The Parks and Recreation profession is a key partner and critical to the success of improving the health of our communities. Healthy Lifestyles is a core value of our profession and promoting Health and Wellness is one of our missions according to the Creating Community VIP Action Plan, the park and recreation profession’s statewide strategic plan. As governmental entities, we have many resources and relationships already in place. We have the infrastructure to support programs and services with our parks and facilities; trusted relationships with the community through positive personal interactions in our programs and services; experience and ability to successfully do community outreach; existing programs facilitate improved health and wellness and an easy ability to infuse health and wellness curriculum into existing programs; existing collaborations with schools, counties, hospitals and other community health and resource agencies and internal relationships with community development, engineering and transportation and public works to work towards improving the community’s physical environment to support health and wellness. WOW! We can do so much! We are set to go!

Many of us want to and know we should be part of the solution to creating a healthier environment and healthier lifestyles, but become frozen in place because we don’t know where to start. The problems seem so overwhelming. On the global level, where do we start? What can we do? On the local level, how do we engage our staff? How do we get political support? How do we get support from stakeholders and the community? How can we afford to promote Health and Wellness when so many of us have been reducing our budgets? Hopefully this article will give you enough recommendations and resources that you will be inspired to move forward.

How To Get Started

I am going to share my experience with you and tell you how I got started. It worked for the City of San Leandro and it can work for your agency as well! First, go to the CPRS Web site and download the VIP Action Plan Tool “Leading to Promote Health and Wellness” (www.cprs.org/membersonly/Health&Wellness.pdf). Read through it. It’s a tool; take from it what works for you. I will share the parts most useful to me in developing a Health and Wellness Plan for the San Leandro Recreation and Human Services department.

The Agency Vision

An agency vision on health and wellness enables you to make decisions that ensure your resources support your goal. When decisions are being made about who to partner with, how to allocate staff time, where to direct your minimal fiscal resources, it is important to go back to the vision and say, “does this support where we want to go?” After reviewing and discussing it with staff, we chose to use CPRS’ health and wellness vision and adapt it for our department. Our health and wellness vision is:

The San Leandro Recreation and Human Services Department will be known as the agency that strives to educate the public about how they can achieve health and wellness and as the provider or partner in developing programs that support health and wellness.

Each agency is different and whether you adapt CPRS’ vision or develop one for your agency will depend on what you and the staff decide is best for your agency. I will reiterate that having a health and wellness vision is a good foundation and one that staff and I go back to often to make sure decisions are aligned with our vision. Having the department determine a vision together is the beginning of building ownership and commitment from each staff member for the department’s health and wellness plan.

Determining Your Assets

Two of the most useful tools, and the starting point for getting me to move forward on our department’s Health and Wellness Plan, were the Healthy Agency Survey and the Community Health and Fitness Infrastructure Inventory; both found in the VIP “Leading to Promote Health and Wellness” tool. Completing those tools will identify your assets, and areas that need more attention. Once you know the department’s program and service assets, known partners and collaborations and the physical assets you have to support health and wellness, you can determine what you are doing, and more importantly, what you would like to be doing and develop a plan to make it happen.

The Healthy Agency Survey

The Healthy Agency Survey helps determine what you are doing with programs and services and partnerships, and how you can be more health-oriented in serving the public. It is a great way to acknowledge all that you are doing and brainstorm potential partners. When I took the survey myself (thinking I was representing the whole department), the score was in the 11-17 range; which translates into “Be Encouraged.” However, when I had staff complete it at a meeting, as a department we scored in the 29-36 range, “Looking Good”, just one below “True Visionary.” I was pleasantly surprised at how much we were doing as a department. My staff felt very proud of themselves and each other and encouraged about what we were already doing as a department. It was a great start towards staff ownership of their role in developing and incorporating health and wellness in their programs and services and how they could expand that role.

The Community Health and Fitness Infrastructure Inventory Tool

The Healthy Agency Survey helps determine your program and service assets as well as your community partnership strengths and limitations. The Community Health and Fitness Infrastructure Inventory tool identifies the physical assets you manage (and what needs to be improved), which can be marketed to the community, policy makers and potential partners in physical activities and wellness facilities. Once again, to make sure you have the most complete form and to continue to build ownership with your staff, have staff complete the form as a group.

Now that you have determined your assets – what you have, as well as your limitations – and know what you need to successfully incorporate health and wellness into what you offer, it is time to do your outreach. Spread the good news of all of the assets your department has and can offer to the community toward improving healthy lifestyles. In the same letter state the areas at which you are looking for expertise or facilities in order to enhance your ability to improve health and wellness in the community. Also, in the letter, I included a statement that I was “looking to share assets and resources already established as tight finances and the need for cost recovery makes expanding services very difficult.” I was looking at a win-win situation for little to no cost.

Use your assets letter as a marketing piece as well as a way to encourage community partnerships. Send the letter to all policy makers, current and potential partners, stakeholders, public health agencies and hospitals, schools, businesses, religious institutions (they often have gyms!), and the media. This letter is letting everybody know of all of the great things you are doing to support health and wellness in the community; what you can offer to potential partners and what you are looking for from potential partners to enhance your programs and services. Our response from the letter was incredibly positive in that many people and agencies commented on not knowing all that we offered and had available, and it led to new programs and partnerships.

Launching a Successful Partnership

One of the strengths of our profession is our ability to network successfully and work cooperatively with other agencies. As a profession we have learned (sometimes the hard way) that we are not able to provide all services, and working in partnership expands our resources and abilities to meet the needs of the community. The “VIP Leading to Promote” tool identifies many community resources to consider for health and wellness partnerships as well as effective ways to evaluate the benefits of a partnership, and how to set them up successfully.

According to the VIP tool (page 18), some of the most pertinent things to look at when considering a partnership include:

• Is the prospective partner aligned with your agency vision and mission, an opportunity rather than a threat and knowledgeable and experienced in complementary health services?
• Can the partnership help move projects and programs forward by providing access to funding and resources; access to legislative process and policy making; stronger identity for our profession; increased awareness of our profession’s role in health and wellness; expanded networks and linkages to access target audiences and research and data that documents the value of parks and recreation?
• Essential components of partnerships are mutually agreed upon and clearly defined purpose; clearly defined roles, responsibilities and operating procedures, and mutual respect and trust.
  Remember, the obesity epidemic is just as much a community issue as it is a national and state issue. No single profession will single-handedly come up with a cure or a solution. Every possible resource and agency will need to work together to bring a myriad of solutions to improve the health of individuals and the community. Therefore, besides expanding resources and services for your agency and those with whom you are partnering, partnering improves the whole community’s potential success for improving the health of the community.

Policies that Support Physical Activity and Nutrition

According to the surgeon general, children need a minimum of 1 hour of exercise per day and adults should work towards 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week. Parks and recreation agencies offer programs which have kids in programs 8-10 hours a day, daily. What type of program policies or guidelines do you currently have in place regarding the amount of physical activity time? Our agencies commonly serve snacks in programs and sell food at events and in vending machines. What type of nutritional guidelines do you have for your staff?

The key to developing and implementing policies that support physical activity and nutrition is to include staff in the brainstorming. What are we doing? Where can we incorporate new program ideas that support physical activity and nutrition? How can we enhance current programs to include physical activity and nutrition information and promote healthy choices? What supplies do we need? What training does staff need?
After staff has completed a list, talk about the reality of what can be done. Ask staff what policies are priorities and which policies they are willing to be held accountable for implementing. Make a note to check back with the staff every six months and ask how it is going. Be very specific about asking if a certain policy is working and, or being applied. Ask detailed questions. I have been repeatedly pleasantly surprised to not only hear that the policies are being implemented, but other ways healthy choices and information is being added and the great feedback from staff and parents. Policies implemented by SLRHS staff and incorporated into our policies and procedures manual include:

Policies that Promote Physical Activity

• For 1/2 day programs, a minimum of 45 minutes of active physical activity was implemented (broken into no less than 15 minute segments)
• For full day programs, a minimum of 75 minutes of active physical activity will be implemented (broken into no less than 15 minute segments)

During the physical activity time that is the only activity being offered.  Traditionally staff offers a variety of things at one time and let the children choose, but for these specific times everybody goes outside and plays, or watches, alternative choices are not made available. Hopefully staff will be creative and somehow get the children who are not comfortable with physical activity willing to participate in some way.

• Balls, ropes, hula hoops, Frisbees, bats, nets, and all types of equipment should be at all sites to encourage outside play. If staff thinks of some type of equipment that would inspire kids to be more active and have fun, ask your Supervisor if it is possible to purchase the equipment for their site.

Policies that Promote Healthy Eating

• The only choices made available for snack are healthy choices.  The best is fresh fruit and vegetables; nuts and dried fruit; multi grain breads, tortillas and crackers; low fat and no sugar spreads such as hummus, ranch dressing, low-fat cheese spreads are best.
• We will bring in healthy snacks for our meetings and provide healthy snacks when we provide food for meetings.
• We encourage staff to bring healthy lunches if they have an all day camp, or need to bring food to camp.  For example, we ask they not bring fast food and soda to work, maintaining a healthy image as role models.
• The following chart gives guidelines for purchasing processed, packaged items when fresh fruit, vegetables and non-packaged foods are not available:

These are the “Not to Exceed” amounts, it is hoped that great efforts will be made to stay below those amounts as much as possible. The ratios used to determine those amounts are the calories from fat not to exceed 30% of total calories; calories from saturated and trans fats not to exceed 10% of total calories and calories from sugar not to exceed 30% of total calories. Snacks that provide protein and fiber as well are desirable.

• Each site will have containers of water.  The only liquid we are serving is water.  Kids will have bottles with their names on it that they can keep at the site and use all day and we’ll have extra in case they lose theirs.
• We will use our programming as a time to incorporate information regarding the benefits of physical activity and healthy eating in arts and crafts projects, games, cooking ideas, themes and relays.
• Our programming will consciously remove the rewarding of food and high sugar/fat treats as prizes and move away from making projects out of food and treats with high fat and sugar.

Engaging Your Staff

Inclusion, mentoring and training are the top three words that comes to my mind as being important in effectively engaging the staff. As in everything we do in our profession, we are only as successful as our whole team. In the first stages of discussing with staff our profession’s and agency’s role in the obesity epidemic, I shared the scary statistics about youth and teens. All of us recognize our role in providing healthy opportunities and services for youth and teens and feel responsible for helping develop strong, healthy children. It also kept the discussion from being personal. It wasn’t about any of us personally, it was all about the kids. But as we continued to talk about what we could be doing for our youth and teens we recognized we could do many of the same things for adults and seniors. Then, internal changes started being made. Staff felt that as a department we should try and be known as the healthiest department. Their excitement about that developed into the City of San Leandro’s Walk for your Health program for City employees.

Training was held where staff learned about the health consequences due to lack of physical activity and poor nutrition. Staff incorporated information from the trainings into their programs and every week at staff meeting somebody would come up with a new idea that they thought would be GREAT to incorporate into our programs, written information and, or office. I think one of the single greatest motivators is positive feedback. Staff was getting so much unsolicited positive feedback from parents and participants about the incorporation of physical activity, healthy choices and other program enhancements. They were surprised and motivated by the positive comments. Many have made personal changes. One part-time person took it upon himself to change what we sell in vending machines at the Community Center. He has taken full ownership of it.

Staff was included in the meetings, trainings and decision-making throughout the process (which is ongoing!). They became excited and the success that our department has had regarding health and wellness is due to the personal ownership each of the staff feels. They recognize and feel good about the impact they are having on people’s lives.

Getting The Word Out

As one of our City Council members always tells me, “Let people know the good things you are doing.” Sometimes we are so busy doing our work we forget to share the good news. For many agencies, the number one communication used is an Activity Guide. I have used the “Director’s Message” for the past two years to list the numerous ways our department is working towards a healthier community. We want to be considered “Health Headquarters” by the community. Every class or program that is physically active or includes nutritional education lists the healthy outcomes from participating in the class. We use tag lines listing the benefits of exercise and nutrition throughout the guide.

The assets letter lets everybody know who you are and what you are doing. As I said, that letter is one of the most important informational pieces your department will ever distribute. Remember, this goes to individuals, agencies, schools, stakeholders, council members, commission members, local legislators, churches and the media. The paybacks are huge politically and throughout the community. A Health and Wellness Fair was developed by the San Leandro Collaborative based on the school district stating that they had read my letter and they were working on health and wellness and thought it appropriate to work together on a fair. Also, in response to the letter, people have called our department asking if they could teach a classes on nutrition for families and exercise for developmentally disabled.

Share resources with the participants in your programs. Send letters home suggesting healthy snack ideas. Let parents know what is appropriate for youth to bring for lunch and snack in order to encourage healthy living. When you read information you feel would be helpful for families, adults and seniors, add a note from your department and have it distributed throughout the appropriate classes and programs. Once again, people will be calling you unsolicited to thank you for what you are doing in the community.

Continually make contact with the media about the health benefits, individually and community-wide, of the programs and events you are advertising. Include copies to the media of the information you are distributing. When our department won an NRPA award for the “Employee Walk for your Health Challenge,” we put photographs in the paper to share the good news. The Mayor and other Council Members also participated in the Challenge and they were thrilled that our City was recognized for contributing to the health of its employees.

Make sure your Council Members hear about the great things going on in your department. San Leandro City Council members are my department’s greatest supporters. They recognize the value of our programs and services. They are proud of the good work we are doing and the collaborative relationships we have in the community. It was not difficult to build political support because they want the good things for the community that we want. They want healthy programs for children, families, adults and seniors. They want facilities that offer opportunities for physical activity and community gatherings that support health lifestyle choices. We need to remember to let them know what we are doing and how they can support us, because that is what they want to do!

Resources

The “VIP Leading to Promote” tool includes an extensive list of resources. You will be amazed and overwhelmed by the amount of information available. Culling the information is a bigger job than finding the information! Also, the CPRS website is a tremendous resource for what is happening statewide and how to get involved.

In conclusion, do something, anything! Print the “VIP Leading to Promote” tool and begin your journey. Use your assets; people, parks and programs, to become part of the solution to a healthier community. Should you have questions or concerns, you are always welcome to contact me at cknudtson@ci.san-leandro.ca.us.