Upper Valley HEAL March e-News!

1. White Mountain Children's Center, Children's Center of the Upper Valley, and DHMC Child Care Center to Pilot NAP SACC.

Upper Valley HEAL will be working with White Mountain Children's Center, the Children's Center of the Upper Valley, and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Child Care Center to improve healthy eating options and physical activity levels for children at their centers, using the "Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care" (NAP SACC). NAP SACC provides a framework with which current practices in children's nutrition and physical activity may be idenftified and improved upon. UV HEAL's Pre-K Consultant, Marla Ianello, M.S. is a certified NAP SACC consultant, and will provide technical assistance and training for these centers as they identify ways they can help kids eat healthier foods and move more. "We've already taken steps to improve nutrition and activity levels for our children," said Lorraine Harris of the DHMC Child Care Center, "but it will be helpful to look at our efforts in a more formal way." Darcy Emerson, Director of White Mountain Child Care adds "Kids form so many eating and activity habits at these ages, that it makes sense for us to make our center as healthy a place as possible."

The NAP SACC implementation at these centers will take place between now and June, 2010, with funding for NAP SACC provided by the State of NH Dept. of Health and Human Services Obesity Prevention Program. We hope to attract additional funding to work with more centers starting in July 2010, working with additional centers and identifying ways to utilize the NAP SACC model with smaller, home-based early care providers.

For More Information:

• Learn more about NAP SACC.
• Request NAP SACC consultation for your center.

2. Early Care Providers Participate in "I Am Moving, I Am Learning"

On February 11th, 37 regional early care providers particpated in an "I am Moving, I am Learning" training organized by the Child Care Project at Dartmouth College with support from UV HEAL. Trainer Patty Ackley-Warlick and Marla Ianello, UV HEAL's Pre-K Consultant, led this workshop, which got providers thinking about movement from a child's perspective and how to keep physical activity joyous and frequent. "I am Moving I am Learning" is a proactive approach for addressing childhood obesity in Head Start settings. It seeks to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, improve the quality of movement activities intentionally planned and facilitated by adults, and promote healthy food choices every day.

For More information:

• I am Moving I am Learning website.

3. Backpack Flyers Make the Parent Connection

Upper Valley HEAL's Backpack Flyers continue to be a big hit with early care providers and parents, with 14 centers/providers now distributing backpack flyers to more than 500 families monhtly. Each "Backpack Flyer" provides parent education about the 5210 Wellness message (more fruits and veggies, reduce screen time, be active, reduce sugary drinks), offers local resources for families, offers a healthy recipe, and provides age and stage-based tips for parents. UV HEAL offers backpack flyers at no cost to early care providers - we give providers enough flyers for all the families they serve, and providers can distribute them in cubbies or use them as conversation starters for parents.

For More Information:
Request Backpack Flyers for your center.

4. Clinical Trainings Begin in Upper Valley Practices

Doctors Ardis Olson and Auden McClure from the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth have begun offering clinical training related to HEAL goals in four pediatric and family practices. CHaD's Lebanon Clinic, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Mascoma Pediatrics Clinic, Alice Peck Day's Pediatric Clinic, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Buck Road Family Practice Center are each participating. UV HEAL's goals are to ensure that all Lebanon and Mascoma area pediatric practices are routinely measuring and assessing Body Mass Index (BMI) at every well-child visit, and that providers are trained in best-practice skills to address weight, obesity, activity, and nutrition with children and their parents. "Most doctors have already taken steps to address weight, activity, and nutrition in their practices," says Dr. McClure. "We offer a menu of trainings providers can choose from which enhance and build on their existing skills, and help them think about ways to successfully incorporate these skills into the short time that kids and families are in their office."

5. Passport to Winter Health Now Available in Selected Clinics.

Upper Valley Trails Alliance's Passport to Winter Fun is now available at the following pediatric clinics: White River Family Practice, Alice Peck Day Pediatrics, CHaD's Lebanon Clinic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Mascoma Pediatrics, and the Buck Road Family Practice. "We're piloting a Pediatric Passport this year because some children do not participate in the Passport Program in their schools," says Russ Hirschler, UVTA's Executive Director. This offers an opportunity to tie winter activity and outdoor activity to health in a very direct way."

6. Lebanon Safe Routes to School Presents to State Safe Routes Transportation Advisory Committee

On Thursday, February 11th, Colin Smith, Chair of Lebanon's Pedestrian-Bicycle Committee, Amy Ballou, a physical education teacher at the Mount Lebanon School, Meghan Davies, a parent and "walking school bus driver" from West Lebanon, Mike McCrory from the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission, and Greg Norman from Dartmouth-Hitchcock travelled to Concord to present to the state Transportation Advisory Committee about Lebanon's request for Safe Routes to School funding. Lebanon is applying for more than $70,000 in funds to make walking to Lebanon's elementary schools safer and more common. Highlights of Lebanon's proposal include:

• Hiring a part-time Safe Routes Coordinator for Lebanon to recruit and train Walking School Bus and "Bike Train" volunteers.
• Installing flashing "school zone" lights at key locations near elementary schools.
• Increasing police and city monitoring of parking on sidewalks and brush blocking sidewalks.
• More visible and durable sidewalk crossings along key walking corridors.
• Engineering studies to recommend structural improvements of the Hanover Street School parking lot, the South Main Street/12A intersection in West Lebanon, how to improve safety crossing Route 10 from the Crafts Avenue area in West Lebanon, and evaluating how Farman avenue could be used as a key walking route after CSO reconstruction later this decade.

For More Information:

• Lebanon SRTS's presentation to the NH State Transportation Advisory Committee.
• Read More about the Mount Lebanon's "Walk Home" buses.
• NH State Safe Routes to School Web site and community grants program.

7. Passport to Winter Fun Program Begins!

Upper Valley Trails Alliance "Passport to Winter Fun" program is in high gear! The Passport program encourages kids and their parents to be active at least an hour every day. Kids mark their passport each day they achieve one hour of physical activity, and fill in special stars if they are active with their parents. They receive small incentives for being active 10, 20, and 30 days, with special prizes for kids who are active with their parents. The Passport program is a great motivator for kids and families to be active this winter. UV HEAL encourages all families to support their kids in using the Passport to Winter Fun to help them Get Out! and Be Active!

For more information:

• About the Passport to Winter Fun
• Request more information about the Passport program
• About the Upper Valley Trails Alliance

8. Public Meeting on Initial Mascoma River Greenway Design

The Mascoma River Greenway Coalition will hold a public meeting March 23, 6-9pm at the Lebanon City Hall Council Chambers to present initial findings from the Mascoma River Greenway design process, and to gather feedback from community members that can help to shape future planning for the Greenway. The design process is already generating plenty of new options and considerations about how the Greenway between Lebanon and West Lebanon could take shape. Come learn about progress to date and share your ideas and knowledge as the MRG Coalition continues to move the Greenway from a good idea to a reality.

9. uvheal.org: Help us Build a Community Resource

The uvheal.org website is intended to be a linking resource center for parents, educators, community service providers, activists and others to help everyone in the Upper Valley find ways to eat healthier foods and be more physically active. We need your help to achieve this goal. Here are several ways you can participate:

• Become a Member: We encourage you to become a uvheal.org Member by clicking the "Sign Up" link in the upper right of this page. Members receive occasional e-mail updates from uvheal.org, and have enhanced opportunities to participate in discussions, groups, and blogs on the site. Becming a member allows you more opportunities to get information from the site, as well as to share your information with others.
• Browse!: We're trying to fill uvheal.org with lots of information about ways to eat smart and be active all year round.
• Help Us Build our Resource Listings: Your knowledge can help others! Help us build a robust calendar of events and listing of resources and activities in each town that make it easier for people to be active and eat smart. If you see resources you would like to see listed, please let us know, but sending an e-mail, adding an Event, by adding a Blog, or by using a Status Update from your "My Page."
• Invite Others: If you like what you are seeing on the uvheal.org site, please send a link to your friends, using the "Invite" tab on the uvheal home page. By growing our uvheal community, we will increase the number of people who have resources to share, ideas to contribute, and energy to achieve great community goals.
• Start a Discussion: Do you have something you want to ask or discuss with other health-minded people? Discussions offer a way to share ideas, tips, and questions with others using the uvheal.org site.
• Add Photos and Stories:Photos and stories inspire people to try new things, and inform people about great community resources. You can add Photos to the uvheal site, submit a blog about your ideas to build healthier communities, or give a quick Status Update to share an ideas or news related to nutrition and activity.
• Nominate a "Healthy Hero." Each month we feature a community member who helps to make our communities healthier places. Let us know who you think is a Healthy Hero, and maybe they will be featured as our monthly nominee!
• Follow UV HEAL on Facebook!: www.facebook.com/uppervalleyhealpartnership UV HEAL now has a Facebook Page, and we post regular updates about UV HEAL news and events.

10. What is Upper Valley HEAL and HEAL NH?

Upper Valley Healthy Eating Active Living (UV HEAL) Partnership links and supports community efforts to build the healthiest possible Upper Valley communities, with a special focus on Lebanon and the Mascoma towns. NH HEAL leads implementation of NH's Healthy Eating Active Living Action Plan.

For More Information about UV HEAL and Related Organizations:

• About the Upper Valley HEAL Partnership
• About New Hampshire HEAL
• New Hampshire's Healthy Eating Active Living Action Plan
• VT's Fit and Healthy Kids Initiative
• Health Connections (serving Sharon, Strafford, and Tunbridge, VT)
• Ottaquechee Community Partnership (serving Woodstock VT and surrounding communities).

11. Become a Member, Unsubscribe, and Share Your Thoughts

• To Become a Member of UV HEAL, click the "Sign Up-Sign In" link in the upper right corner of this page.
• To Unsubscribe from e-Updates, please send an unsubscribe message to Maudi Silver-Mallemat, the UV HEAL Partnership Coordinator.
• To Comment on this e-Update, or to tell us what you would like to hear more about, please use the Comment in the box below.
• Please share this UV HEAL update with someone you know! Click the "Share" link below and send it to whomever you think would like to know more about UV HEAL.

The Upper Valley Healthy Eating Active Living Partnership

includes the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD), Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Lebanon Schools, Mascoma Schools, Upper Valley Trails Alliance, Lebanon Recreation and Parks, Mascoma Valley Health Initiative, Vital Communities / Valley Food & Farm, Willing Hands Enterprises, and other individuals and community groups. Upper Valley HEAL is a community grants recipient of the HEAL NH Initiative. Funding provided by Foundation for Healthy Communities, HNH Foundation, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Foundation, Endowment for Health, and New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. UV HEAL is hosted at CHaD, the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth. Contact Maudi Silver Mallemat, UV HEAL Partnership Coordinator, 603-653-3455, for more information.