A frequently forgotten segment of our community are the public servants who keep our cities running well and safely.  If we don’t hear from them we assume everything is okay.  But if they aren’t functioning well our cities and our safety may suffer. What better place to start building a healthier community than by helping those who help us, our public servants?

Being interested in the health and wellbeing of our communities, there are many levels at which we may begin to make a positive difference in the lives of our public servants. Here is an example of supporting physical activity efforts ― progressive guidelines used by physical therapists in Florida to incorporate physical activity into their community - Evaluation, Education, and Integration.

Evaluation – Look for occasions to assess and evaluate levels of physical fitness in the public servants in your city.  This can open doors for exercise prescription according to the Physical Activity Guidelines.  For instance, employment screenings and training assessments are a part of many public servants’ jobs.  Research indicates that physical activity is beneficial to mental, emotional, and physical health and wellbeing.  Physical activity also results in improved work-site morale, increased productivity, and decreased worker compensation claims.  http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/physicalactivity/
These are just a few benefits to both the employer and employee that make living an active, well lifestyle appealing.

St. Johns County Fire-Rescue Job Function Training assessment.

Education- Look for the opportunities to educate your “local leaders” on the value and importance of living an active, well lifestyle.  Brown Bag lunch series are often conducted by various departments to provide instruction and incentive to the employees.  Most public servants are required to attend mandatory in-service trainings, so consider becoming a part of the in-service curriculum by adding a wellness/physical activity component. As movement experts, physical therapists are uniquely qualified to serve as consultants on a variety of physical wellness issues, not only including rehabilitation, but also wellness and prevention.

Mandatory Wellness In-Service Block Training for county law enforcement.

Integration- Face-to-face group instruction is great, but not always possible.  Think about alternate modes of delivering information on ways that public servants may integrate physical activity and wellness into their lifestyles.  Develop a CD/DVD they can keep in their Human Resource department that they can access at any time.  Better yet, make physical activity a part of the community and invite them to attend.  Organize a community event, a 5 K run/walk, a family fun day, or the like....include everyone. You will be surprised at what this can do for the entire city.

Family Fun Day/5K hosted annually at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, St. Augustine, FL.

As you begin to implement some of these ideas remember:

Public servants will need to know why they need physical activity in their lives. EVALUATE them to establish a need and give them a “why”. Then, EDUCATE them on how to be physically active and well. Finally, INTEGRATE physical activity into their lives and the community.  As you prepare to help those who help us consider:

1. What can you do to Evaluate, Educate and/or Integrate physical activity for your public servants and community?
2. Do you have staff or employees within your organization qualified to begin these strategies?  If not, can you hire a consultant? Physical therapists are uniquely qualified to integrate movement and physical activity for both rehabilitation and wellness.

Written by guest bloggers: Lisa A. Chase, PhD, PT; Megann Schooley, PT, DPT, MTC, CSCS

What is a Healthy Community??  There are many definitions out there, the one here is from the Centers for Disease Control:

“A community that is continuously creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources that enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential.”

What is your maximum potential?  And how do you reach it?

These questions will probably bring about a variety of answers based on individual needs and abilities.  We all have an individual level of maximum potential and we all need different things in order to achieve that.  Health too is an individual state of being.  We all have an individual state of being that we deem “healthy” or “fit” AND we all need different things in order to achieve that.

So how does a community constantly create and improve the physical and social environment and expand its resources so that everyone can support each other in ALL of life’s functions as well as developing to their own individual maximum potential??

To me a healthy community has the opportunity to obtain proper health care services, the opportunity to receive a good education, the opportunity to play, the opportunity to be social, the opportunity to be intellectually stimulated, the opportunity to be physically active, and the opportunity to be safe while you take advantage of all these other opportunities.  And these opportunities must be for everyone.

For many of us, the opportunity to participate is taken for granted.  I’ll admit it, I don’t feel as if I have encountered many barriers to my personal health pursuits.  That’s where program coordinators and community leaders that, like myself, may not be personally familiar with barriers but have so much to offer to the health of a community, must be educated in terms of making their opportunities available to everyone.

Therefore being inclusive, accessible and available for all, including individuals with a variety of needs, abilities, function, and health conditions is hugely important.  This may sound like a big job, but in truth, some simple guidance can assist these program leaders and key community members in establishing programs for all. 

Here are some ideas:

·    Establish an “Advisory Board” of community members (including consumers with disabilities) to help advise local service providers of low-cost ways to be more accessible and disability friendly. 

·    Make use of your local Chamber of Commerce, alderman’s office, neighborhood planning committee or other similar local organizations to either get the word out about an “Advisory Board” or to provide materials on accessibility and disability etiquette.  These organizations would likely be the first to know when a new service provider or program is coming to your community so getting involved from the beginning could be key.

Please share your ideas for making healthy opportunities in your community available to all.

Happy 1st day of summer!  This week, we highlight fun and innovative programs to promote fitness this summer:

Work looks like play at PE teachers institute (Source:  INDenverTimes.com)  Award-winning teachers gather to learn creative approaches to teaching and assessing physical education. 

Girl Scout camp focuses on healthy habits (Source:  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)  Camp encourages healthy lifestyles.

Public invited to use Des Moines high school workout rooms (Source:  Des Moines Register)  Free use of new school fitness equipment made possible by a federal grant.

How might programs such as these come to life in your community?