Work Group Summary
A summary of the work group strategic planning is detailed below.
A Microsoft Word File of the Summary is also available by selecting the following link
Microsoft Word File of Work Group Strategic Planning Summary
Chattanooga Active Living Summit
Summary of Strategic Planning April 25-26, 2008
Mission :
Improve the Chattanooga region’s health by integrating sound policy, programs, resources, services, and messages where individuals, children, and families make healthy choices about active living.
Vision:
Active living is an integral part of daily life for everyone.
Guiding Principles:
- The actions are consumer-focused and community-based focusing on strengths, assets, and community involvement in determining priorities and how to address them.
- Strategies reflect the cultural dimensions of the community through acknowledgement of their contributions.
- The cultural competency of individuals and organizations participating in the planning and implementing of strategies within the community is critical for success.
- Active living is defined broadly to include Healthy People 2010 objectives and increased moderate physical activity and reduced sedentary behaviors.
THE CORNERSTONES:
- ACCESS – Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
- COLLABORATION – Promote active living by maximizing collaboration and partnerships.
- COMMUNICATIONS – Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
ACTIVE TRANSPORT :
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
- Strategy 1 : For new development try to establish applicable codes for “complete streets” and appropriate parking types.
- Potential Actions:
- Educating elected officials and requesting adoption of policies or implementation of codes.
- Change ordinances to encourage construction of sidewalks, bikeways, and other places for physical activity
- Complete Streets- designed to enable safe access for all users
- An effective policy avenue for encouraging bicycling and walking
- 43% of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home meet recommended activity levels; only 27% of those without safe places to walk are active enough
- Strategy 2 : Survey/assessment of facilities such as bike racks & location – inventory
- Potential Actions
- Evaluate adequacy of facilities for land use
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships
- Strategy 1 : Make all partners and stakeholders aware of needs/direction for active transportation
- Potential Actions:
- Create roundtable for active transportation partners: Education, Transportation, Health Department, Planning, City/County Leaders, Health/other/university/disabled/seniors/biking/walking Clubs, business leaders (Chamber Commerce)
- Strategy 2 : City and County Interests; Prioritize towards walking/biking
- Potential Actions
- Create roundtable for active transportation (listed partners above)
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
- Strategy 1 : Get state to put bicycle and pedestrian issues as a transportation priority namely implementation of bike coordinator position.
- Potential Actions:
- Lobby for these issues
- File law suit
- Strategy 2: Awareness/Education of active transport action
- Potential Actions:
- Transportation education campaign
ACTIVE SCHOOLS :
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
- Strategy 1 :
- Have the complete school system take one hour per semester dedicated to physical activity
- Action:
-Find a day that would have minimal impact on teaching (after TCAP)
-Group from community meet with Dr. Scales to address this idea
- Strategy 2 :
- Offer evening programs at elementary schools for students to show parents the types of physical activity they participate in schools
- “3 Ring Circus” theme
- Action:
-CSH contact PE teachers and share idea
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
- Strategy 1:
- Have a website where we information about physical activity and programs at school can stay updated
- Action:
-Gather information and create website
-assign contact person who updates site
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
- Strategy 1:
- Kid contest to create “Active Living” cartoon figure
-Create central message
-Use for health messaging (Sporting events, cafeterias, etc.)
- Action:
-CSH promote contest to schools
-Active Living community help fund the messaging
ACTIVE COMMUNITIES :
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
Strategy 1: Environmental (physical and social) supports
- Rural areas-sidewalks to encourage movement within the local/immediate community
- Provide more opportunities to get out in the community
- Implement heath and wellness programs that acknowledge cultural differences
- Make areas accessible to EVERYONE
- Built Environment that is conducive to promoting neighborhood activities/programs that are ethnically sensitive
- Working with local pre-established groups/organizations
- Local Ordinances for Green Space
Strategy 2: Safety
- Access to safe communities/neighborhoods @ all times of the day
- Bus routes thru neighborhoods to venues
- Reliable buses
- Safety at location
- Pay to Park- DETERANT!
- Safe, Secure, and Free opportunities
Strategy 2: Inclusiveness
- Organizations of leagues/teams for all ages/skill levels
- Creating the environment for use and allowances to let “Joe” be able to actually use facilities
- Pick Up games for social and exercise
- Knowledge- many opportunities but limited knowledge of how to get involved with that which is there for use
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
Strategy 1: Partnerships
- Community land donations
- Built by the community/partnerships-get citizens involved and excited about “Family Build Days”
- Mobilize the community so that there is OWNERSHIP-
- Obtain funding through community donations of time and supplies
- Professional Fitness Day
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
- Community new letters, newspapers, door-to-door, faith based institutions, signage
- Aim for cohesion
- Coupon/welcome packets for knowledge
- Knowledge of existing programs- media outlets
- Free papers i.e., insert in the Pulse Newspaper
- Community News Letters FREE and EXISTING
- Local Media- i.e., Times Free Press, Radio,
- Create a centralized venue for dissemination
ACTIVE FAITH-BASED COMMUNITIES :
- Objective- to find things that are common between the faiths that you can employ in faith-based institutions
- Active Faith Based Communities (AFBC) provide resources for physical activity
- Resources are not always accompanied by a faith message that integrates spirit and body
- Churches are providing Physical Activity (PA) resources but not teaching the principles of the faith
- PA and Faith should be connected
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
- AFBC provide resources for PA that are not always accompanied by a faith message
- AFBC use resources as an outreach as a means to spread the faith
- AFBC enable access to PA resources regardless of faith
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
- AFBC can partner with secular organizations to promote PA*
- AFBC can partner with other faith based organizations regardless of belief to design and execute PA *
- AFBC can promote personal involvement within its own membership to promote PA
*Can be initiated by either party
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
- AFBC can distribute PA and health related materials for members
- AFBC can sponsor and promote health promotional events, programs, and activities
- AFBC can focus on PA from the sermon and via other faith based messages.
ACTIVE HEALTH SITES :
Mission : Improve the Chattanooga health by integrating sound policy, programs, resources, services, and messages where individuals, children, and families make healthy choices about active living.
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
Strategy 1 : collaborative effort between insurance and health care providers to implement directive preventive health measures.
Action 1: Have employers/insurance companies pay for preventive medicine: (you have to show the profit in the end). Encourage participation through incentives and rebates. Providers and insurance companies need to be talking with each other. Get the physician involved i.e. an exercise RX. The RX would start the process and involve the doctor.
Action 2: Coding of the insurance claims would be an issue. Maybe a new code needs to be written so that insurance will recognize. Policy changes need to be implemented so a new code can be implemented. For example: obese people. Do we have the computer technology for the coding system that promotes physical activity?
Strategy 2 : Access for people who cannot go to the hospital? Is it socioeconomic? Make it accessible for the people by providing transportation. The hospitals are not in the community enough telling them how important it is for people to be active.
Action 1: Health care providers have to go to the community and share the health message about engaging in active living (i.e. doctors speaking publicly), not have the community come to the hospital. Health care systems have an obligation to put the message in front of people all the time.
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
Strategy 1 : Need to get the 3 CEOs of the major hospital to give the same message concerning health. The key is the 3 together need to endorse something. Need to move towards the Health approach care system (as opposed to an illness care system).
Action 1: CEOs will embrace StepONE and provide ways to bring StepONE initiatives into the hospitals.
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
Strategy 1 : Need to get the 3 CEOs of the major hospital to give the same message concerning health. The key is the 3 together need to endorse something. Need to move towards the Health approach care system (as opposed to an illness care system).
Strategy 2 : All healthcare providers need to communicate and follow the ACSM/CDC/AHA guidelines for activity.
Strategy 3 : improved point of contact and follow-up education about active living. Talk about physical activity (possible use case managers).
(The following actions fall under all 3 strategies)
Action 1: They would do something more than endorsing StepONE: Nutrition and Exercise.
Action 2: Involve all providers the patient comes into contact with.
Action 3: Create a sustainable communication campaign that educates all hospitals staff, patients, and visitors about the importance of the ACSM activity guideline.
Action 4: Encourage staff to be good role-models. Staff needs to be physically active themselves.
Action 5: Use the technology we have to communicate the health issues/promotion.
Action 6: Use case managers on follow up, printed materials, technology, send out surveys.
ACTIVE RECREATION :
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
Overcoming Barriers
- Field trips for physical activity
- Using various forms of media to expand to suburban
- Newsletters to various zones, neighborhoods to reach areas that would not generally be reached b/c of geographics
- Encourage activities in smaller scale events, likely to be ongoing (bring programs to the people due to transportation barriers)
- Utilize land, resources for neighborhood walking areas; start on small scale in neighborhood then progress to larger scale activities (e.g.-neighborhood walking trail to 5K walk, etc.)
- Take activities to community, rather than encouraging center usage; may not be accessible
- Government funding; start free progress to more inexpensive programs
- Extended operational hours of various facilities
- Alleviate distinguishing between adult/youth times usage of facility
- Alleviate youth focused recreation; increase number of youth activity programs
- “rental” of fitness, physical activity equipment (e.g.-bike loaner programs)
- Unique organization of activities; could have been promotional factor in getting individual active (e.g.- practice for basketball tournament)
- Novice events; encourage participation regardless of level of physical activity or level of ability
- Better communication to encourage activism in community events (physical activity)
- Organization and bureaucracy
- Quality equipment and programming
- Activities (nontraditional) to involve other cultures (e.g.-belly dancing, ethnic dance, etc)
- Programming to target ENTIRE family (i.e.- avoid programs that do not incorporate all children in family)
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
- Create test model; identify others with like models and goals
- Community leadership partnership
- Data collection for potential donors to prove efficiency of physical activity programs
- Identifying others that have common goal in programming (TOP)
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
- Educate on benefits of movement
- Larger campaign on benefits of physical activity (comparable to that of breast cancer, etc)
- Logos to capture attention
- Door-to-door invitation to facility programs, services available
- Government sponsorship to fund media campaigns
- BMI on progress reports to get parental attention and involvement in child’s level of physical activity
- Educating, reaching out to community. Informing of activities available
- PR, communication
- Weekly radio promotions (Free activities)
ACTIVE SPORT :
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
Keys to Success
- Outdoor Chattanooga
- Chattanooga Sports Committee
- Chattanooga Parks & Recreation
- UT Chattanooga
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
- Amateur-Only Day
- Corporate Challenge
- Bring back Tennessee Sportsfest
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
- Partner with local media (TV, radio, newspaper, internet) to promote active sport for everyone
- Offer frequent clinics for youth, adults, and older adults in active sport
- Partner with voluntary health organizations to promote therapeutic programs through parks and recreation agencies to promote active sport among persons with disabilities
ACTIVE LIVING AT WORK :
CONERSTONE 1: ACCESS
Assure access to facilities, programs, and locations to engage in active living.
Strategy 1 : Increase motivation
- Provide space(s) to be active (on-/off-site facilities, walking paths, easy access to local recreation)
- Loosen work schedule to allow for time to engage in these activities
- Show workers the path to activity, provide guidance
- Identify and correct barriers that exist within your organization
- For new development try to establish applicable codes for “complete streets” and appropriate parking types.
Strategy 2 : Take baby steps at the worksite
- Make it easy for workers to be active
- Loosen the dress code, provide shoe lockers
- Clever, safe walking route maps
- Sufficient time in breaks to be active
- Point-of-decision adverts.
- “Take the stairs; use what God gave you”; “Park here à walk there”
CORNERSTONE 2: COLLABORATION
Promote active living by maximizing partnerships.
Strategy 1 : Motivation
- Connect with experts (e.g., at UTC) in research/measurement and behavior modification to:
- identify and resolve barrier issues
- improve reward/motivation strategies
- Study best-practices from other local companies (what is working for them)
- Use a buddy-system, mentoring
Strategy 2 : Taking baby steps
- Work with community to make Active Living easy
(facilities in good condition, shade trees and benches, good lighting/safety)
- Consider consortium efforts with other companies to keep costs down + improve inclusion of family and friends (prevent work-family/friend conflicts)
- Make use of UTC and other community resources to provide start-up education and monitoring
CORNERSTONE # 3: COMMUNICATIONS
Promote health and create awareness of the investment value of active living through effective communications.
Strategy 1 : Motivation
- Explain why activity is necessary
- Discuss how it benefits the person, org., and community
- Keep lines open for worker input
- Lead by example (nonverbals are powerful)
- Utilize internet technologies to facilitate connections
Strategy 2: Taking baby steps
- Make it clear that even less-than-strenuous exercise can help
- Share some motivating stats – If you lose this % of your bodyweight then…
- Begin to create a workplace culture that supports Active Living
- Encourage/reward Active behaviors frequently and publicly
