Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Do Work.

So I work at the Waco Health Department and we just recieved a few large grants so we (the 3 emplopyees in our department) have kicked it in gear and started work on large scale projects. Because I spend most of my time at work, I thought you might like to see what we have been up to.

The most pressing event is COMMUNITY PLAY DAY & 5K - It is a FREE event for the whole city. The free 5k will go through the farmers market and runners will recieve a tshirt at the end. It will feature guest speaker Baylor Women's Basketball Great Melissa Jones as our guest speaker and lots of fun - kayaking, basketball, running, cooking demos, etc. I am the chair of this event so it seems bigger than it probably is.

 The Eat Well Waco Dining Guide is a brochure with 40 local restaurants and lists all the healthiest items at those places. We have now put it online and are working on a Spanish version as well. click to see it live.

This is a new series called Doctors on Call. This topic is childhood obesity. We have a doctor come out to a church and make a presentation not only on obesity but on how it is affected by their culture (hispanic) and then there will be a Q&A session and cooking demonstration. It will be bilingual and the cooking will be a healthier spin on a tradition Mexican dish. We will also host future ones in different populations.

We have also started going strong on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Somehow I get a lot of this responsibility (probably cause I'm the youngest around).

We are also working with the march of dimes to do parenting classes and other activities to reduce infant mortality by 5% in certain zip codes in 20 months.

We are also working on offering free tobacco cessation programs and strengthening our smoking ordinance in the city.

Everyday is different and I love that!

2 comments:

  1. What worthwhile programs you are involved with. Loved seeing what you are doing. Looks like a lot of work to me !!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! I love all that you are doing. I interned at the Public Health Department in college. The campaign I worked on was not as well defined as the one you are working on. This sounds exciting in so many ways. I'm so glad you shared.

    ReplyDelete