The Union County Health Department (UCHD) is working with members of the community to promote heart health awareness.
In light of February being Heart Health Awareness Month, UCHD is working with the community on encouraging healthy activities for residents to engage in this year, ranging from bike paths to farmer’s markets.
UCHD health planner Doug Matthews said he’s using funds from the Creating Healthy Communities grant to help fund projects in the community to promote better physical activity and healthy eating.
“Throughout the year, there are opportunities for people to engage with their health and work toward reducing things like heart disease though some of the programs and projects I’ve had the opportunity to work on,” Matthews said.
Matthews said he’s worked with Richwood and Marysville officials to incorporate SNAP and WIC access at farmer’s markets. He said this will help income-dependent people to better afford healthier foods.
“We’re trying to build environmental things like the farmer’s market to bring the opportunity to the community and expand on that to increase access to folks of varying income and geography,” Matthews said.
Kathy Custer, manager of the Union County Farmer’s Market, said she’s been working with Matthews and the UCHD for 10 years to create healthy recipes she shares with shoppers at farmer’s market events.
She said she’s working on educating residents about healthy eating and diets, something that’s new for her this year.
“To me, it’s always a constant to reach out to people for, not only heart health, but for diets as well,” Custer said. “We appreciate parents recognizing the importance of exposing their kids to what’s growing in the garden.”
She said heart health is easier to promote when people are knowledgeable of where their food comes from and if they’re engaging in healthy activities.
Along with the farmer’s markets, the UCHD is working with the Mental Health and Recovery Board (MHRB) on community gardens and bike path projects.
MHRB special projects coordinator Carmen Irving said the board has a garden project for residents where they can plant and harvest crops for therapeutic purposes. She also said an educator teaches them how to cook those crops into healthy dishes.
“From the public health perspective, we’re increasing education, as well as consumption, of fruits and vegetables and exposure,” Irving said. “From the extension side of things, these people are learning gardening skills, cooking skills and a variety of ways to prepare food.”
She’s also working to implement a bicycle program in Marysville. This will be the first year for the MHRB’s involvement in the bicycle program and it came as a response to the success of the garden program.
Irving said the program will help residents commute to work while engaging in physical activity and overcome income barriers by providing them with a bicycle to rent.
She said the bike and garden programs will help facilitate heart health.
The bicycle program is set to start this year during the spring, whenever the weather gets better. The farmer’s market begins in spring.