Partners for a Healthier Community

A meeting of Partners for a Healthier Community was held on Friday, January 12, 2007 at the Jackson Conference Room at Charlton Hospital in Fall River. Chairperson Billie Jane Valente called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM.

The minutes of the December 8, 2006 Steering Committee were circulated in advance.

VOTED to approve the Minutes of the December 8, 2006 meeting of Partners for a Healthier Community as circulated.

Two financial reports were circulated; one for regular business conducted and the other for the 2006 Legislative Breakfast.

Marcia is also tracking financial activity separately for mini-grants, Healthy Cities and other work groups.

The audit is ongoing with Mr. Gordon. He has figures for two years to work on. No completion date known as yet.

Linda Hennessey reporting that they visited the Salvation Army this past week with much success. They showed the video, a dental hygienist was present as well as Diabetes Association representation. They put together a bag for participants that contained brochures from Health First and SSTAR with 3 pieces of fruit to bring home with them.

Sue Sterrett is back! She reported today that they will be working on publishing articles in a special edition on wellness in the Durfee Hill Top. They will be contacting other area high schools for similar editions if available. They will also be reviewing wellness policies in the schools, which is necessary by law. She also spoke about how the school department will discuss sending information home to all parents, which will cover a variety of topics, not just targeting obesity as was done in other communities.

Healthy Youth

The focus has been working towards the March 30 Youth Forum. The group and youth involved in this felt that there has been enough emphasis on violence prevention. Perhaps working on the “positive” rather than on the “negative” would result in renewed interest. The plan is to move toward the “5 Promises” Model, divide into 5 work groups. A realistic goal is to work on completing one task by end of school year this year - perhaps “Community Service”. Also completing a “demo” of the peer leadership video for comment from students by March 30 to be shown at the forum.

Ongoing Relationships with Caring Adult – Parents, Mentors, Tutors or Coaches

Jamison and Christian met in Brockton last Thursday to find out how that city got started on this project. They are now six years into it. Their opinion is that Fall River has a nice foundation at this time. They work with the D.A.’s office, the Mayor’s Office, School Dept, and Police Dept. Brockton has been successful in bringing in substantial grant money due to being involved with America’s Promise. Ameri-Corps also supports with funding. They experience high youth attendance at their forums – perhaps partly due to offering incentives to attend. Jamison and Christian will meet with the Principal of Durfee High School and the Mayor’s office and try to get details in time for the Forum in March. Ron O’Connor also offered assistance from his perspective having been involved in the Brockton movement for many years.

Healthy Cities now has their own page on the Partners web site. Other groups could be added with links.

Healthy Dining project is in full swing. They have positive commitments from 31 restaurants which certainly is way more than expected! Sending a follow up letter to those who did not submit sample menus.

Walking Initiative - Project is well under way hoping to launch in April. Information is on the web site. David used a Google search and found that there is a “pedometer” link that can be used to create walking maps that can include, miles walked, calories used, etc.( Google Map Pedometer ) BJ said she would utilize it to figure out the details for the course that she already uses for the group that walks from Family Service Association. Other ideas would be to hang bulletin boards in strategic check points along the routes that could include warm up exercises and places nearby where participants could “stretch” to get ready for the walk.

Third Community Forum will be held at the end of January. Invitations have been sent to new people. This one is free of charge due to lower cost at the Tradewinds restaurant and focus on Health Education.

“Smiles” –School based mentoring Program on Thursday at 3:15 – 4:15PM – Kuss Middle School - Topic is Success in School. More information available from David or Christian. They are both mentors in the program.

David announced they will be applying for a grant regarding Environmental Protection. Any ideas? Will be working with Jane DeBiasio to submit the application. Could bring in $60,000. per year for 3 years. Possibly enough money to employ someone. This could tie in with the Housing Authority and extermination services they use. The chemicals used wreak havoc with people that have asthma, as well as other damaging effects. Apparently there are other alternatives to using chemicals in extermination. Since Fall River has such a high percentage of subsidized units, this could well be an area of recognized need.

BOLD met yesterday. The meeting for their Strategic Planning has been cancelled for January 19. The new date is February 9 at White’s from 10 – 2 PM.

Joan Gancarski wanted to talk about the need to update statistics. As it stands, the most recent surveys go back to 1999. Discussion followed with ideas on how to get this done, hopefully, without high expenditures. BJ thought that UMass Dartmouth students could be helpful with this as part of their studies. Or could we tie this into a Work Group? There must be current data available somewhere. Ron O’Connor will approach Ellen Banach South Coast Hospital Group about it because he thinks there could be something already in the works. Follow up at next meeting.

Marcia talked about Girls Scouts and how they are in the midst of the annual cookie campaign. The Scouts do not go house to house as much as in the past for obvious reasons. Now they are more visible at retail stores with tables, or other high traffic areas. Sometimes they get corporate sponsors to purchase cases where they in turn offer cookies to employees in their break rooms. “Cookies for a Cause” is becoming popular. For instance, if a person feels generous but does not want the cookies for whatever reason, they can donate the equivalent of the cost of a box. The troop will then reconcile their money taken in against their remaining inventory and then donate the extra boxes to worthy causes such as food pantries. This teaches them a life lesson on how to manage money and provide a community service. . For other information go to www.gscsm.org.

Jamison announced the grand opening of the CD Rec Neighborhood Fitness Center! January 17 at 10:30 AM at the CD Rec building, 72 Bank St. Personal training will now be available several days per week, including Saturdays, for youth and adults. They are also moving towards updating the rest of this Historic Building and will be applying for grants to accomplish this. For complete information go to www.cdrec.org or call 508-679-0922.

There is a meeting on January 18 for “Youth Build”. This is a very active group that helps out in the community with special handy-man projects and the labor cost is zero. They are a great group of kids! They are currently awaiting the final permits for building a house on the corner of Rodman and Buffington. This group is funded through a line item in the State Budget. Letters of support would be helpful to continue being funded.

Judith Coykendall spoke next and officially introduced two people at the meeting, Ron O’Connor from DPH who is involved with New Bedford Partners and Sarah Beth Manuels, an intern for GNB Coast ( New Bedford CHNA ). They are specifically working on a Health Access Committee which is currently focusing on Mental Health needs in Moms and infants – Post Partum Depression - by way of outreach education and training. Many public awareness tools are available for education in this area. Screenings for Moms at risk are in the works. The hope is that SouthCoast Hospitals Group will sponsor this initiative.

How can are CHNA be involved? This is seen as a southcoast initiative so that we may be more involved as it progresses. Sarah Beth Manuels is the contact – Email: sarmanue@aol.com.

Judith also talked about the ongoing quit smoking campaign. Looking for participants and volunteers that could join their ad / poster campaign. They must be between the ages of 25 and 54 and have quit the smoking habit from 1 to 3 years.

Discussion followed on the newest pill available for help with nicotine addiction – Chantix. This pill is already on the market and any doctor can write a prescription. The problem is getting the word out to physicians that this medication works but is being under-utilized.

If you need to contact any member of the steering committee or the work groups, visit the web site @

www.gfrpartners.com click on “about us” and the “steering committee”- All members’ names and Email addresses are listed.

BJ Valente	Mike Coughlin	Sue Sterrett
Marcia Picard	David Weed	Joan Gancarski
Judith Coykendall	Pat Bebo	Karen Statser
Sarah Beth Manuels		Jamison Souza
Ron O’Connor
Marie Chase
Roger Dextradeur
Linda Hennessey


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