Central Susquehanna Valley Wellness Trails Partnership

We are replicating our highly successful Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership in Columbia and Montour Counties by creating the Central Susquehanna Valley Wellness Trails Partnership. Geisinger Health System and the Central Susquehanna Foundation are major partners in this initiative.

Background:

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Northeast Regional Office, in partnership with the National Park Service created the Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership in Luzerne County. This new partnership of health care organizations and the local trails community was formed to promote physical activity through the use of the developing trail system in the Wyoming Valley. Since the inception of the Partnership, the partnership's mission has expanded to include promotion of active living (per guidance from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation).

Geisinger Health System, a key partner in the Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership, has recognized that many of the health related issues facing the Wyoming Valley area are also present in the Columbia County and Montour County service areas. In these areas, 64% of the population is overweight and 35% is obese. Heart disease, diabetes and hypertension resulting from obesity and a lack of physical activity constitute a major health related issue facing this community.

Project Goals:

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, in conjunction with Geisinger Health System, PA DCNR, Central Susquehanna Community Foundation funded by the Berwick Health & Wellness Fund, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity (PANA), the Danville Area Community Center, Weis Markets Healthy Bites, Columbia/Montour Tapestry of Health, and the Berwick Area YMCA would like to replicate and build upon the successes of the Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership by creating such a program in Columbia and Montour County.

The Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity ("PANA"), a partnership with the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Recreation and Parks Society, is currently implementing the Keystone Active Zone, a campaign to promote close-to-home parks and trails as great places for physical activity. The goals of the Central Susquehanna Valley Wellness Trails Partnership include major components of the PANA campaigns and this proposed Partnership will work closely with PANA and state agencies.

Major milestones/successes to date:

PEC, PA DCNR, Geisinger Health Systems, Central Susquehanna Community Foundation funded by the Berwick Health & Wellness Fund, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity (PANA), the Danville Area Community Center, Weis Markets Healthy Bites, Columbia/Montour Tapestry of Health, and the Berwick Area YMCA have joined together to encourage children to be active by utilizing the Keystone Active Zone Passport brochures that were created by PEC, which lists local parks and special events that you and your child can visit over the summer. PEC created and distributed over 1600 Passport Maps to six (6) elementary schools to encourage students to engage in physical activity over the summer months These Passports were effective tools for marketing local recreational facilities and promoting physical activity of school aged children during the summer break by utilizing existing trails, parks and recreational facilities.

Current/upcoming plans:

The Steering Committee will be developing an Action Plan that will be the guide book for how the partnership wants to promote physical activity at area parks and trails over the next 3-5 years. In order to accomplish this, a set of priorities and goals must be established and a set of specific action items should be identified. There will be two (2) end products for this task. The first product is a marketing document modeled on the Stepping Forward Action Plan that was created for the Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Project. The second product is a detailed listing of the specific projects that the partnership wants to conduct over the next 3-5 years to implement the mission of promoting physical activity at area parks and trails. An example action item was implementing the PANA Keystone Active Zone passport program in all schools in Columbia and Montour Counties.

Attachment	Size
Columbia County Passport.pdf	299.63 KB
Montour County Passport.pdf	310.56 KB
Passport Letter to Parents Columbia.pdf	624.16 KB

Central Susquehanna Valley Wellness Trails Partnership

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