The Missouri Foundation for Health has provided a grant of nearly $300,000 for local health advocates to promote exercise and nutrition.
We’re eager to see how the Jasper and Newton Counties Community Health Collaborative and the Alliance of Southwest Missouri plan to use the money. The organizations involve area health departments, hospitals and other agencies, and they will be working with city governments, schools, churches and other organizations in a campaign called LiveSmart to get people to eat more fruits and vegetables and live a more active lifestyle.
In a tight economy, spending this amount of money on something that seems so simple might seem reckless. But consider that about two-thirds of Missouri’s population is either overweight or obese. A sum like $300,000 is a drop in the bucket compared with the health care costs associated with obesity.
While it sounds like the program will be heavy on encouragement and public education, we hope it also includes some fun organized activities at our area parks and walking trails. The Joplin area offers up plenty of opportunities. For this program to work, there will have to be some incentive to move locals off the couch and away from the TV.
We’re looking forward to more information as LiveSmart is developed in our area and we would encourage groups that are contacted and asked for their participation to lead by example. And we’re willing to do our part by getting the information out to the public through our paper and online site.
Let’s face it. We’ve become a sedate society with a craving for junk food and bad TV.
We applaud this areawide focus on changing bad habits.
