KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON - Today, community partners were joined by Public Health - Seattle & King County in announcing a new $965,340 grant award from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The grant, part of HHS' Steps to a HealthierUS program, will support the first year of community-level activities in King County covering the areas of asthma, diabetes, obesity, nutrition, physical activity and tobacco.
."We are very excited that our region has been selected for this grant to prevent disease and promote healthy living," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "We will be able to continue to develop and implement our innovative programs and services throughout the county that make an enormous difference in people's lives."
"This grant will provide our community with the resources to take comprehensive and integrated approaches to preventing disease where people live, work and learn," said Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of Public Health - Seattle & King County. "Locally we have serious health disparities, and with this grant we will be able to focus on the communities with greatest needs in south Seattle and King County."
The area of focus for this federal grant includes the southern part of Seattle and adjacent communities in south King County, including Renton, Highline, SeaTac, Burien, Tukwila, Des Moines, Normandy Park, White Center and Boulevard Park. Over 350,000 people live in the target area, which is disproportionately affected by poverty, language barriers and adverse health conditions compared to other parts of the county.
King County was one of the seven urban areas chosen out of more than 80 applications for this flagship program. Funding for the subsequent four years may total an additional $12 million. The King County project is one of 12 urban areas and states nationally receiving $13.7 million this year to support local initiatives to promote better health and prevent disease.
Washington is the only state in the country to receive both state coordinated and large cities awards. "Prevention is a cornerstone of public health," said Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky. "These grants are an important step in helping us gain ground against the ravages of some of our most common chronic diseases and health conditions."
King County activities
"We plan to build on current efforts by carrying out a wide range of integrated interventions in schools, workplaces, clinics and other settings," said Dr. Jim Krieger, Chief of Public Health's Epidemiology, Planning and Evaluation Unit and grant lead for King County. "We can help individuals stay healthy only if we make our communities healthy places to work and play and we have opportunities to enjoy healthy food, live in healthy homes, engage in physical activity, and breathe healthy air free of tobacco smoke and other pollutants."
Examples of interventions include:
- supporting students in becoming more physically active by biking to school and having more after-school activities
- assisting people with asthma and diabetes in practicing the skills to keep themselves well, and working with medical providers in improving the quality of care in these areas
- having community health workers visit homes to help families remove asthma triggers
- holding chronic disease classes and support groups in the community
- carrying out a media campaign to promote healthy activities
- supporting church members who will assist their peers in making healthy choices
There are already local coalitions that provide a strong basis for further developing and sustaining interventions. Coalitions include the King County Asthma Forum with 70 active organizational members, REACH 2010 (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) an 86-member CDC-funded community-based coalition focusing on eliminating diabetes-related disparities, and the King County Physical Activity Coalition that advocates for and supports initiatives promoting physical activity.
"Schools have noticed an increase in the children affected by the issues of obesity, diabetes and asthma. This STEPS grant will help fund programs that will help students, staff and families prevent and deal with these health concerns," said Debby Englund, Health Coordinator for the Tukwila School District. "Programs that focus on increased physical activities, nutrition and wellness education as well as physical health care will help develop healthy students which leads to improved educational outcomes."
"The Healthy Steps grant is an unprecedented opportunity for the residents of King County to begin to participate in this struggle against asthma by uniting forces with all the other strong community based coalitions addressing chronic disease," said Robin Evans-Agnew, Program Director for the American Lung Association of Washington and member of the King County Asthma Forum.
"We are delighted to be part of such an exciting opportunity to affect lasting change in personal behavior and the physical environments that will impact the health of south King County residents," said Linda Schwartz, Commuting Programs Director for the Bicycle Alliance of Washington and a member of the King County Physical Activity Coalition.
