Community Wellness and Safety
Why is this important?
Often times wellness and safety are addressed solely by health
organizations and law enforcement agencies, but in reality community
wellness and safety can effect many facets of the community including
schools, economy, and overall livability. Due to the generational
passing of at-risk behaviors relating to drugs, alcohol and crime,
strategies in this section will have to address the issue on all
fronts, both youth and adult. Furthermore, this collaborative approach
will have to be embraced community wide for success to be possible.
How is Park Rapids doing?
The physical health of this community
could be much better. We
have developed some bad habits that have contributed to high overweight
and obese rates. Since obesity is a good indicator of other major
health problems like heart disease and diabetes, this measure suggest
we ought to take action to address this.
click on image to see larger view |
“The
good news is that we are close to the state average. The
bad news is...were so close to the state average.”
-Progress Park Rapids Steward |
| Overweight
or Obese. Overweight is indicated by a Body Mass Index
(BMI) of 24.0 to 29.9. Obese is indicated by a BMI greater
than or equal to 30.0. Although Hubbard County is slightly
below the state average when it comes to this measure, we
still have 38.2% of the population overweight and 24.5% obese. |
click on image to see larger view |
| Source: Minnesota
Department of Health, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System |
Our youth are developing poor habits. When it comes to youth drinking
and smoking, the Park Rapids community has a substantially higher
amount of students who are participating in these at-risk behaviors.
These trends carry over into adulthood and are leading indicators
of health issues in the future.
click on image to see larger view
Source:
Minnesota Student Survey, 2004 |
Smoking
Heavily includes students who reported smoking
tobacco 20 or more days in the last 30 days.
Binge Drinking is categorized
by a student having 5 or more drinks in a row on at least
one occasion in the past 2 weeks.
Students in Hubbard county report drinking rates
10% higher and smoking rates 6% higher than the state
average. Hubbard county has substantially higher
rates when compared to other counties with lake and
pine communities similar to Park Rapids. |
|
Our crime rates should be a concern. Given the seasonal influx
of tourists, the large service area of the community and our socioeconomic
demographics, our crime rates are not unexpected. That does not
mean, however, that we should be complacent about them.
 What can we do about this?
- Enhance our existing partnership
for health. Healthy Park Rapids
2010 is already doing some remarkable things, but the size of
the community’s health issues demand broad community
engagement. Possible projects that could result from this would
be a community-wide weight loss challenge, an active living initiative,
and an effort to make Park Rapids more pedestrian friendly.
- Make the work of the Hubbard
Youth Drug and Alcohol Task Force a centerpiece in this community. Intervention
at this level pays so many long-term dividends.
- Provide alternative positive
activity to reduce the frequency of sedentary life styles. The ongoing discussions about a community
center could be a key component of a strategy. There are other
initiatives that also deserve attention: Rice Park improvements,
increasing the bike and pedestrian trail system in the community,
and increasing the summer outdoor recreation programs. (See the
Livability section of this report for more about parks,
trails and outdoor recreation)
How to get involved….
There will be a number of organizations who will work towards
success
on the strategies outlined above. If you would like to get involved
contact the following people:
Human Achievement & Performance
Academy (HAPA)
Click here to visit
HAPA’s website
Tina Eichens
Executive Director
hapa@arvig.net
218-237-4114
203 2nd St. W.
PO Box 853
Park Rapids, MN 56470
http://www.hapalifeskills.org
Healthy Park Rapids 2010
Chris Broeker
Public Health Director, Hubbard County
chrisbroeker@catholichealth.net
218-237-5471
School District 309 Community Education
Click here to
visit Community Ed’s website.
Jill Dickenson
Community Education Director
218-237-6606
301 Huntsinger Ave.
Park Rapids, MN 56470
http://parkrapids.registryinsight.com/ittrium/visit?path=A1x4180x1x78
Introduction | People
and Talent | Economics
and Prosperity | Community
Wellness and Safety | Livability
Social Capital and Community Readiness | How
to Get Involved | Sources
and Links
|
