“For the first time in decades, children may face shorter life expectancies than their parents due to unhealthy lifestyles,” says Jill Hamilton Buss, executive director of Healthy Central Florida.  “This study, conducted by the University of Central Florida Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences, not only establishes a baseline for Healthy Central Florida’s work, but also helps local leaders and policy-makers understand more about the urgent health priorities facing residents.”  The Executive Summary also discusses the role that policies, the built environment and the lack of access to healthy foods and healthy choices have on residents’ health.

Healthy Central Florida was launched a year ago by Florida Hospital and the Winter Park Health Foundation because of the escalating rates of chronic health conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Researchers looked at rates of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, smoking, stress and activity levels, nutrition and social cohesion and compared the information from these three communities with county, state and national data.  The findings revealed that more than half of residents are overweight or obese; a third or more have high blood pressure; and about one in four have high cholesterol.

The most alarming finding was Eatonville’s high rate of diabetes, affecting nearly one in four residents, more than double the national average and nearly triple that of its neighbors.

“The people of Eatonville suffer disproportionately from diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions that impact their health and the well-being of the community,” said Dr. Richard Pratley, senior faculty at the Translational Research Institute and medical director of the Florida Hospital Diabetes Institute.  “The reasons for this are not clear. What is clear is that there is an urgent need to address these issues.  A healthy lifestyle, with good nutrition, exercise and smoking cessation remains the foundation for the prevention and treatment of both diabetes and heart disease.”

Despite these challenges, when asked about social connections, a known protective factor for health, more than 50% of Eatonville residents said they were strongly connected to their neighbors and others living in the community, whereas Winter Park and Maitland responded at 32% and 35% respectively. 

“This is not the first study to show that healthier people live in healthier environments. That’s why programs aimed solely at weight loss, targeting the individual and not the broader environment, are limited in their ability to create large-scale, lasting change.  A more effective approach is to focus on creating healthy environments.  Our goal is to make the healthy choice the easy choice in all environments and ultimately, to transform our community into the healthiest in the nation,” said Jill Hamilton Buss.

The study did reveal that most residents care deeply about their health – nearly 100% of respondents in every community share this concern. This is evidenced by the fact that nearly 70% of Maitland and Winter Park residents said they want to be more active than they currently are, and that more than 50% of Eatonville residents said the same thing.

“About two years ago, we began a conversation with our friends at Winter Park Memorial and Florida Hospital about creating a movement and engaging community leaders in this journey we now call Healthy Central Florida,” said Patricia Maddox, President & CEO of Winter Park Health Foundation.  “Our goal is to make sure that regardless of where you live, learn, work, worship or play in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville, it’s easier for you to be active, eat healthy, and in general, make healthy choices.” 

Click here to read more about the findings and recommendations in the Executive Summary on the Healthy Central Florida web page.  

About Healthy Central Florida

Florida Hospital and the Winter Park Health Foundation recognized the alarmingly high rates of obesity, inactivity, smoking and mental health challenges facing residents in our communities. These problems drain precious limited resources from businesses, schools and hospitals and have a profound impact on the quality of life for children and adults in Central Florida. To create large and small-scale change and a “culture of well-being,” a coordinated community effort was needed.  Healthy Central Florida was founded to lead this effort.

Healthy Central Florida is a community-based partnership established to transform our community into the healthiest in the nation. Its aim is to get people moving more, eating healthier, feeling better, and enjoying a more vibrant, energized life.  Go to www.healthycentralflorida.org to learn more.

From the Tour de Cure for Diabetes, a 100-mile bicycle ride on Sunday, March 17 to our Smoke-Free Weekend which runs through the March 24, there’s something for everyone.

One of the key highlights of the week will be a fascinating presentation from Dr. Richard Jackson, host of PBS mini-series Designing Healthy Communities, as we explore the link between health and the way our communities are designed.  It’s free and open to the public from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on March 18, at the Winter Park Civic Center at 1050 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park. It is co-sponsored by Rollins College and Healthy Central Florida.

For non-smokers, the entire weekend of March 22 – 24, most restaurants at the Winter Park Village are going smoke-free on their patios.  You might want to visit the Winter Park Village and enjoy Brio, Cheesecake Factory, Lime, PF Changs and Truffles restaurants where the policy will be in place – and be sure to tell the manager how much you appreciate the opportunity to breathe easy.

It will also be a great time to join in the community’s free weekly walks in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville or to ride your bike in the Park to Park Ride on Friday, Mar. 22 or walk or run in the Winter Park Road Race on Saturday, March 23.

For a complete list of all events and more information, click here.

Healthy Central Florida (HCF) has created “Health Week” in an effort to bring the community together to renew its focus on health and provide residents the opportunities to get out and get active during the beautiful month of March. (HCF is a community-based initiative, founded by Florida Hospital and the Winter Park Health Foundation, to help transform the community into the healthiest in the nation.)

P.S. Be on the lookout for a special surprise sprouting up around town throughout the week.  For questions, or more information about Health Week, please contact Asher Levine at 407.644.2300 ext. 241 or by email at alevine@healthycf.org. 

Officers elected for 2013 include George Herbst, as Chairman; Jean D. Leuner, Dean of the UCF College of Nursing, as Secretary; Marisa Carnevale-Henderson, Senior Vice President for Bank of America, as Treasurer and Patricia A. Maddox, as President. Sandra G. Hostetter, as past Chairman, joins these officers to form the WPHF Executive Committee.

Harold Barley

Mr. Barley, already a member of the WPHF Community Health Work Group, is the Executive Director of MetroPlan Orlando, the organization responsible for transportation  planning in Orange, Seminole and Osceola Counties. He has worked in the transportation industry for 35 years with most experience earned in the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

A graduate of State University of New York, he did graduate work in city and regional planning at Catholic University of America and is a graduate of the Management Program at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College. Mr. Barley is active in the community, and currently serves as a Governor’s appointee on the Wekiva River Basin Commission.

Dr. Marvin Hardy

Dr. Hardy grew up in Orlando and attended Furman University in Greenville, SC. After receiving his medical degree from Emory University in Atlanta in 1996, he completed his pediatric residency training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1999. Dr. Hardy was a pediatrician at Interlachen Pediatrics in Maitland from 1999-2008.

In 2008, he started full-time as Medical Director and Pediatrician at Grace Medical Home, a not-for-profit medical practice that provides comprehensive health care for uninsured, low-income residents of Orange County.

J. Kurt Wood

Mr. Wood, already a member of the WPHF Finance & Investment Committee, serves as Director of Client Service at DePrince, Race & Zollo, Inc., an institutional equity investment management firm. Prior to joining the firm, he was a founder and partner of JRW Partners, a consultancy dedicated to helping improve the businesses of institutional money managers worldwide.

He began his investment career 26 years ago at Sun Bank Capital Management and left the firm as Managing Director. Mr. Wood, a graduate of Clemson University, is a former board member and past president of the Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE), a former board member of the Winter Park Little League, an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando and a former Commissioner of the Upward Basketball League.

George Herbst

Mr. Herbst, new WPHF board chairman, has spent his entire career in education, beginning as a high school teacher and for forty years as a chief financial officer. He came out of retirement to become the Vice President for Business and Chief Financial Officer at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida from December 2009 to July 2011. In July 2008 he retired as Vice President and Treasurer at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida after thirteen years of service. In recognition of his service to Rollins, the Board of Trustees has named him Vice President Emeritus and Treasurer Emeritus.

His areas of expertise include higher education finance, endowment management, strategic planning, board governance, town and gown relations, commercial real estate development as well as campus planning, design and construction. George has served on accreditation teams, as a presenter at national conferences and as a higher education consultant.

Among the most critical of these is whether or not to exercise its option to expand Medicaid coverage to Florida residents with incomes at or below of 133% of the Federal Poverty Level ($25,390 for a family of three).

A recent study by researchers at the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University reports that Florida could institute this expansion of Medicaid and provide coverage to an estimate 800,000-1.3 million uninsured Floridians without assuming any new net costs.

The findings are reported in an education briefing released November 15 by Joan Alker, Jack Hoadley and Wesley Prater of the Georgetown Health Policy Institute. The research was conducted as part of a series of educational briefings on Florida’s Medicaid program that were commissioned and funded by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF).

Moreover, the researchers estimate that the state could save as much as $100 million a year because expanded Medicaid coverage will reduce the financial costs of other state-supported safety net programs and new coverage is financed almost entirely by the federal government.

“Our study found that the state can actually save money while ensuring that a million Floridians can get the health coverage they desperately need. And this decision affects all Floridians as Florida’s hospitals will be put in jeopardy if the state does not move forward,” said Joan Alker, Research Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.

Researchers Alker and Hoadley have studied Florida’s Medicaid program since 2004. The most recent brief examines the impact of the June 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the major health care reform law passed by Congress in 2010.

 The authors note that the Supreme Court ruling gave states the choice of whether or not to extend Medicaid coverage to individuals with incomes at or below 133% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

In most cases, Florida currently provides no Medicaid coverage to childless adults and covers only those parents with incomes at or below 20% FPL — $3,813 for a family of three.

Even with the introduction of health exchanges called for in the Affordable Care Act, tens of thousands of Floridians will be left without insurance or Medicaid coverage starting in 2014 if the state does not accept the option to expand coverage.

Florida policymakers have long expressed concerns about the costs of the state’s Medicaid program in general and, in particular, the costs that may be associated with expanding coverage.

The researchers, however, report that a combination of increased federal funding and state savings in current spending on a number of safety net programs would allow the state to expand Medicaid coverage and still achieve a savings of perhaps as much as $100 million a year.

A copy of the complete brief is available at hpi.georgetown.edu/floridamedicaid, www.dupontfund.org and www.wphf.org.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund makes grants to more than 330 eligible organizations identified by Mrs. duPont in her will. The fund has assets of more than $315 million and has awarded $250 million in grants since 1977.

The Winter Park Health Foundation is a private, not-for-profit organization supporting programs that improve the health of youth, older adults and the community at large. It also conducts research and provides education on health issues affecting these groups.

Click here to view the brief on the WPHF website.

Allison Fine, author and social media pro, encouraged about 200 representatives of more than 150 local non-profit organizations to bravely wade into social media waters because of the opportunity the tools provide to connect with the community and raise awareness of important issues.

Ms. Fine’s appearances at a community luncheon and breakfast, held on September 5 and 6 at the Rachel D. Murrah Civic Center in Winter Park, were sponsored by the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF).

The WPHF invited Ms. Fine to speak to its Board of Trustees because it was interested in exploring how tools like Facebook and Twitter could be used to raise awareness and connect with the community on important issues affecting the health and well-being of local residents. It also wanted to share the information with colleagues, grantees and other community leaders.

Ms. Fine, the author of the books “The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change,” and “Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age,” made it clear that while some may view tools like Twitter, Facebook as a passing fad that can be ignored, social media tools are here to stay and have proven worth.

She also pointed out:

–It is important to understand a tool such as a Facebook page, and think about why you are using it, before rushing to set one up,

–Social media tools enable organizations to let down their walls and create a two-way conversation with those outside the organization,

–It’s important to listen and respond, rather than just sending out information, when using social media tools,

–Social media tools are not difficult to use, but they require regular practice to get comfortable with them,

–It is easier for organizations to start small, using one tool, so they don’t feel overwhelmed, and

–There is no need to fear experimenting, “Pushing a button online won’t blow up a missile in Moscow,” she said.

Click on this link, to view her Powerpoint presentation:

Allison Fine ppt

If you want to read more about Allison, you can purchase her books,”The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change,” and “Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age,” on Amazon.com. You can read her blog at www.allisonfine.com/ and, if you are really daring, you can follow her on Twitter at @afine

Healthy Central Florida (HCF), founded by the Winter Park Health Foundation and Florida Hospital, is a community based partnership created to transform the local community into the healthiest in the nation.

Launched earlier this year, it is focused on getting people moving more, eating healthier and enjoying a more vibrant life.

The community celebration will include a 30-minute walk featuring participation by Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley, Maitland Mayor Howard Schieferdecker and Eatonville Mayor Bruce Mount. The community with the most residents walking in the event wins bragging rights for the mayor and his town or city!

Participants will get to enjoy live entertainment, free food, free T-shirts and free pedometers for the first 300 people to sign up for the event.

For more information contact Asher Levine at Healthy Central Florida, alevine@healthcf.org or go to the Healthy Central Florida web page at http://www.healthycentralflorida.org/.

It will serve as a clearinghouse for the latest healthy activities and opportunities  available to students and families in Winter Park Consortium schools served by CYI programs. The programs include CHILL, the School Nursing Initiative, School- Based Health Centers and Healthy School Teams.

The website, and the Healthy Kids Today newsletters produced by the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) for students and their families twice a year, are designed to support and build on all of the other CYI programs.

Feature stories currently highlighted on Healthy Kids Today Magazine at www.healthykidstoday.org of the Healthy Central Florida initiative, a partnership between WPHF and Florida Hospital.

Regular features include healthy recipes—including one supplied by Kern Halls, Manager for OCPS Food and Nutrition Services, who had the chance to serve dinner to First Lady Michelle Obama when she visited Orlando earlier this year. He served Jerk Chicken and a variety of healthy sides. The Jerk Chicken recipe can be found in the recipe archives, along with other recipes. Recipes for other portions of the First Lady’s dinner will be featured in an upcoming edition of the Healthy Kids Today newsletter as well as on the website this fall.

Healthy School Team Leaders, principals, staff and parents also are being encouraged to become part of the Healthy Kids Today network by submitting school activity reports, healthy news and story ideas. Principals already have been submitting their thoughts on the importance of a healthy lifestyle for posting on the website, and CYI staff members have been sending in biographical information so parents can get to know them better. Parents and students have been invited to participate in videos—demonstrating healthy activities or sharing healthy tips—which will be filmed by WPHF staff and posted on the website.

Parents had a chance to sign up for the videos during meet-the-teacher open houses held the week before school started. WPHF staff members attended 10 open houses to promote the revamped website and all of the CYI services to parents.

The new website also is designed to interface with social media including Facebook so the community is continually engaged and informed on ways to promote health at home and in school.

The Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) awarded PEC a $28,990 grant to assist with the costs of implementing a variety of CDC recommended strategies to make the festival an even healthier event.

P.E.C. will build upon its organization’s commitment to a healthier community and encourage health conscious options for Zora! Festival attendees by: Instituting a smoke-free policy,

• Encouraging all food vendors to offer healthy food and beverage options, including an option for a reduced portion size where possible,

• Developing a pricing strategy to encourage the purchase of healthy food and beverage options, and

• Instituting a system of healthy food nutrition labeling at the Festival by implementing a prominent and visible food labeling program that denotes the healthy food choices at the point of sale.

In addition, the ZORA! Health Village, a prominent tented location at the festival where health information and services are provided to encourage a healthy lifestyle for children and adults, will include a “Fabulous Foods” Demonstration Series where individuals can participate in an interactive program where nutrition and healthy lifestyle options are the focus.

The 24th Annual ZORA! Festival will be January 26- February 3, 2013.

The Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF), through its Children & Youth Work Group (CYWG), has approved a new grant of $90,000 to Nemours for phase two of the program which will build on the activities, successes and lessons learned during the phase one pilot program that ended June 30. Nemours is providing another $61,287 in in-kind materials and resources for phase two of the project.

Child care centers for phase two are being selected with assistance from the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, as they were in phase one.

Phase one child care center directors and staff gathered to celebrate the successful completion of the first phase with Nemours program officials and partners on June 20 at the Winter Park Community Center. According to Nemours staff, 82 providers and 665 youngsters in child care centers in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville have been learning all about the dos and don’ts of healthy living during the phase one pilot, supported by a $50,000 grant from WPHF, awarded in 2011 through the CYWG.

They’ve learned about the difference between “Sometimes” and “Anytime” foods. “Anytime” foods are those good to eat anytime—like fruits and vegetables, while “Sometimes” foods are those best eaten sparingly like desserts and soda. And they’ve also learned about the importance and joy of physical activity.

Each of the participating child care centers also developed a wellness policy to guide health and wellness activities, and to help insure continuing improvements in the health culture of the center. At the June 20 celebration, directors received poster size copies of their wellness policies, ready for display at their centers.

Support for the Nemours program was a natural extension of the work already being supported by the Foundation in public schools in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville. In the belief that Healthy Kids Make Better Students and Better Students Make Healthy Communities, the WPHF has since 2000 supported the Coordinated Youth Initiative (CYI) — a collection of school-based health services designed to bolster the health of the whole child and remove barriers to learning.

The free programs include CHILL (Community Help and Intervention in Life’s Lessons) which provides mental health counseling, the School Nursing Initiative, School-Based Health Centers, and Healthy School Teams.

Programs are offered in 12 schools impacting approximately 11,000 youth in grades K-12—from Winter Park High School and its elementary and middle feeder schools—but WPHF hoped to find a way to reach children before they enter kindergarten.

“Research shows the earlier you can instill healthy habits in children, the better; so it makes sense to reach out to children and their families through child care centers,” said Debbie Watson, WPHF Vice President.

The program offered by Nemours has made that possible. The participating child care centers channel students into the same schools receiving CYI programs and services.

Nemours’ Child Care Obesity Prevention initiative focuses on getting kids moving, reducing screen time, making nutrition fun, offering healthier beverages, and supporting infant feeding choices. In keeping with other WPHF efforts focused on “making the healthy choice the easy choice,” an additional objective of the partnership with Nemours is to promote the establishment of wellness policies within child care centers.

Child care center directors and staff have been trained on the Nemours 5-2-1- Almost None formula for a healthy lifestyle and use of the Healthy Habits for Life Child Care Resource Kit created in partnership with Sesame Street. It teaches children about eating right and staying physically active. Nemours supplied curriculum and wellness policy materials for use by child care professionals as well as educational resources for children and their families.

Volunteers also were trained so they can go into the child care centers to help teach classes and activities and to help staff establish healthful policies. During the first phase, volunteers contributed more than 130 hours of assistance to child care centers. They were recruited through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), higher learning institutions and the community.

During phase two, in addition to adding 14 new sites that have children who matriculate into the eight elementary schools with CYI programs, the Nemours program will continue to assist the original 14 sites in monitoring and evaluation of their wellness policy implementation. For phase two Nemours also has developed new materials including a booklet requested by providers, called “Eating Healthy on a Budget,” that can be distributed to families with children enrolled in the project child care sites.

Phase two also will include the addition of sleep as an important part of obesity prevention and brain development supporting the goals of the WPHF Brain Health initiative. “Together, healthy eating, physical activity and sleep play an integral role in preventing childhood obesity as well as fostering school readiness,” the Nemours grant proposal explained.

Parent engagement will also be an important part of this phase. Workshops will be held in all three communities to introduce parents to the Nemours formula for a healthy lifestyle and to make sure parents understand sleep is important to school readiness.

Once the 28 centers are reached during the first two phases, the program will have reached at least two thirds of all child care centers serving children from Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville.

Due to begin July 1, 2012, the project has three primary goals: to make people aware of the elements of brain health; to spread the word about the importance of being brain healthy; and, to get people committed to and actively involved in brain healthy practices.

“A critical component of our mission is to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health”, said Kay Redington, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Central and North Florida Chapter, “We are so excited to take the lead with this new program and believe it could be a pilot for brain health initiatives across the country.”

Brain health is an issue of increasing importance as the number of those with Alzheimer’s disease grows. In 2011, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs County and State Profiles indicated Orange County had 13,042 cases of probable Alzheimer’s disease.

Meanwhile, there are 450,000 persons across Florida with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the 2012 Alzheimer’s Association “Disease Facts and Figures.”

While the greatest risk factor of the disease is age, current research shows the disease starts long before symptoms begin to appear making it crucial to impress upon people early in life that it is never too early to begin protecting their brain and it should be protected throughout life.

This is because research is disproving the long held belief that the brain is hard- ired and unable to change or grow new neurons. It is showing the brain has plasticity and its function is affected and shaped by environmental input.

The two-year program will include distribution of educational materials and offering seminars to diverse audiences of all ages. In addition, a brain health website will be created where the public can go to learn more about brain health, find book reviews, brain healthy activities and the latest brain research.

The organizations, Think Creative, Flight of Ideas and Compass Research will be working closely with the Alzheimer’s Association on this endeavor.