Wyandotte County’s Healthy Communities Wyandotte Education Action Team will hold an event to work to improve the health of Wyandotte County residents at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, July 30, at the Kansas City Kansas Community College Tech Center, 6565 State Ave, Kansas City, Kan.
The breakfast is sponsored by the Kansas Health Foundation, Wyandotte Health Foundation, YMCA, Kansas City Kansas Community College, and Providence Medical Center.
Wyandotte County has been cited by the Kansas Health Institute as having some of the worst health outcomes in the state of Kansas.
Healthy Communities Wyandotte and Children’s Mercy Hospitals partnered to implement the Healthy Lifestyles Initiative in Wyandotte County in order to address fundamental issues that affecct children’s health.
The Initiative promotes five behaviors that families can use to improve their health. These behaviors are one hour or more of physical activity, two hours maximum of screen time, three servings of low or nonfat milk or yogurt, four servings of water not sugary drinks, and five servings or more of fruits and vegetables, or 12345 Fit-Tastic!
This message was created to provide families who are regularly bombarded with health messages with one phrase they can easily remember on how to ensure a healthy lifestyle, according to a spokesman.
It is hoped that those attending the event will join dozens of other Wyandotte County organizations in incorporating this message into their own organization to promote healthy living, the spokesman said.
“There are many organizations across Wyandotte County working to improve our community’s health” said Kansas City, Kan., Mayor Mark Holland. “We are gathering to celebrate current efforts while asking our partners to align in integrating this easy-to-remember message into how they talk about health with the families they serve.”
The breakfast event seeks to bring together elected officials, education, business and community leaders and give them a chance to create an action plan not only to implement the 12345 Fit-Tastic! message into their organizations, but implement policy and environmental changes in the community to increase residents’ opportunities to act on these healthy behaviors.
“Our goal is to create a collective impact,” said Ray Daniels, Education Action team chair and retired superintendent of the Kansas City, Kan., School District. “We want as many different organizations in Wyandotte County as possible to join together to spread the same health messages and each do their part to improve how their organizations support families in attaining these goals.”
Healthy Communities Wyandotte is committed to encouraging and supporting these organizations on their journey to a healthy future, a spokesman said.