Health and Wellness Coalition Sets Priorities
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Members of the Perry County Health and Wellness Coalition voted on their top three priorities, but ended with five. The coalition is made up of interested individuals from Perry County and the region.
The top priorities were:
1. Obesity
2. (tie) Cardiovascular Disease and Mental Health
3. (tie) Nutrition and teaching children about healthy lifestyles
"Just because these are our top priorities doesn't mean we won't work on other issues if the opportunity arises," Health Department Director Jodi Schoen said.
Schoen conducted the meeting and is on the steering committee for the coalition which held its first meeting in September.
In all, 14 people attended the meeting Thursday at the Pinckneyville Community Hospital. They were: Schoen, Pinckneyville Fire Chief Jim Gielow, Child Advocacy Center Director Betti Mucha, Marshall Browning Hospital employees- Debbie Hill, Pam Harris and Danny Kirk, Dist. 300 School Nurse Chrissy Harsy, Brenda Hill of the Perry County Counseling Center, State Dietitian Brenda Green, Marti Rider of Doc Z's Fitness/Zimmerman Chiropractic, Certified Lean Coach Carol Bastien, Sara Tanner of Motivation Fitness, Caleb Nehring of the American Cancer Society and Lisa Wait of the American Red Cross Little Egypt Division for Disaster Health and Safety.
Schoen, Nehring, Debbie Hill, Harris and Rider serve on the steering committee for the organization.
Each brings a different perspective to the table and has various programs in the works such as health fairs, school programs, the upcoming colorectal cancer screening drive-through at Marshall Browning and other public awareness campaigns.
The coalition will support local health and wellness programs and band together with other coalitions through Connect SI to qualify for funding for other local and regional projects.
Anyone interested in joining the coalition may contact Schoen at 357-5371.
At the next meeting of the coalition, subcommittees to work on specific priorities will be formed.