The two-year grant will expand countywide obesity prevention efforts and will focus on increased physical activity and safe places to play, as well as access to healthier foods and education on healthy eating options.
“As obesity costs continue to drain our dwindling public funds, this grant will allow us to be more aggressive and more creative as we address this issue,” said County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager. “I hope this grant will help us inspire other jurisdictions and partners to join us in battling an epidemic that has reached a crisis level.”
The Communities Putting Prevention to Work award for obesity prevention will focus on two main strategies:
Through the establishment of a strong collaboration with local partners and community coalitions, Santa Clara County will create policy, systems and environmental changes to encourage physical activity and increased access to healthy food and beverages, as well as promote healthy choices. The ultimate goal is to reduce the burden of chronic diseases for those living in Santa Clara County.
- Promoting healthy eating through increasing the availability and consumption of nutritious food/drink choices
- Increasing opportunities for physical activity by working with land use and transportation planners
These strategies can lead to changes that will result in improved health. The 2010 Health Profile report for Santa Clara County revealed that 50 percent of adults and 1 in 4 children are overweight or obese. These numbers are important because overweight and obesity has been shown to lead to heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic diseases. “Investments like this are critical in helping our community tackle serious health challenges such as childhood obesity,” said Dan Peddycord, Director of the Public Health Department. “This funding helps us continue our work in promoting physical activities and healthy eating.”
The obesity prevention initiative will strive to promote safe and active transit (bicycling and walking) through adoption of Complete Streets and Safe Routes to Schools policies designed to create inviting and livable communities. The initiative will also promote the decreased consumption of drinks with large amounts of sugar through expansion of the Rethink Your Drink Campaign. The Rethink Your Drink Campaign is designed to move an individual’s focus from the high calorie sodas and fruit drinks as beverage choices to healthier alternatives such as water. Another component of the obesity initiative is improved access to healthy foods through food and beverage policies. The impact of this initiative will move the county closer to being a model community of healthy living.
“Being healthy begins with eating well, playing safe and healthy work environments” stated Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, Health Officer for Santa Clara County. “We don’t always consider the conditions that exist in our homes, neighborhoods and workplaces as factors. With this grant we have the opportunity to create conditions that promote sustainable changes that will greatly enhance the health of our community.”
The Communities Putting Prevention to Work awards provide communities with resources to create healthy choices for residents, such as increasing availability of healthy foods and beverages, improving access to safe places for physical activity, discouraging tobacco use, and encouraging smoke-free environments.Through a competitive grant process, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a total of $31 million to 10 communities in 8 states, as well as one award to a state health department.
The release of these funds follows grants that were awarded in February and March 2010 of more than $491.8 million in CPPW funds. Santa Clara County Public Health Department is only one of two communities to be funded for both obesity prevention and tobacco prevention and control initiatives in California.