Healthy Central Florida (HCF)—a unique community-based partnership aimed at helping Central Floridians move more, eat healthier and get connected—launched before a crowd of 500 on February 6 with Dr. Mehmet Oz, cardiothoracic surgeon and host of The Dr. Oz Show, on hand to offer encouragement and praise.

“Healthy Central Florida is a big celebration of what life could be like,” said Dr. Oz. And if it remains on this celebratory level, HCF will resonate with and attract people because it reflects the joy they want in their lives, he explained.

Founded by the Winter Park Health Foundation and Florida Hospital, HCF is dedicated to making the local community the healthiest in the nation.

The primary focus for HCF is policy and environmental change. Research shows that behavior is impacted by environments – workplace cultures, family dynamics, school settings and community-level conditions. Focusing on individual behavior is no longer enough.

Among many tools, HCF is using a behavior-change strategy of asking individuals to take a “3:30:3” pledge – a commitment to be active three days a week, for 30 minutes, for three months. Many of the nearly 500 community leaders took the pledge on Monday, and they will also lead health and wellness initiatives in their organizations with HCF support.

Focused initially on Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville, HCF has convened community leadership teams, including each community’s mayor, with representation from various sectors such as business, faith, education, health care and government.

“We know many of our local employers, schools and leading organizations are already doing great work promoting health and wellness,” said Patricia A. Maddox, WPHF president & chief executive officer. “Our hope is that Healthy Central Florida will encourage collaboration and be a catalyst, a convener, a resource and an inspiration for others working to make the healthy choice the easy choice – and the first choice – where we work, live, learn, play and worship.”

HCF unveiled a new web-based tool to help residents easily find fun ways to be active primarily in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville — www.FindActiveFun.org.  This interactive tool enables visitors to discover community resources, fitness classes, parks, trails and events—many at no or low-cost—for individuals and families. The search can be customized by details such as zip code, neighborhood, date, time available and environment. Those who visit also can submit information on new activities.

“The economic health and vibrancy of our region, as well as the health of our residents, is at stake, said J. Brian Paradis, executive vice president and chief operations officer at Florida Hospital. This is about the health and well-being of our entire community, and it will take all of us working together to reach our community’s fullest health potential.”

Acknowledging that this work is a marathon and not a sprint, the executive director of the new organization, Jill Hamilton Buss added, “True community level change won’t happen overnight. But when we study the radical shift in social norms for other health behaviors – smoking, drinking and driving or seat belt usage, we know we can change our local norms to ones of active lifestyles vs. sedentary ones.  We’re already on our way.”

An in-depth study of fitness, nutrition and related health behaviors in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville was commissioned by HCF.  The results of this research will be released soon and help guide the community teams as they develop community specific strategic plans. For more information on HCF, visit www.healthycentralflorida.org.

Florida’s proposed new Long-Term Care Managed Care program, which will cover adults 65 and older and younger adults with disabilities, will affect as many as 84,000 current Florida Medicaid beneficiaries as well as another 27,000 eligible individuals who are on various waiting lists for services.

The new briefing paper — Proposed Medicaid Long-Term Care Changes Raise Host of Questions About Impact — is from researchers at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. The educational brief is one of a series commissioned by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and the Winter Park Health Foundation. Two earlier briefs were released in December 2011.

In Tallahassee, participants heard from keynote speaker Laura Summer, Senior Research Scholar, Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, as well as a panel of industry experts including Beth Kidder, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Operations, Agency for Health Care Administration; Jack McRay, Advocacy Manager, AARP Florida; Teresa Barton, CEO, Aging True; and Tony Marshall, Senior Director of Reimbursement, Florida Health Care Association.

Lisa Portelli, WPHF Program Director, Community Health, served as moderator.

In the brief, the authors cite questions arising about:

•The timeline and resources allocated for implementation of the proposed new program;

•The structure of the new  program, which has beneficiaries required to enroll in two different programs;

•The services to be provided to help beneficiaries transition to the new program;

•The feasibility of shifting patients from institutional to community-based care settings;

•The impact on program costs;

•The impact on quality of care.

“In order to better understand what the implications of the changes will be for service delivery and program costs, more detail is needed, particularly about who will have access to community-based services, how transitions and service coordination will be achieved, and how the adequacy and quality of services will be assured,” the authors write.

The Tallahassee forum participants expressed many concerns about the concept including:

•           The “long-term-care” population, the elderly and disabled who require routine care, assistance with daily living and frequent medical treatment, are scheduled to be the first of the state’s three million Medicaid recipients to move into managed care.   AARP representatives expressed concern that this very vulnerable group will pave the way into the new system and the result could be that care is not well coordinated between existing and new medical providers.

•           The aggressive timeline that may not assure a smooth transition. The state is to begin enrolling the 84,000 eligible persons in January 2013 and there are many unanswered questions and issues to work out before that date.

•           The state has a long waiting list (27,000) for home and community-based services and there are no state funds to address it. Patients on a waiting list may have to reside in nursing homes if there is a shortage of support services for those at home or in assisted living.

•           The program has “significant design flaws” that ignore both the real costs of the conversion and the aging population bomb.

•           The pilot programs have not proven that the ultimate goal of cost savings can be reached.

AHCA representatives advised the group to take concerns to the Technical Advisory Work Group which was created by the Florida Legislature last year to address the numerous concerns expressed by advocates, providers and health plan representatives.

Copies of this brief, as well as the earlier briefs, may be found at www.wphf.org and at http://hpi.georgetown.edu/floridamedicaid/ .

For more than a decade, Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) has been dedicated to helping local elementary, middle and high school students become as healthy and academically productive as possible through a collection of school-based health and wellness programs that are part of its Coordinated Youth Initiative (CYI).

Thanks to a partnership with Nemours Children’s Hospital, a new program—the Nemours Child Care Prevention Initiative—will help children acquire healthy habits before they even reach kindergarten.

The program, made possible by a $50,000 WPHF grant to Nemours,  is being launched in 14 Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park child care settings with children who go on to attend Winter Park Consortium schools – WPHF partners in the CYI.

“This is a natural extension of the health-enhancing work we already do in public schools through the CYI and its efforts including Healthy School Teams,” explained Debbie Watson, WPHF Vice President. “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.”

“The best way to help children make healthy choices in later life is to practice them early,” said Dr. Lloyd Werk, Nemours, Director of Florida Prevention Initiative

Other child care centers in Central Florida already have received training, and the hope is that it will spread to others and saturate the area. “Our goal is to help grow a healthier generation,” said Dr. Werk.

The five goals of the program are to get kids moving, reduce screen time, make nutrition fun, offer healthier beverages, and support 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 are being 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 will supply curriculum and wellness policy materials for use by child care professionals as well as educational resources for children and their families.

Volunteers also are being trained so they can go into the child care centers to help teach classes and activities and to help staff establish healthful policies.

Training will take place over the next couple months.

Nemours also is working with First Lady Michele Obama on Let’s Move! Child Care, a nationwide call-to-action designed to empower child care providers to make positive health changes in children, early on, that could last a lifetime.

The WPHF grant and partnership with Nemours will empower and enable child care providers serving Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park to step up and become an important part of this movement.

For more information about the initiative, go to http://healthykidshealthyfuture.org

A long-trusted leader on health care issues, the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) in the past and present has worked with other foundations in Florida to provide information–to stakeholders and the public–on health issues impacting Central Florida and the rest of the state.

WPHF currently is collaborating with the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to financially support a series of four educational briefs focused on proposed changes to Florida’s Medicaid program.

The first two briefs, the work of researchers at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, were released in December. The latest brief–number three– is focused on Florida’s Medicaid Waiver and Long-Term Care, and will be released at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 in a webinar. To register for the webinar, go to http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=84303  Space is limited.

In brief one, “Looking Ahead to 2012, What Changes Are in Store for Florida’s Medicaid Program?” the researchers provide background and an overview of the proposed changes and the process involved.

Brief two, “Proposed Medicaid Premiums Challenge Coverage for Florida’s Children and Parents,” focuses on the possible impact of a proposed $10 monthly premium on all Medicaid beneficiaries, including children. This, according to the researchers, could result in many not having any form of health insurance coverage.

WPHF collaborated with the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund and multiple other Florida foundation to educate consumers, stakeholders and policy-makers on the issues involved in Medicaid reform underway in Florida in 2004 and 2005.

Part of a series called “Florida’s Health at Risk,” the briefs also were authored by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. The briefs were designed to spark a thoughtful public discussion on the best ways to improve Medicaid funding.

These briefs included, “What Could a Waiver to Restructure Medicaid Mean for Florida?,”  “Florida’s Medicaid Budget: Why are Costs Going Up?,” “Issues to Consider in Governor Bush’s “Florida Medicaid Modernization Proposal,” “Understanding Florida’s Medicaid Reform Legislation,” and “Understanding Florida’s Medicaid Waiver Application”

To view the briefs, go to www.wphf.org.

To view additional research completed by the Georgetown Health Policy Institute, go to http://ihcrp.georgetown.edu/ and click on “Assessing Florida’s Medicaid Reform” on the right side of the page.

The faltering economy has inspired the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) to find innovative ways of meeting basic needs of the local community while remaining true to its overall goal of creating the healthiest community in the U.S.

One of the most basic needs is food, and the Foundation found one of the neediest groups in the community included older adults. The segment also is one of the most difficult to reach. So WPHF recently approved a grant of $52,250 to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to buy shelf-stable products for senior food packs to be distributed to hungry older adults.

Pleased with the success of the Second Harvest Food Bank’s Hi-Five Kids Pack program, which is financially supported by WPHF and provides shelf-stable foods to needy children in elementary schools, WPHF staff asked the Food Bank to explore similar ways to get much-needed extra foods to local seniors.  The result is a program unique to the area, and one that has drawn attention from the United States Department of Agriculture which has struggled to find ways to feed “hidden seniors.”

Florida AARP collaborated on the project by providing an estimated 50 volunteers to help assemble the senior food packs at the Second Harvest Food Bank. The grant provided for 5,542 10-pound food packs which will include items that represent each of the major food groups, including dairy.

Community distribution points have included faith communities, food pantries, congregate meal sites, low-income senior housing communities, and a select number of Walgreens’ pharmacies serving residents of Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville.

Deliveries to homebound individuals have been made by Meals on Wheels volunteers. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel will make food packs available to older adults in need, as they become known through call responses.

In addition to food, each pack contains a list of contact information for valuable community resources and services.

“It is heartening to see so many organizations interested in addressing the issue of senior hunger,” said Diana Silvey, WPHF Program Director — Older Adults.

Hunger among older adults is a growing problem. According to research commissioned by the AARP Foundation, nearly 9 million Americans 50 and older face the risk of hunger. The research report found more than nine percent of older Americans were at risk of hunger in 2009—a 79 percent increase since 2001.

The Foundation also has partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank to provide supplemental food packs to hungry children in the eight elementary schools in the Winter Park Consortium through its Hi-Five Kids Pack program and has supported its Benefits Connection program, which helps people who are eligible for food stamps and other federally-supported services obtain them.

WPHF also has been a supporter of the Heart of Florida United Way’s Basic Needs Campaign which provides immediate financial help to Central Floridians needing help with food, rent, transportation and other life essentials.

Envisioning a healthier Central Florida where people are active, eating healthier foods and connected to each other and their community, Florida Hospital (FH) and the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) have partnered to create and support a new community-based initiative called Healthy Central Florida (HCF).

Focused initially on Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville, the initiative will have a public launch on February 6.

HCF plans to accomplish its lofty goal of transforming the community by implementing strategies proven successful in other communities, including using the ACHIEVE model developed by the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention).

As a first step, HCF convened community leadership teams representing various sectors including business, faith, education, healthcare and government in Eatonville and Maitland.  Each of the community’s mayors is also engaged and helping lead the effort. A Winter Park team has been in place for more than a year and already has had multiple successes.

The primary focus for the teams will be policy and environmental change.   Research shows that behavior is impacted by environments – workplace cultures, family dynamics, school settings and community-level conditions. The more we can do to promote health and make the healthy choice the easy choice in every setting, the healthier and happier our residents and the entire community will be.

Community Leaders from Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville gathered November 16 and 17 for training so they can begin their work which is underway.

During the public launch all residents will be encouraged to join the movement.

Healthy Central Florida’s vision for the community includes:

• Safe routes for children to walk and ride bikes to school
• Safe streets for cyclists and pedestrians with clearly marked crosswalks
• Sidewalks along most streets where residents can walk for exercise, walk to the store, or walk to a bus stop and feel safe
• Fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods served frequently at school, work, home, and public gatherings
• Healthy menu alternatives offered at area restaurants
• Public spaces free of cigarette smoke
• No smoke ever around children who are the most susceptible to second-hand smoke
• A connected, health-conscious, friendly community where healthy living is the norm and the healthy choice is the easy choice

For more information about HCF and its community teams, partners and activities, go to http://healthycentralflorida.org/

The Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) in 2010 launched a comprehensive $500,000 Faith Community Health initiative to support faith communities interested in promoting whole person health in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville by establishing faith community nursing programs. And the programs are thriving.

It is all part of the Foundation’s efforts to help build the healthiest community in the country.

Faith community health programs promote spiritual, physical, or emotional health. The programs help people understand the connection between faith and health, and assist the congregation in its mission to promote abundant and full life for its members. The goal is for people of all ages to adopt healthy lifestyles and become better informed so they can make healthier life choices. This will result in healthier communities and an improved, sustainable quality of life for our local residents.

The spiritual nature of faith communities makes them uniquely equipped to support the health and wholeness of their members, whether it is through faith community nurses or other programs designed to meet the specific needs of the community.

WPHF enlisted the support of Florida Hospital’s Healthy 100 Church Ministry to assist grantees in the planning, development and operation of their program.

As a result of the program, grants have been awarded to local faith communities to establish faith community nursing programs and related activities.

Most recently, WPHF, awarded $42,532 in grants to local faith communities to expand their healthy programs and activities.

They include:

First United Methodist Church of Winter Park – Awarded $7,468 to provide Falls Prevention classes, a Living  Healthy with Chronic Conditions course, health education forums, healthy eating classes, and “Bicycle Blessings” to provide bikes to children in need.

Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, Eatonville – Awarded $7,500 to provide health education classes, health screenings, portable gardens, exercise programs, cooking demonstrations and brain health programs for older adults.

St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, Altamonte Springs – The Health and Wellness Ministry at St. Mary Magdalen Parish was awarded $7,345 to encourage better nutrition by educating people about the benefits of gardening and growing their own food. The project involves setting up a demonstration Grow Box Garden on the Adult Center patio and developing a community garden in the Convent yard.

Redeemer Lutheran Church, Winter Park – The Redeemer Lutheran Church Health Cabinet asked its congregation to complete a Health and Wholeness survey in July 2011 which identified the members’ desire for help with stress management.  To help meet that need, the church was awarded $7,500 to provide Laughter Yoga classes for stress management, socialization and increased opportunities for activity. The congregation’s Faith Community Nurse will provide additional information to participants about meditation and other stress management techniques.  The Laughter Yoga Instructor will train three leaders to teach the class so the program can be sustained.

Warner Chapel Outreach Ministries, Winter Park – Awarded $7,500 to provide a 90-day “Get Fit” program that includes initial health screenings, intake assessments and a variety of nutrition and exercise opportunities for up to 75 persons.  Participants will journal their activities and share success stories.

First Presbyterian Church of Maitland – Awarded $5,219 to provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Automated External Defibrillators (AED), and First Aid training for members of the congregation, the majority of whom are elderly.  The Faith Community Nurse and one other member of First Presbyterian Church will be trained to teach CPR and AED so the expertise can be carried to other members of the church.

For more information on Faith Community Nursing, go to the International Parish Nurse Resource Center website at www.parishnurses.org

For more information on the Florida Hospital Center for Community Health Ministry, go to: www.parishnursing.net

The grant was made to the Senior Resource Alliance which will issue the mini-grants.

Under the new program, ap­proved through the founda­tion’s Older Adults Work Group, organizations that participated in Aging Matters can apply for up to $1,000 each for additional educa­tion as well as tools and re­sources like photo or video equipment; enrollment in webinars and classes; and production of press kit mate­rials.

“We believe this additional investment will build upon the solid foundation partici­pants received from this ed­ucational program and really help put into practice all that they learned,” said Diana Silvey, WPHF Program Director-Older Adults. 

Aging Matters is an eight-month educational program developed by the Orange County Commission on Aging with financial support from WPHF. The program was de­signed for organizations serving older adults that wanted to learn how to com­municate effectively and de­velop relationships with the media.  It is hoped that by doing so, the media will cov­er more stories about aging and raise awareness in the community.

The inaugural program was launched in March 2011 with representatives from 32 organizations.  For one morning per month, partici­pants were instructed by lo­cal media and public rela­tions experts who volun­teered their time to cover a variety of topics.  Some of the sessions included an overview of the media land­scape and insights on how different types of media out­lets operate, writing for the media, crisis communication and tips for interviewing with the media.  In the final session, each participant had the chance to pitch a story to professionals from television, magazines, as well as local and regional newspapers.

During that final session, all participants were very nerv­ous as they made their pitch­es.  It was nice to see their tension subside as they heard constructive feedback from the media that truly fo­cused on how to tell a better story—one that would be more interesting and have a better chance of being cov­ered.  Likewise, the media people learned a lot about new programs in our com­munity and were pleased to be a part of the experience.  It was a win-win for everyone.” said Ms. Silvey.

In their evaluations, partici­pants affirmed the program was extremely beneficial.  One measurement of success being used by the Orange County Office on Aging is the number of stories covered by the media. It is also hoped the program has strength­ened the aging network as participants from a variety of organizations worked side by side over their eight months together.  Although the class has now graduated, many of these bonds will continue be­cause of the strong relationships that have developed, Ms. Silvey said.

Given the success of this first Aging Matters program, it is anticipated the Commission on Aging will offer it again in 2012.

Launched in 2007 with grant support through the WPHF’s Think~Act~Be Healthy Communities initi­ative, the Our Whole Community now has six faith community members representing a variety of re­ligious denominations and it continues to grow.

The award provides fund­ing for a part time director, a community gardening co­ordinator and health pro­gram resources and sup­plies. Plans also call for an an­nual showcase of church  wellness programs and producing a resource direc­tory for educational clas­ses—such as nutrition and medical issues—offered in the community.

“The grant takes us to the next level as we move from an all-volunteer effort to a staffed organization,” said Lavon Williams, Chairman of Our Whole Community.  “It will help us significantly expand our shared health program resources and al­low us to achieve our vi­sion of being a resource center for faith communi­ties.”

Current members of Our Whole Community, Inc. in­clude First United Methodist Church, Winter Park; Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, Eatonville; St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, Winter Park; Winter Park Presbyterian Church, Winter Park; New Covenant Baptist Church of Orlando, and St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, Altamonte Springs.

According to the proposal, Our Whole Community will serve as a broker of coordi­nated educational and health initiatives within faith communities which foster wholeness (spiritual, physi­cal, mental, relational and emotional) and develop in­creased community aware­ness through dissemination of information and pro­grams.

It encourages intergenera­tional physical fitness and healthy nutrition, and main­tains a website featuring healthy activities and pro­grams offered by all of the organization members.

“The bus will allow 40 to 50 elementary school stu­dents to spend an addition­al five to 10 hours in the club each week and get a nutritious meal before heading home each night,” said Debbie Watson, WPHF Vice President. This is be­cause the bus will be able to transport them safely home after dark—they won’t have to leave early to walk home while there is daylight. (See adjacent sto­ry on the new Kids Café.)

“It also will enable 35 to 40 new secondary school students from Eatonville on the west side of Interstate-4 to participate in Club programs for the first time,” she added. And having safe transportation will mean 30 to 40 teens from all over Eatonville, particularly females, will be able to come to evening teen programs instead of having to leave before it gets too dark to safely walk home.

The bus also will be used to provide trips for pro­grams and activities of­fered by local partners in Maitland and Winter Park, and possibly for college tours.

Ms. Watson stated that most operating expenses for the bus will be covered by a mul­ti-year 21st Century Commu­nity Learning Center grant.

The bus should be in opera­tion in early January. At that time, the Club plans to have a bus christening ceremony to celebrate and make sure the community is aware of the addition. More on this later!

Eatonville’s new Boys & Girls Club facility opened in June 2011. WPHF in 2007 ap­proved a $125,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida to support the operating endowment for the Eatonville Branch.