OSU Extension Resources for Healthy People and Places

certified, licensed Better Bones and Balance instructors
Peggy Latshaw, Teena Hall, Nicole More, and Stephanie Stuart, certified, licensed Better Bones and Balance™ instructors

Healthy People and Habits

Wellness Ink  - newsletter featuring health & wellness tips from Coos/Curry County FCH faculty. If you have missed out on earlier issues of Wellness Ink you can find them at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/coos/ffe/news

 

NIH study finds leisure-time physical activity extends life expectancy as much as 4.5 years

Leisure-time physical activity is associated with longer life expectancy, even at relatively low levels of activity and regardless of body weight, according to a study by a team of researchers led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study, which found that people who engaged in leisure-time physical activity had life expectancy gains of as much as 4.5 years, appeared Nov. 6, 2012, in PLoS Medicine.

Man adjusts a woman's helmet strap as they prepare for a bicycle ride.

In order to determine the number of years of life gained from leisure-time physical activity in adulthood, which translates directly to an increase in life expectancy, researchers examined data on more than 650,000 adults. These people, mostly age 40 and older, took part in one of six population-based studies that were designed to evaluate various aspects of cancer risk.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of NIH, recommends that adults ages 18 to 64 engage in regular aerobic physical activity for 2.5 hours at moderate intensity — or 1.25 hours at vigorous intensity — each week. Moderate activities are those during which a person could talk but not sing. Vigorous activities are those during which a person could say only a few words without stopping for breath.

Full NIH News Release at:            http://www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2012/nci-06.htm

Preventing Obesity in High Risk Families

Article posted today on Agriculture is America explains the role of Land-Grant Universities in new research and Extension programs to more effectively address obesity. Click here for online story or download pdf for printing.

Preventing Obesity Among Children - What Families Can Do

All kids deserve to experience the positive health benefits of daily physical activity and healthy eating, and have those opportunities available to them. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institutes of Health have programs and resources to help children and parents, like We Can!! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition)®. OSU Extension Family and Community Health http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/ can help children and parents develop healthy habits to address childhood obesity.

Mastery of Aging Well...

OSU now offers an online program for healthy living

Mastery of Aging Well, developed in partnership with AARP, is a program for anyone interested in healthy aging. The program can be accessed in three ways, including: an online interactive course, a series of online modules, and a DVD learning package. Find out more about Mastery of Aging Well.

NEW The Oregon City Extension library has 2 sets of the DVD learning package to "check out.”

Nutrition Education Program…

Kelly Streit, MS RD is the Food and Nutrition Instructor for the Family and Community Health program in Clackamas County.  Since January 2011, Kelly with her team of educational staff and trained volunteers offer nutrition education programs in Clackamas County schools, low-income housing, Oregon Food Bank sites, farmers markets and for various non-profit partners.  A major theme of the food and nutrition programming in Clackamas County is providing nutrition education to low-income families. We also offer learning experiences through our volunteer programs.

Better Bones, Better Balance…

Congratulations to Clackamas County’s four newly certified and licensed Better Bones & Balance® instructors: Stephanie Stuart, Nicole More, Teena Hall, and Peggy Latshaw!  They successfully completed the annual 2-day instructor training workshop and exam at Linn Benton Community College under the direction of OSU Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, Dr. Kathy Gunter, Better Bones & Balance® Program Director. One of our own FCH faculty, Dr. Deborah John, assisted with the training, delivering two educational lectures for the workshop and evaluating participants’ learning and skill development during the practical exam. Clackamas County Extension Family and Community Health program provided 4 scholarships (valued at $245 each) to train instructors to deliver this OSU research-based program aimed at improving strength and balance to reduce the risk of falls and falls-related fractures among independent older adults. Better Bones & Balance® classes will be available at qualified non-profit organizations in Clackamas County, like North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District’s Milwaukie Center. We’ll keep you posted of classes in your community! For more information, please visit Better Bones & Balance®or contact our office.

Healthy Families and Homes

Family Food Educators and Master Food Preserver volunteers support healthy families and homes…

Summer season means the Family Food Educators and Master Food Preservers are out and about in Clackamas County providing safe home canning and food preservation information, staffing the OSU Master Food Preserver volunteer booth at the Oregon City Farmers Market, and assisting with food preservation and food resource management classes offered through the Clackamas County Extension Service.

Are you interested in the latest food recalls? 

The US Food and Drug Administration keeps you informed of potentially unsafe foods. You may also contact us with your food safety or home canning questions.

 Plot-to-Plate

In 2009, in Clackamas County:

  • 19, 251 students (33.3%) were eligible for free and reduced priced meals
  • 52,854 food boxes and 3 congregate meal sites provided emergency food to help families make ends meet
  • 37,693 people received SNAP benefits each month 

These statistics illustrate a need within Clackamas County to address the community food system, increase access to healthy foods grown locally, and improve family food security through family food resource management. Plot-to-Plate is an experiential education program designed to increase community participants’ access to healthy food and promote healthy, active lifestyles by engaging local residents in interactive food resource management workshops delivered in the community garden and using a mobile kitchen. 

Healthy Schools and Worksites

OSU Extension Family and Community Health (FCH) program can help schools, worksites and communities develop healthy environments to prevent obesity among children, families, and workers. Read more here http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/release/2011/01/osu-receives-5-million-study-rural-obesity-children. Contact Clackamas Extension Family & Community Health – GROW Healthy Kids and Communities staff for a Healthy Eating Active Living program in your school, worksite, or community.

GREEN Corps Fresh Start...

GREEN Corps, an OSU Extension Family and Community Health & Community and Urban Horticulture combined program venture, is Growing Resources for Economical & Equitable Nutrition in Clackamas County. Clackamas County Juvenile Department's Fresh Start project is bringing at-risk youth and young adults a "fresh start" through the opportunity to grow, forage and share food and other hand produced products with the community. Fresh Start youth and volunteers manage gardens and grow food on the Red Soils campus and market produce at the Oregon City Farmers Market. Volunteers are needed to keep this program thriving. Please look at the volunteer descriptions and help us be successful!

HEAL Community Grant Partners…

Milwaukie High School - healthier school, healthier school store…

The goal of the MHS Healthy School Healthy Store initiative is to increase access to healthy foods during the school day and encourage healthful eating behaviors among students and staff. To meet this goal, MHS has partnered with OSU Extension Family and Community Health program to provide food and nutrition education within a variety of educational settings, including our real-world learning high school deli, school store, and catering programs. In these programs, students have the opportunities to operate real businesses, learning career and healthy lifestyle skills vital to the work place. 

Healthy Communities

 Promoting Age-Friendly Livable Communities…

Read how smaller cities and rural places are using transit and mobility investments to strengthen their economies and communities HERE.

engAGE in Community is a campus-community health partnership between Clackamas County Social Services, Extension Family and Community Health, and AARP Oregon to create ‘Age-Friendly’ Clackamas County, a livable place for people of all ages! engAGE in Community seeks to affect community change by exploring aging issues and listening to local people, and by engaging residents and decision-makers in efforts to increase and improve community resources and capacity and support people’s ability to live, thrive, and age in their place of choice.

MAPPS - Mapping Assets using Participatory Photographic Surveys

County residents from Hoodland, Canby, Wilsonville, Oregon City, Damascus, and North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District communities engaged in local MAPPS projects to identify attributes of their community’s physical, social, and service environments, defined according to the World Health Organization‘s model of age-friendly communities, that support or hinder the ability of all residents to age in place. Read the community MAPPS reports… 

engAGE in Community Forum 2010 “Is Clackamas County Age-Friendly?” View polling results HERE!

engAGE in Community Expo 2011. View results presentation HERE and report HERE!

engAGE in Community Expo 2012. View community MAPPS reports for Hoodland, Canby, Wilsonville, Oregon City, Damascus, and NCPRD here! 

 Clackamas County Residents - please take this surveyabout YOUR community!

The OSU Extension Family and Community Health website offers information on the following topics:

Hunger
Nutrition & physical activity
Food safety
Aging
Parents and children
Family financial management
Emergency preparedness
Molds
Volunteer programs
Publications

 

 

 

Share this