Hello!
Welcome to the new members of Live Well Allegheny!
The campaign to make Allegheny County the healthiest county in the nation continues to grow! On September 24th, County Executive Fitzgerald and I attended Carnegie Borough’s Open Streets event to recognize the borough’s commitment to Live Well Allegheny. Cigna Health Insurance announced their commitment to become a Live Well Allegheny Workplace at its Employee Health Fair on October 24th. We also recognized Wilkinsburg Borough and its commitment to becoming a Live Well Community on November 3rd.
In addition, the following restaurants have made the commitment to Live Well Allegheny: Chaz and Odette, Senti, Monterey Bay Fish Grotto, Chateau Café and Cakery, and Levy Restaurants at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
November is National Diabetes Awareness month. Did you know that 1 in 11 Americans have diabetes — that’s more than 29 million people. The good news is we can all make small changes in our lifestyle to reduce the risk. For more information about diabetes prevention and management, please check out MedlinePlus.
We will be sharing information in the coming weeks about our first in-person meeting of the Live Well Learning Collaborative. Please stay tuned and save the date of January 10th, 2017.
Do you have an event coming up? Please let us know so we can add it to the Live Well Allegheny event calendar. Contact Marie Fontelo (Marie.Fontelo@AlleghenyCounty.us) with details. Please also check the partner resources page of the web site for additional resources.
Karen Hacker, MD, MPH
Director, Allegheny County Health Department
Campaign Corner
Save the date!
We will be hosting an in-person meeting of the Live Well Learning Collaborative on January 10th, 2017. This event will provide resources to assist you in your work to improve the health of the people you serve and next steps to becoming the healthiest county. Please visit our LWA calendar for more events as well.
Tobacco Free Allegheny (TFA) and the Allegheny County Health Department have joined forces again to make 2016 the year that Allegheny Quits for Life. The awareness week will be held November 13th-19th.
Please join us by participating in Merengue Monday (Nov 14th) – Dancing Classrooms will provide a free dance lesson at the county courthouse at 12pm. You can also participate in the Great American SmokeOut on November 17th. The day encourages everyone to quit, even just for one day.
Walkable communities lead to improved safety and health for community members of all backgrounds. For the second year, America Walks and the Every Body Walk! Collaborative are excited to announce Micro Grant Funding. This program will award grantees up to $1,500.00 for projects related to increasing walking and walkability. Applications due November 18th.
Partner Information
Interested in volunteering? Join fitUnited on December 8th to become a Project R.U.N. Volunteer! Volunteers will lead children through physical activity games and drills (relay races, kickball, speed drills, etc.) once a week.
For more information or to volunteer, please contact Maria DiGioia at 412-456-6748.
Right now, 54.5% of American students ages 6 to 19 are inadequately hydrated. This year, Pittsburgh Public Schools with support from the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council (PFPC) added 234 hydration stations in 54 schools (plus 78 new fountains), showing a commitment to provide children with the healthiest drink choice possible — water. Read more about the initiative here.
In addition to cigarettes and chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and vaping devices will now be prohibited on any property owned by the Mt. Lebanon School District. Read more here.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 30 % of teen e-cig users started smoking other products within six months.
Ready to join the nicotine-free movement?
On November 2nd, the Allegheny County Board of Health unanimously passed regulations to ban the use of electronic cigarettes in indoor public places where traditional cigarettes are not permitted. These regulations will now be considered by Allegheny County Council for review and potential passage as an ordinance. Do you support limiting exposure to e-cigarettes in indoor public places?
Interested in learning more about e-cigarettes as a public health issue?
What’s Happening in Public Health?
The Health Improvement Partnership Program (HIPP) released their Fall Newsletter, highlighting both county and state-level efforts including Healthy Me PA and good for you. good for all. parks program. The newsletter also shares hot button health topics, community resources, and funding opportunities.
Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Acting Assistant Secretary for Health released Public Health 3.0: A Call to Action to Create a 21st Century Public Health Infrastructure. The document recommends implementation strategies to achieve Public Health 3.0 and examples, including Live Well Allegheny.
The most recent NACCHO Connect newsletter included spotlights on federal accomplishments such as Zika virus funding as well as resources available for local health organizations.
Interested in learning more about NACCHO?
This is the latest Live Well Allegheny e-update. Please find a variety of information that will be helpful to you in your efforts, and can also be shared within your own networks. As always, you can find a great deal of information on our website at www.livewellallegheny.com, including partner resources which are available here: https://livewellallegheny.com/about-us/live-well-allegheny-participants/partner-materials/.
We now have 34 communities, 7 school districts, 145 community partners, 21 restaurants, and 5 workplace united in our efforts!