Year in Review, child health/wellness

This is the second of the program impact summaries provided by Hopkins County Family & Community Health Extension.

Relevance: According to https://nccd.cdc. gov, Hopkins County has a population of approximately 37,211, with 19% of children living in poverty an average of 21% of youth ages 6-19 are overweight. Additionally, approximately 24% achieve one hour or less moderate physical activity; an average of 45% consume less thanone serving of fruit per day; and 50% consume less than one serving of vegetables per day. Other factors that can be a detriment to youth health and wellness include:

•Adult obesity (32% of Hopkins County population) •Adult smoking (20%)

•Uninsured (24%) Response: The Community Health/Wellness Alliance and Hopkins County Master Wellness Volunteers identified the need to continue addressing childhood health in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, and well-being. This was accomplished by partnering with the Sulphur Springs and Cumby ISD’s for their 2022 summer day camp program. The target audience was students grades 1-5. Collaborators in the effort were:

•Department of State Health Services (session on water/sun safety)

•United Healthcare (session on dental care)

•Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center (sessions on stranger danger)

•Barbara Bush Primary Campus (facilities for sessions) •League Street Church of Christ (facilities for hands-on cooking sessions

•Cumby School campus (facilities for sessions)

•Hopkins County Master Wellness Volunteers

•Healthy Texas Youth Ambassador Results: A total of nine sessions were provided, including a two and a half hour hands-on cooking session for Sulphur Springs students. Sessions included: physical activity at each session, “Color Me Healthy” curriculum, nutrition, importance of breakfast, MyPlate, sun safety, water safety, stranger danger and more. The hands-on cooking session included reading and following a recipe, food safety, hand hygiene, and kitchen safety. Incentive items were distributed to reinforce information learned: MyPlate plates, exercise bands, My-Plate flying discs, sports bottles, aprons, and more.

A retrospective 11-question post survey was distributed to two Sulphur Springs classes (30 returned) and 14-question post survey to two Cumby classes (20 returned). Surveys included multiple choice questions, true/ false questions, and intent to adopt practices learned during the sessions. Students indicated learning:

•100% (50/50) were able to identify dairy products from a list

•100% (50/50) were able to identify recommended number of minutes of physical activity

•100% (50/50) were able to identify the best beverage for hot days

•90% (45/50) were able to identify what to do in the event of severe weather

•88% (44/50) were able to identify sedentary behavior vs. physical activity

•88% (44/50) were able to identify foods in the protein group Intent to adopt practices: •100% (50/50) indicated that they will drink more water and fewer sweetened beverages

•96% (48/50) indicated that they plan to eat breakfast every morning

•88% (44/50) indicated that they plan to eat more fruits & vegetables I know statistics can be boring, but they certainly help tell the story about the impact of these programs! Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is all about education and helping people have better lives.

I want to thank the two schools for allowing me to be part of their very successful summer camp program!