Healthy Aroostook: A Healthy Maine partnership to promote good choices

Start young by learning a healthy lifestyle. This is what the Healthy Aroostook Partnership hopes their program will instill in the young people of today and maybe even influence their parents and grandparents. It is never too late to change a lifestyle that may lead to a healthier and longer life.     Healthy Aroostook is a local coalition that collaborates with community partners, whose goal is to make this county a healthy place to live and work. They receive monies from the fund for a Healthy Maine, and their resources are tied into the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a division of the Department of the Maine Health and Human Services. They also receive funding and support from the Maine office of Substance Abuse. Healthy Aroostook is hosted by the Aroostook County Action Program and has a subcontract with Vital Pathways.
The participants that lead this educational program are; Lynn Brown, SAD 29 school health coordinator for southern Aroostook; Holly Johnson, SAD 1 school health coordinator for central Aroostook; Tracy Tweedie, project director for Healthy Aroostook for southern Aroostook; Carol Bell, project director for central Aroostook with the Presque Isle ACAP office; Martha Bell, district tobacco coordinator communications educational specialist with the Houlton ACAP office and Erica McCrum, youth co-coordinator for Healthy Aroostook, SAD 29. They provide services from Presque Isle south to all county communities. There is a similar collaborative for Caribou north.
The majority of their work focuses on education and awareness, as well as policy and environmental change. The areas they hope to influence are: physical activity, nutrition, tobacco, substance abuse and chronic disease.
The school coordinators set up activities to educate students on making good choices, starting in the early pre-school grades up through seniors in high school. They also incorporate programs for all staff. They work directly with the food services program and the physical education program. If students start early making good choices they will carry these good habits into their adult life leading to a healthier society. They will avoid substances that affect good health.
Brown received notification in the fall that SAD 29 was the recipient of a grant for $28,000, which is providing fresh fruit and vegetables for snacks for students in grades four through twelve in the Houlton school district. Students are being introduced to a wide range of choices. Gone are the days when the only choices were an orange, apple, banana or grapes, now there are choices that include, blackberries, star fruit, kiwi, pineapple, pomegranate and more exotic fruits. The vegetables mirror the same extended choices beyond celery, carrots and cucumbers. Students look forward to the snack of the day and are now requesting their favorites on their grocery list at home as well.
The program directors in collaboration with the classroom teachers develop activities that align with the Maine Learning Results and integrate subjects relating to the offering of the daily food items. One such activity was creating fruit art using a variety of vegetables.
The snack time also offers a few minutes for socialization, something that has over time been virtually eliminated. The shortened recess time or none at all, leaves students without those times to create new friends out of the classroom.
Some of the fruits and vegetables are being provided by the Presque Isle High School’s agricultural program.
“The farm is not only a great resource for fresh food, but is also a teaching tool for the Presque Isle students who are interested in agriculture and work in the farm program,” said Holly Johnson, Presque Isle’s health coordinator. “Students assist with the growing of bedding plants in the summer, poinsettias in the winter and a new experiment growing vegetables by hydroponics.”
She went on to say that during the summer students tend the farm store and take care of the crops. The program offers field trips for area schools and they have a u-pick for apples and strawberries. Their apple orchard has matured enough to provide apple cider that is also incorporated in the school lunch programs in Presque Isle and other school districts.
Presque Isle’s highly successful farm has gained national recognition for its student programs, and the farm is now providing fresh fruits and vegetables in season to many area restaurants and grocery stores.
Johnson added, “The school staff in Presque Isle is participating in the Wildcat Challenge, which is a weight loss and exercise program for individuals 55 years of age and over. It is a 10-week challenge to move and improve.” She said, “The participants have been excited about the program and that has led to more participants.”
Another program that was promoted within the community by middle school students was called “Sticker Shock” warning the purchaser of alcohol not to be a provider for an underage drinker and what the consequences could be if prosecuted for the crime.
Along with the education in eating healthy, is the program of living a healthy lifestyle by exercising. Winter activities promoted by the schools are both downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and skating. In order to provide bussing to the ski areas students raise money by selling small gift bags filled with food appropriate for the holiday. Their most recent fund-raiser was held for Valentine’s Day. They filled a small valentine bag with either an apple or orange and a few wrapped candies. The students formed an assembly line putting in homemade shredded paper, the sweet treats and then the choice of fruit. Each bag was tied with a ribbon and had an attached Valentine note. These were sold to staff members and school visitors.
The schools also participate in an inside winter program called Dance, Dance Revolution that gets kids actively involved using the popular Wii.
Avoiding tobacco is another program that is strongly supported within the Healthy Aroostook Partnership.
Martha Bell, the district’s educational tobacco specialist said that there is a program in place where students, teachers, coaches and law enforcement all work together as a team on avoiding smoking temptations. For those that have already become addicted there is a program called Smokeless Saturday. If a student is caught smoking they are required to appear in court and if they attend this program they may not be fined.
A drug return program was recently initiated in local communities inviting residents to get rid of unused prescription medications by providing a place to dispose of them safely. Unused prescriptions are an invitation to try something on a dare.
Education is the big key in this program, if young people can be trained to live a healthy life-style many medical conditions could be eliminated in the future. Obesity in young people has become a major concern for youngsters, as is diabetes. At a recent Heart Healthy dinner at a local hospital, a well-respected physician made this statement to his audience of 80, “Most of you would not have a diabetic condition if you chose to eat the right foods and exercise.” The silence that fell over the crowd was very obvious. Those words hit home. As individuals looked around at the dozens of people in attendance, noting that they all had the same medical condition and realizing that each of them could do something about their situation just by eating the right foods and exercising, was an eye opener. Probably they had heard it before, but for some reason it really hit home this particular night.
Other programs supported by the Healthy Aroostook Partnership includes, CPR, first aid training, bullying programs, asthma and chronic disease education and life-skills training for both students and staff.
Erica McCrum, the youth coordinator for Healthy Aroostook said, “Each of the districts have Youth Teams that work on a variety of the healthy issues and in March there will be a Youth Summit at the University of Maine in Presque Isle.”
She said that it would bring 400 county students together from grades six to eight. They will hear a keynote speaker and participate in 30 interactive workshops on health topics.
Area legislators have also been invited to a Legislative Luncheon to be held in Houlton. This event will provide time for the legislators to see first hand how the grant money and other funds are being utilized and how many individuals are benefiting from this program.