Small Town News

Health coalition formed to help improve lives

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Ohio County HEALTH COALITION Building a Healthier Community

The Ohio County Health Coalition was formed in partnership with the Ohio County Hospital, Together We Care and GRADD, (Green River Area Development District). The Ohio County Health Coalition is a non-profit partnership of organizations and individuals that are committed to improving the health of the citizens of Ohio County.

The coalition membership has united agencies, businesses and individuals to collaborate together to strengthen the implementation of existing resources and activities, support each other in new activities and programs while focusing on the health of Ohio County.

In 2008, a health report card was completed by GRADD. The report card looked at several areas of health and ranked each county in Kentucky. Ohio County ranked 70 out of 120 counties, for overall health conditions. The coalition has established three committees to address health issues within Ohio County.

The committees are: Work-place Wellness, Child and Maternal Health, and Substance Abuse. Through local assessment the Health Coalition found obesity and lack of exercise to be the two top health issues for Ohio County. The Health Coalition will address these as well.

Some upcoming events include; in September the coalition will be hosting events for the national declared "Active Aging Week" of September 21-25. October 2, Ohio County will join 100 plus counties throughout Kentucky in "Second Sunday," a day proclaimed by Governor Beshear to "get our communities moving." a community wide Drug Toss is scheduled for Oct. 24.

This is an event held for community residents to dispose of unused and old medications in the proper manner. No longer are we suppose to "flush" our old medicines; they are showing up in our water systems. Information on these and other activities and events is distributed through the Health Coalition.

The Health Coalition meets every third Thursday at the Together We Care office at 300 N. Main Street, Beaver Dam, from 11:30 a.m.-l p.m.. If you are interested in joining or would like to come and see what is going on please call Jody Flener, Local Facilitator at 274-7787.



Copyright 2009 The Ohio County Times-News, Hartford, Kentucky. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 The Ohio County Times-News Hartford, Kentucky. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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