It has been a busy year! During this past SHIP cycle, which was from Nov. 1, 2015, to Oct. 31, 2016, Carver County SHIP worked with 83 different partners to help make the healthy choice the easy choice. SHIP partnered with schools, health care and mental health organizations, child care centers, home-based child care providers, food shelves, residential communities, worksites, and more. Carver County SHIP will continue these partnerships in 2017 and look to work with additional organizations to increase access to healthy foods and active living opportunities and to reduce tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure. |
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Thanks
to Carver County SHIP and Live Smoke Free, there are now more smoke-free
housing opportunities for Carver County residents.
Over
the past year, Carver County SHIP and Live Smoke Free, a nonprofit program that
specializes in promoting smoke-free policies in multi-unit housing buildings,
educated and provided assistance to rental property owners in the county about
smoke-free housing policies. The partnership between Carver County SHIP and
Live Smoke Free, which began in 2014, aims to protect Carver County residents
from secondhand smoke exposure by helping property owners make their buildings
smoke free. When a building goes smoke
free, residents benefit from clean indoor air and property owners benefit from
cost savings and reduced fire risk.
Since
November 2015, nine multi-unit properties received assistance with implementing
a smoke-free policy. Properties ranged from townhomes and duplexes to 100+ unit
complexes. Live Smoke Free provided training, tools, and materials, including
free signage, to help properties implement smoke-free policies.
The work
completed this past year due to SHIP protects approximately 1,005 Carver County
residents living in 402 housing units from secondhand smoke exposure. A total
of 16 properties have passed smoke free policies since the partnership began in
2014, protecting
an estimated 2,093 Carver County residents from the dangers of second hand smoke.
Carver County SHIP and Live Smoke Free will continue to work together in 2017
to ensure additional residents in Carver County can benefit from smoke free
multi-unit housing policies.
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Lifecore Biomedical partnered with SHIP to enhance their
workplace culture to provide a healthier environment for all employees. Worksite
wellness initiatives encourage positive lifestyle behaviors, such as physical
activity and healthy eating, and have significant potential to influence health
and increase productivity.
In 2016 Lifecore
Biomedical created a unique visual brand for their wellness initiative to
increase employee awareness of related activities, drive engagement in the
activities, and in turn, positively impact employee health. The company’s
safety and wellness committee organized a contest, which allowed all employees
the opportunity to create a logo and brand. The contest winner was announced at
an all-company lunch to showcase their upcoming wellness programs and
activities.
The winning logo, Thrive (Teaching Healthy Routines in eVery Employee), highlights
Lifecore Biomedical’s commitment to providing a healthy workplace environment.
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East Creek
Child Care and New Beginnings are programs of SouthWest Metro Intermediate
District 288. Both programs operate within the East Creek Family Center
building in Chaska. New Beginnings is an alternative high school program,
helping pregnant and parenting students complete graduation. East Creek Child
Care is a small, nationally accredited, four-star Parent Aware awarded child care
center and parenting lab. The child care center serves about 50 percent high school
student parents and 50 percent parents from the general public.
The
teachers and the child care staff members are very supportive in helping the
young mothers with choices about feeding their infants. Despite knowing the
health benefits of breastfeeding, many of the families have complicated
situations: PTSD, sexual violence experiences, substance abuse, poverty, and
homelessness, making the choice to exclusively breastfeed a difficult
choice. Mothers who choose breastfeeding
have the freedom to feed their infant in the classroom (with teacher
permission), in the child care center, or in a lactation area. During the 2015-2016 school year, East Creek
Child Care had eight students and two staff members who regularly breastfed
their children on site.
Through
the partnership with Carver County Public Health and the SHIP program, East
Creek Family Center was able to create three more private lactation areas, add
appropriate signage for the designated areas, provide safe storage and handling
of expressed breast milk, and offer educational material to interested
mothers. In addition, child care staff
attended training to increase their awareness and knowledge of accommodating
breastfeeding in the child care setting.
For many
parenting students in the New Beginnings program, breastfeeding ends before
they return to school from maternity leave, or shortly after. The supportive
atmosphere at school and child care helped these eight students breastfeed
their infants for six months to one year, and beyond.
East
Creek Child Care Center is continuing to support the infant feeding choices
mothers make, including the support needed to make breastfeeding successful.
This year they will be working towards applying for the Minnesota Department of
Health Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care Center Recognition.
Have you seen the Carver County Public Health video? Click here to watch the three-minute video highlighting the wide range of programs and efforts designed to promote and protect the health and well-being of all Carver County residents.
The holiday season is upon us! Stay healthy by eating nutritious foods, being active, and avoiding tobacco. Click here for more tips from the CDC on how to stay healthy over the holidays.
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Spread the word!
Ridgeview Clinics, a SHIP partner, is offering a six-week group tobacco cessation program starting January 12. See the flyer below for more details.
To be added to the distribution list please email
cries@co.carver.mn.us
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