Annual Reports

Download - 2009 - 2010 Annual Report

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2009-2010 Annual Report
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Message from the Executive Director

   It takes a special organization to start-up in difficult economic times and survive, but that is what Health Connections of the Upper Valley is doing, and it is a testament to the fact that Health Connections is addressing health care needs that otherwise would go unmet. Health Connections has attacked the health problems of tobacco use, youth obesity and parenting outreach head on, and as a result has solidified its relationship with towns and organizations as an appreciated resource to provide health education and health prevention initiatives.
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In order to accomplish our goals we need adequate funding. Health Connections started the fiscal year in July having 80% of its operating budget and was successful in meeting its funding needs by January, 2010. Two new board members joined Health Connections Board of Directors. Tom Ketteridge, the former executive director of the Upper Valley Haven Homeless Shelter brings strong leadership and expertise in non-profit management, and Ann Seibert, former Vermont State Representative from Norwich who was instrumental in enacting tobacco control legislation. I am so grateful to their commitment and dedication to help grow the organization.
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Tough economic times will continue for a while, but I am convinced that Health Connections will not only be able to sustain its work, but expand its outreach. It takes tenacity, determination and drive to keep a small non-profit organization going. But moreover, it takes a sincere belief in the mission of the organization. For me, Health Connections’ mission – to bring people and resources together to achieve healthier lives is more than just a statement, it is my motivation.

Catherine T. Hazlett, MPH

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Accomplishments

Tobacco

• Health Connections was busy in the Hartford Schools conducting tobacco use prevention education, as the school district’s tobacco coordinator. The highlight was having Hartford High School’s Peer Projects teens take the lead on organizing and giving a tobacco presentation to all 3 of Hartford’s 5th grades, a total of about 150 students. The teens did a great job mixing presenting information with some fun activities to engage the 5th graders. The teens were wonderful role models for the upcoming middle schoolers, infusing the message that most Hartford teens don’t use tobacco, so don’t start.

• Over 1,000 Vermont Quit Network brochures were distributed throughout the communities of Royalton, Sharon, and Hartford. The Vermont Quit Network brochure was provide by the Vermont Department of Health and describes 3 ways people can access tobacco cessation assistance: by phone – the Vermont Quit Line; on the internet – the Vermont Quit Net; and in person – connecting to a Vermont hospital or community cessation program.

• Health Connections’ Tobacco Coalition continues to meet on a quarterly basis at the Turning Point Club in Norwich/Wilder. The Coalition had applied for a Vermont Department of Health Community Tobacco Control grant, but due to budget cuts, no new applicants were funded. The Coalition brings together a wide group of social service organizations, hospitals, and community members interested in community based tobacco prevention education, increasing awareness of the health hazards of secondhand smoke, and offering tobacco cessation classes so that more adults can attempt to quit.
  
  Obesity

• Health Connections’ Fit & Healthy Coalition for Sharon and Royalton met monthly throughout the year to complete its community level assessment of physical activity and healthy nutrition. The Coalition reviewed the Center for Disease Control & Prevention’s list of community strategies to prevent obesity. The Coalition organized a community forum to garner community input as to which strategies should be implemented. Four strategies were selected: 1) Increase opportunities for extracurricular physical activities, 2) Increase availability of healthier foods in public service venues, 3) improve availability of affordable healthier foods and beverages, and 4) Improve the availability of mechanisms to for purchasing foods from farms. A work plan has been developed to implement activities for each of the strategies above.

• At Family Fun Day at the South Royalton School, Health Connections spoke to every elementary school class about healthy nutrition and shared the “Fizzics of Soda” with each student to discourage drinking soda, a main contributor to youth obesity and to drink unsweetened beverages instead, like water and skim milk.

• Health Connections sponsored a spring community meal hosted by Royalton Roots, a group whose mission is to increase the amount of locally grown food used in the South Royalton School’s cafeteria and to educate the general public on the importance of supporting local farmers and local food systems. 20 + local farms contributed food, 2 local chefs donated their time to make an exquisite dinner for more than 170 people. Live music and a silent auction topped off the evening. $1,500 was raised for the purpose of purchasing local food for the school’s cafeteria.

Parent Outreach

• Through a grant from the Children’s Trust Foundation, Health Connections has been making parenting resource materials available to Hartford School District parents of preschoolers – 2nd grade, and 7th and 8th grade parents, as well as making parenting resources available in the community for general distribution. During this past year, Health Connections distributed 2,530 “150 Ways to Show Kids You Care” posters, 328 “Your Family: Using Simple Wisdom in raising Your Children”, 239 “Navigating the Teen Years: A Parent’s Handbook for Raising Healthy Teens”, and 3,097 Health Connections’ Parenting Tips Cards.

• The direct distribution of parenting resources was coupled with several other social marketing strategies to strengthen Health Connections’ Positive Parenting Messages. Ads were placed in the “Valley News” and in “It’s Classified”, and public service

  announcements were aired on CATV Channels 8 and 10 to provide repeated visibility. The lead line of both the print ads and the PSAs was “Take Time to Listen, Make Time to Talk, Be Involved”[with your kids’ lives]. When parents are involved and take an active interest in their children’s lives this strengthens family bonds between parent and child and is one of the most important protective factors in ensuring that youth make healthy choices.

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