CHAPEL HILL, NC – North Carolina has seen a marked decline in adult tobacco use from 26.1% in 2000 to 20.3% in 2010, and for the first time improved the grade to a B in Tobacco. Marks for physical activity are showing some recent improvement; however, grades for nutrition in the state have stalled, according to the 2010 Prevention Report Card, issued today by NC Prevention Partners.
The Report Card grades the progress made in the state on preventing tobacco use, poor nutrition and physical inactivity from 2000 to 2010, and is available online at: www.ncpreventionpartners.org/reportcard.
"What is extraordinary is that in ten short years, North Carolina has moved from the bottom of the nation in tobacco prevention to the top third," said Dr. Meg Molloy, President and CEO of NC Prevention Partners. "In 2000, we earned a D in tobacco-use prevention, which was not surprising given the state's roots in tobacco growing and manufacturing. What is surprising, however, is that we have moved so far so fast in reducing adult and youth smoking and made a number of good policy changes that brings North Carolina to a B when benchmarking our progress against national goals for 2010."
Molloy credits the large number of tobacco-free public spaces, including 100% tobacco-free schools and hospitals and smoke free bars and restaurants, with helping to move North Carolina to the front of the class in tobacco-use prevention. She also cites the strong smoking-cessation
benefits offered by the state's health insurers, progress made in increasing the cigarette tax during the past decade, and the establishment of the state sponsored Quitline and TRU anti-smoking campaign as positive elements of the better grade.
While progress was good in the area of tobacco prevention, the news was not so good in the areas of nutrition and physical activity—the big drivers in the state's exploding obesity problem.
"The state has less to brag about regarding nutrition and physical activity," said Molloy. "North Carolina's obesity and chronic disease rates will continue to spiral until we are able to build strong systems that offer accessible, affordable healthy food and convenient ways to be active."
According to the Report Card, 65.4 % of adults in the state are overweight or obese, up from 57.9% in 2000. Currently only 20% of adults eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
"What we are seeing in North Carolina, and nationally, are malnourished obese people—those who eat too many high fat foods and not enough healthy foods. This is a deadly cocktail for our chronic disease rates and the lives and health of our state's residents."
Molloy says that North Carolina could do much better in improving the nutrition grade if North Carolinians ate more of the foods that are grown in their own back yard.
"We need to concentrate efforts on getting fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to our schools, restaurants, workplaces, hospitals and other
institutions," said Molloy.
One bright spot in the report card is that North Carolina hospitals across the state are establishing healthy food environments in their own facilities with NC Prevention Partners' Red Apple initiative. The initiative ensures that healthy food is accessible, affordable, tastes good and is easy to find using nutrition labeling and other marketing strategies.
"Hospital leaders recognize that you can't make a healthy food choice if there isn't one," said Molloy. "It will take many more organizations across the state
offering and promoting healthy foods to see progress in the nutrition grade."
Although the state got only a D+ in physical activity, Molloy is encouraged by the fact that there is early progress being made in this area.
"The amount of active time is increasing among all age groups, which reflects the growing number of families, organizations and communities that are
focusing on ways to support physical activity," Molloy said.
The number of adults getting the recommended amount of physical activity jumped from 42.4 % in 2000 to 46.4% in 2010 and the number of middle school students getting enough physical activity went from 47.5% to 60%, exceeding the state goal. Molloy says that these positive trends will yield much better grades in physical activity in the years to come.
Molloy also credits the collaboration of a committed group of partners focused on healthy schools with fashioning a healthier future for the state's children.
"A growing number of leaders and organizations are focusing on what works in this area and are dedicating resources and collaborating and coordinating with each other to best focus efforts," Molloy said.
This newly issued Report Card is the first time that NC Prevention Partners has done a 10 year look back on the health of the state. The first Prevention Report Card was issued in 1998.
CHAPEL HILL, NC – January 25, 2011 – NC Prevention Partners and NC Healthy Schools announce the launch of NC School Health Connection, a unique collaboration and an innovative web-tool to assist North Carolina schools with combating childhood obesity.
The website, www.ncschoolhealthconnection.org, maps school-based obesity prevention programs across the state and aims to increase accessibility of these programs to school leaders. The site also encourages collaboration among organizations working with schools and encourages organizations to proactively reach out to school districts with fewer programs in place. Schools can also use the site to find grant resources to fund initiatives for healthier schools.
Meg Molloy, President and CEO of NC Prevention Partners, said that while there are a number of obesity-prevention initiatives in the state, it is not always easy to know what is going on in your school.
“NC School Health Connection is a simple way for schools to find out what resources exist, who to contact, and how to combine efforts to maximize impact,” Molloy said.
Twenty diverse obesity prevention programs are currently featured on the website.
Elke Atkins, Director of Child Nutrition at Mount Airy City Schools, said the website is a great resource for networking, gaining ideas and finding grant opportunities.
“Kudos! Finally a centralized, one-stop-shop to locate school obesity prevention programs and resources in the state,” Atkins said. “This website will be fundamental as we plan and implement our health and nutrition programs this school year.”
Paula Hudson Hildebrand, Senior Health Advisor to the State Board of Education, said that since children spend most of their day in school, it is important that schools provide healthy choices to support children’s health habits.
“In addition to teaching kids about health, schools clearly influence children’s eating and activity options,” Hildebrand said. “Everything we can do to create healthy schools will help us graduate healthy students.”
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently launched a site with similar goals on a national level, called Preventobesity.net. This site profiles childhood obesity prevention efforts across the
country.
“We hope the NC School Health Connection website will serve as a strong state model for this national initiative,” said Ingrid Morris, Senior Program Manager with NC Prevention Partners. “We are thrilled to be a part of this movement to build healthier schools for healthier kids across both the state and nation.”
NC School Health Connection was developed by NC Prevention Partners in partnership with NC Healthy Schools. GlaxoSmithKline is a founding sponsor.
CHAPEL HILL, NC—March 1, 2011—Tucked away in the heart of Alamance County, custom T-shirt printer TS Designs has built its name on a commitment to creating sustainable products and upholding sustainable business practices. But those are not the only things that set apart this
17-person operation. As employee health across the country has plummeted and health care costs hit the roof, TS Designs has positioned itself as one of an expanding group of businesses looking for innovative ways to make healthy changes to its work environment.
“It’s been a long journey, but we are finding out how we can help out employees,” said TS Designs President Eric Henry. This past July, the organization joined WorkHealthy America, an executive’s strategic framework to determine gaps in evidence-based worksite wellness created by Chapel Hill nonprofit NC Prevention Partners. Much like a health-risk assessment for an organization, WorkHealthy America evaluates a worksite’s wellness policies, benefits and environmental supports related to tobacco use, nutrition and physical activity. The program then provides recommendations, resources and action plans that serve as road maps to creating healthy workplace environments.
“WorkHealthy America has helped us see where we have weaknesses, and has allowed us to focus on where we can improve,” Henry said.
For example, two years ago Henry wanted to start an organic vegetable garden for his employees. While there was some initial interest from a few green-thumbed colleagues, overall the garden was not very popular.
“What we realized,” Henry said, “is that the employees we wanted to connect to the most through this garden program were not getting involved. So, we
changed our model.”
With the help of farming expert Glenn Kern, the company converted a 70 x 50 plot of their land outside the office into a large vegetable garden. In addition, TS Designs implemented a new policy requiring all employees to work in the garden for at least 30 minutes every week, on paid time.
“Having an employee garden not only gives our employees access to healthier options during work, but it also supports our sustainability goals by providing locally grown, organic produce,” Henry said.
Promoting wellness in the workplace is not just good for employees, says Anne Thornhill, Manager of Business Development at NC Prevention Partners. “It is smart business.”
“Unhealthy employees cost their businesses as much as $6,000 a year in increased health costs and lost productivity,” Thornhill said. “Wellness policies and benefits like the ones promoted through WorkHealthy America
improve employee health and save employers money.”
Since its launch in 2009, more than 300 companies have joined WorkHealthy America, including all 127 acute care hospitals. Upon joining, most businesses begin to see immediate results, said Whitney Davis, WorkHealthy America
Program Manager at NC Prevention Partners.
“Within their first year of joining, we expect 75 percent of businesses to have assembled a wellness committee or identified wellness leaders within their organization, and to be well on their way to implementing policy changes,” Davis said.
According to Davis, these policy changes could be as simple as adding a communal fruit bowl to the employee lounge or as complex as implementing a campus-wide smoke-free policy.
“Improving worksite wellness often means thinking outside the box,” Davis said. “We’re seeing lots of employers, like TS Designs, come up with super innovative ways to get their employees involved in worksite wellness.”
Back in Alamance County, TS Designs has big plans for moving forward.
“While we’ve made a lot of strides toward creating a healthier work environment for our employees, we still have a long ways to go,” Henry said.
TS Designs’ next step is to partner with a local community college culinary program to create simple menus to help guide employees who want to try healthier options.
“Many of our employees are used to eating mostly processed foods,” Henry said. “When you present them with raw eggplants and other veggies, you might as well be giving them moon rocks.”