A state-wide report on ways to battle obesity uses two western Kentucky programs as examples for other communities.
The Partnership for a Fit Kentucky credits the Hopkinsville-Christian County Farmers Market for allowing purchases with Electronic Benefit Transfers (or EBT) for low income shoppers and Madisonville’s city employee wellness plan which is a fitness program incorporated into the workday. The report's author Anita Courtney says the report can be a help to anyone who wishes to impact their community...
"Replicability is what we’re after here. And in fact the report is designed that way." said Courtney. She continue, "It has advice from the program champions; it’s got selling points so if you wanted to go to your city government or your farmer’s market, we have very concise bullets that you could go and say, this is the reason this is a good idea”
80% of men, 60% of women, and 33% of children in the Commonwealth are overweight or obese. Courtney says all of the measures mentioned in the report, entitled Shaping Kentucky’s Future are strongly recommended if the state is going to bring those numbers down. Click here for the full report.
