NHLBI, Hearts N' Parks Program - 2003 Magnet Center Sites

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2003 Magnet Center Sites

Elyria, OH—Adult Programs

Description

The Lorain County Walks program for employees focused on physical activity and heart-healthy eating. Participants tracked the number of miles they walked and sent this information to team leaders each week, using a department Web site. The team leaders provided encouragement to participants as well as materials on heart health, including nutrition, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Incentives for walking - such as a ½ day off from work - were offered at some of the worksites. The program ended with a heart-healthy lunch. The Seniors Take a Stroll and Lose a Roll program focused on heart health through walking, blood pressure screening by a local nurse, and presentations on heart-healthy eating by a local dietitian. Participants also received information and materials on blood pressure and cholesterol.

Program Information

Name of program	Lorain County Walks	Seniors Take a Stroll and Lose a Roll
Program start and end date	9/2/2003 to 12/19/2003	10/1/2003 to 12/12/2003
Number of times program met per week	N/A	N/A
Number of participants (total)	15	15
Number of male participants	N/A	N/A
Number of female participants	N/A	N/A
Target group	Adult	Adult
Program focus
Physical Activity
Heart-Healthy Eating
Blood Pressure
Cholesterol
Location of activities
Classes	-	-
Fitness center	-
Senior center	-	-
Other		-
Materials used
Information Handout	-
Lesson	-
Activity
Menus	-	-
Other		-

Public Visibility

Internal efforts to promote Hearts N' Parks programs:

Other: Flyers and Web site

External efforts to promote Hearts N' Parks programs:

Media Coverage: TV

Special Event(s): N/A
Number of presentations: N/A

Other: N/A

Partners

Partners who contributed to adult programs:

Partner Name	Partner Contribution
State, county, and city health departments	Provided staff for presentations, educational materials, and physical activity equipment.
Lorain County Metropolitan Park District	Provided parks and walking trails.
American Cancer Society	Provided educational materials and financial support for programs.

Performance Measures

Lorain County Walks
Participant scores showed significant improvement in heart-healthy eating knowledge, overweight/obesity knowledge, overweight/obesity attitude, physical activity attitude, physical activity knowledge, high blood pressure knowledge, and cholesterol knowledge. Improvements were also seen in heart-healthy eating attitude and behavior, physical activity level, and FIT score.

Seniors Take a Stroll and Lose a Roll
Participants showed significant improvement in high blood pressure knowledge. Other improvements were seen in heart-healthy eating knowledge, overweight/obesity knowledge, heart-healthy eating attitude, overweight/obesity attitude, physical activity level, physical activity attitude, physical activity knowledge, cholesterol knowledge, and FIT score.