Various health leaders within the region are continuing to take steps to help ensure Carter County has a healthier tomorrow.
Members of the Carter County Health Council convened inside Medical Care of Elizabethton Wednesday afternoon to discuss a variety of topics pertaining to health and provided updates on upcoming initiatives.
The county recently learned they’re one step closer to earning designation as a Healthier Tennessee Community with their first application being accepted through the Governor’s Foundation for Health and Wellness.
“It’s a grassroots effort to get health initiatives up and going in communities themselves,” Stacey Baugues, regional director for the foundation, said. “Through the designation process, a community goes through an initial application part, and that’s the stage Carter County just completed. They have been approved to start working toward being designated as a healthier Tennessee community. Within that program, we’re asking communities to initiate three community-wide sustainable activities and programs that focus on getting more people active.”
The Healthier Tennessee Communities initiatives is looking to increase the number of Tennesseans who are physically active for at least 30 minutes five times a week, promote a healthy diet and reduce the number of people that use tobacco products.
With the first stage of the application process out of the way, Baugues added Carter County’s final application will be looked at in January 2018 to receive final designation.
Baugues added the county is on the right track with work done on tobacco cessation and micro-clinics that could soon be offered at the Carter County Health Department.
Any businesses or faith-based organizations looking to receive a tool kit to help promote a healthy lifestyle, offered free of charge by the foundation, can either contact the health department or Josh McKinney with the local United Way at director@uwayecc.org for more information. More information of Healthier Tennessee Communities can be viewed at healthertn.com.
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Pate Anglin and Reece Townsend, Carter County FACT Summit teens, took part in Wednesday’s activities and provided an update on their works within the school systems to encourage their peers, and adults, to steer clear from using tobacco products.
The teens have stayed active in the community promoting cessation, including a special promotional program with Elizabethton High School’s football program to encourage students that “Starters Never Start.” As of December, the FACT Summit teens have received over 600 pledges from their peers to remain tobacco free. Anglin serves as a state ambassador for the program.
It coincides with the county health department’s effort to help deter residents from using tobacco products to have a healthier community.
Recent data provided from the department showed that smoking was reduced by two percent within the county (28.4 percent of the population) while the rate of ninth graders that smoke or use products fell by 2.4 percent (15.3 percent of the population).
The initiative has been stressed statewide with the next week kicking off Tennessee Quit Week, Feb. 13-17. In a statement by Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH, the importance of the week proves to be vital in providing information and help to citizens looking to stop using tobacco products.
“The impacts of tobacco use in Tennessee go beyond the damage done to the health, quality of life and incomes of those who choose to smoke,” said Dreyzehner. “Tobacco use costs our state billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and health care costs, serious and preventable consequences that hurt the prosperity of our state and those who live and work here. We want to increase our partnerships across the public and private sectors to educate people on the harms of tobacco use and how we can work together to help people improve their health and their lives by beating nicotine addiction.”
Tennesseans who smoke and are ready to quit can call the Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine (1-800-784-8669) to talk with a counselor or visit www.tnquitline.org for more information.
Jilian Reece and Allison Foster, with the county health department, also encouraged businesses and organizations to attend the upcoming Carter County Community Advisory Board meeting to speak with the FACT Summit teens and look at different ways to combat tobacco usage in the community.
The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 2, at noon inside the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library’s community room.
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Dr. Mildred Maisonet with East Tennessee State University also provided a presentation at the beginning of the meeting in regards to household air pollution and children’s health to improve exposure prevention to a variety of different pollutants. ETSU is participating in a Household Air Pollution and COPD study, a collaborative agreement with Johns Hopkins University, to look at different ways to help promote healthy homes within the region.