MOUNT MORRIS — Livingston County residents are invited to a community forum on Sept. 24 to hear about a year-long effort to create policy and environmental changes that plan to contribute to active living, healthy eating, and tobacco prevention in local communities.
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The Livingston Community Forum takes place at Sweet Briar, located at 5126 Geneseo – Mt. Morris Rd. (Route 63). The forum will be held at two different times on Sept. 24: 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. Community members are invited to attend the forum during either time.
Attendees will learn how Livingston County’s Community Health Action Response Team (CHART) has been working to make healthy choices easier and more available to all community members. CHART members will present their efforts to increase opportunities for healthy foods, physical activity and play in safe, tobacco-free spaces. This includes assisting 11 local worksites in adopting a healthy options policy, where employees and visitors are offered opportunities for healthy foods and beverages for meetings, events, and in vending machines. These worksites are: Arc of Livingston Wyoming; Catholic Charities; Chances and Changes; Compeer of Livingston County; Cornell Cooperative Extension; Livingston County Area Chamber of Commerce; Livingston County Department of Health; Livingston County EMS; Once Again Nut Butter; Lauderdale Health Center at SUNY Geneseo; and Tri-County Family Medicine Program, Inc.
Over the past year, the CHART team has also worked with local municipalities to encourage tobacco- and smoke-free environments in outdoor public places. The Towns of Lima and Conesus are currently creating more opportunities for outdoor activity by developing shared use walking paths and bike trails. Mark Tubbs Park in Lima is expanding significantly and has adopted a tobacco-free policy for the park. Conesus is creating walking trails near Dacola Shores with a fish walk and an observation deck for viewing wildlife. Forum organizers hope community members attending the forum will take back some of the same ideas to implement them in their own communities. CHART team members will be available guidance and assistance.
The featured speaker for the forum is Sana Chehimi, MPH, Program Director of Prevention Institute in California. Other speakers include Lisa Beardsley, Senior Public Health Educator of Livingston County Department of Health, and Jean Angililli, Certified Wellness Coordinator of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
CHART is part of the ACHIEVE initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ACHIEVE stands for Action Communities for Health, Innovation and Environmental ChangE. Livingston County was named an ACHIEVE community by the CDC in 2011, and is one of 40 U.S. communities selected to participate in the program and find ways to combat chronic diseases. Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke, are the leading cause of death among Livingston County residents. Unhealthy behaviors, including lack of physical activity, poor eating habits and tobacco use, account for a large percentage of those diagnosed with chronic diseases.
The Community Forum is free and open to the public. CHART members will be on hand at the forum to share information and answer questions from local residents and interested members of the public.
For more information about ACHIEVE or the Community Forum, please contact Lisa at (585) 243-7299, LBeardsley@co.livingston.ny.us or Jean at (585) 734-2786,jma334@cornell.edu. Visit vwww.livingstoncounty.us/doh_home.php for achieve updates.