[Press Release] : Columbia/Boone County Health Department HOPs into action to increase physical activity

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PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Linda Cooperstock
Columbia/Boone County Health Department
(573) 817-6403
LRCOOPER at GoColumbiaMo.com 


Columbia/Boone County Health Department HOPs into action to increase
physical activity within the Boone County area           
									
	(COLUMBIA, MO) - The Columbia/Boone County Health Department
(CBCHD) will hold a press conference to announce funding received from
the Missouri Foundation for Health's (MFH) Healthy & Active
Communities program on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 4:30 p.m. at 1005 West
Worley.  
	The Columbia/Boone County Health Department, and a partnership
which includes Adventure Club, Boone Hospital Center, Columbia Public
Schools, Columbia Parks & Recreation, PedNet Coalition, the YouZeum and
others, developed the Community Healthy Opportunities Projects, or HOPs.
HOPs is a compilation of both new and existing projects joining together
to increase physical activity, improve nutrition and encourage healthier
lifestyles of children and families in the Columbia/Boone County area.  
    
	The Missouri Foundation for Health has identified the increase
in the prevalence of obesity among Missourians to be a serious public
health issue affecting the residents of the entire MFH service region.
The Foundation has determined the issue requires focused funding to
support direct program implementation, community education, improved
community access and development of local public policy that addresses
obesity prevention.
	Health Department Director Stephanie Browning is delighted to be
one of 15 grantees from around the MFH service region to receive this
funding. "With our community partners, we aim to help children and
families increase their physical activity levels and improve their
dietary behaviors. Our plan is to help reduce childhood obesity and
improve the public's health."
	With the two-year, $274,000 grant, the CBCHD will work with the
Adventure Club's after-school program, Boone Hospital Center's Kids
On Track program, and PedNet's Walking School Bus program, among many
other organizations and programs.
	The need for such an initiative is clear. According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Physical Activity and
Good Nutrition: Essential Elements to Prevent Chronic Diseases and
Obesity 2004 obesity has reached epidemic proportions. The epidemic is
not limited to adults; the percentage of young people who are overweight
has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Of children and adolescents
ages 6-19, 15 percent are considered overweight. The estimated annual
cost of obesity and overweight in the United States in 2000 was
approximately $117 billion. In Boone County the prevalence of overweight
is 38.6 percent and obesity 20.1 percent as reported in the 2003 Health
and Preventive Practices Status Report from the Missouri County-level
Study by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. These
prevalence rates are not significantly different from the state
prevalence, which is 35.3 percent overweight and 23.4 percent obese.  
	The Missouri Foundation for Health is based in St. Louis and is
the largest health care foundation in the state and also among the
largest of its kind in the country. The Foundation's vision is to
improve the health of people in the communities it serves.

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