little said. “We were able to put a new paved surface down on the walking track which has made a big difference out there.”

She added that while that playground equipment is likely the most visible piece of the Coalition effort the public can see, there are even more plans that will be bringing even more improvements to that facility, some of which are being seen in the early stages now.

“This year we’re going to work on expanding the playground with the toddler’s playground and also we are going to put in a multi-purpose field that will have goalposts and soccer goals,” she added. “ We are re-doing the volleyball court and going to redo the batting cages and make those nicer.”

While many of the programs and activities being sponsored by the Coalition are currently visible and being enjoyed by the public, she reminds everyone that the ultimate goals will pay off in even bigger rewards, hopefully, many years down the road.

“I think by the time you are my age, your habits are already there and a few people can change, but it’s hard to do,” Little said. “If we can start out and help develop good habits when they are younger, then that is what they will be used to when they get older.”

Last week’s release of the KET segment will mean increased publicity for the local Coalition’s efforts and successes, the report already has spawned even more widespread circulation of the program.

At least one Kentucky health-based effort, The Kentucky Health News service, included this week an article on the KET report and the Healthy Hometown Coalition’s work.

That article was distributed to newspapers across Kentucky as a part of the weekly health-based articles that are generated by the service, which is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

The same report was also distributed on a widely circulated health-related web blog operated by the same service.

Another well known Clinton Countian, Al Cross, currently-serves as Director for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

Those interested in viewing the KET report online, can do so by accessing the following site:

http://www.ket.org/health/clinton-co-leaders-boost-fitness-with-healthy-hometown-program/

The separate report from the Kentucky Health News blog can be seen here:

http://kyhealthnews.blogspot.com/2016/06/clinton-county-coalition-works-to.html