The Rural Health Education Network of Delaware, Otsego, Montgomery, and Schoharie County (RHENDOM) helps to promote rural health by prevention. RHENDOM works to prevent disease through health education in areas that have been for intervention by research.
RHENDOM runs several education programs. They include dental health education, physical fitness education, nutrition information, YogaKids, New Visions program, Summer Medical Academy, and the chronic disease self-management programs. These programs are aimed at raising a healthy generation. Some of the programs invest a great deal in the future of young people.
The New Visions Program is a program for high school students. It involves students spending their senior year attending an aggressive program of college credit and medical field exposure at a local hospital. I had the opportunity to do new visions and I cannot say enough wonderful things about my experience.
For seventh graders in eight different counties there is an Up Close Cardiac Surgery program. The program was started by Dr. Robert Lancey, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown. The program was developed in response to rising cardiovascular disease. As part of the program students have the opportunity to watch a live video feed of an open heart surgery.
Another program aimed at elementary aged children is Nutrition Detectives. Children can learn nutrition while using their sleuthing skills.
Check out the link to 2012 Rural Future Newsletter. If you are interested in advances in rural health (by reading this far I assuming you are) then you might want to give it a read.
I have noticed that a number of the health initiatives that everyone has been posting about target children. This certainly seems like an effective strategy for health promotion in a community. Children often stand the most benefit to gain from health initiatives. They do not live with the cumulative effects of chronic disease, and by ensuring that they develop healthy habits at an early age, hopefully many of them never will. Working with children also enables the use of simple projects that are cost-effective for health promotion; such as the poster decorating contest that last month’s speaker described. That being said it is important not to forget about other demographics as well. Older individuals also have much to gain from simple lifestyle modification. Health officials undoubtedly face more obstacles with these age groups, such as a resistance to change. It is probably more difficult to elicit participation in health initiatives among these individuals. As future health providers, we must work to find creative solutions to ensure we engage individuals of all ages in preventive health measures.
ReplyDeleteAs Mike mentions above, I think that targeting children is quite beneficial. Bad habits are developed early, and most of them are developed out of ignorance. Education from the beginning of habit formation may be one of the keys to raising a healthier generation. Also, I believe that parents can be influenced a lot by their children. Probably more influenced by their children than outside sources in breaking bad habits. Therefore, by educating children to bring healthy habits home, parents can learn too.
ReplyDelete