Health News
- 12 Ky. Schools Recognized For Efforts To Improve Student Health
A dozen Kentucky schools that participate in the Healthy Schools Program have been recognized for creating a culture of health and wellness in their classrooms. Ja'nel Johnson reports for WKMS, Murray State University's radio station. This is...
- Churches Add Fitness Facilities As Part Of Ministry Outreach, Community Service; Louisville's Walnut Street Church Led The Way
More churches are beginning to see health and fitness facilities as potential ministry niches, which can positively influence surrounding communities. Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville was a pioneer, building a six-story health facility...
- County Health Rankings Officials Are Coming To Kentucky Tuesday To Spotlight Local Projects To Improve Community Health
State officials and health leaders will gather April 2 at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort to celebrate Kentucky?s successes in implementing strategies for improving health at the community level, as reflected by the latest edition of County Health...
- One S.c. County Serves As Incubator For State's Efforts To Battle Weight Problems, With Some Good Results
PE teacher Sharon Williams, right, leads morning exercises before classes start at Bells Elementary. (The State photo by Tim Dominick)With nearly two-thirds of South Carolina deemed overweight or worse, lucky Colleton County got picked to be a test case...
- Volunteer State Becoming Salad State? Cdc Report Shows Tennessee Is Getting Less Obese, Leaving U.s.'s Top 10
It can be done. A determined state can move the needle on its obesity numbers. Heidi Hall of The Tennessean reports that widespread efforts to change Tennesseans? diet and exercise habits mean that the state?s percentage of obese residents have dropped...
Health News
Tennessee churches encourage healthier living
Sulphur Wells Church of Christ in Henry County, Tennessee, a few miles away from Paris, Ky., is challenging people to eat and think healthier, Amber Hall reports for Public Radio International.
Bob Palmer, lead pastor at the church, said, "We do draw some hard lines on alcohol and tobacco use and tattoos?we think, 'Oh, you're not taking care of the our temple that God has given you.'" He said the church hasn't looked at the issue holistically. "We've just kind of picked out the things we weren't going to do anyway, and we feel self-righteous about that?that we don't do them."
Then Palmer saw the County Health Rankings, a project by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that measures health risks, Hall writes. He said that "when we confirm someone's spiritual health and give them a thumbs up and an A-OK, that's often the end of the rehabilitation process." However, he said if he were outside the church and had only the health indicator numbers to look at, "it might make me run in the opposite direction."
In Tennessee, the Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness is helping groups such as churches improve health in evangelical hubs through the "Healthier Tennessee" initiative, which is a "wellness program and an online wellness tool that provides faith leaders with tips, ideas and actions to get their members healthier," Molly Sudderth, the director of communications at the foundation, said.
One of the suggestions is called Walk and Worship. "You can walk and pray for those you feel need extra prayers or are going through difficulties . . ." said Barabara Kelly, a public-health educator.
About 150 churches statewide are participating in Healthier Tennessee's "Small Starts" program, but none of the churches in Henry County have joined yet. Palmer said "there could be some stigma tied to healthy living in this largely conservative area," Hall writes.
"Right-wing religious folk have kinda viewed that as 'liberal' thinking," Palmer told him. "But that hasn't been correct, I don't think. At all. Just read through early Genesis, and the very first commission that God gives anyone is to essentially take care of this created world. We don't talk about that very often for some reason?to our detriment, and these numbers reflect that." (Read more)
- 12 Ky. Schools Recognized For Efforts To Improve Student Health
A dozen Kentucky schools that participate in the Healthy Schools Program have been recognized for creating a culture of health and wellness in their classrooms. Ja'nel Johnson reports for WKMS, Murray State University's radio station. This is...
- Churches Add Fitness Facilities As Part Of Ministry Outreach, Community Service; Louisville's Walnut Street Church Led The Way
More churches are beginning to see health and fitness facilities as potential ministry niches, which can positively influence surrounding communities. Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville was a pioneer, building a six-story health facility...
- County Health Rankings Officials Are Coming To Kentucky Tuesday To Spotlight Local Projects To Improve Community Health
State officials and health leaders will gather April 2 at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort to celebrate Kentucky?s successes in implementing strategies for improving health at the community level, as reflected by the latest edition of County Health...
- One S.c. County Serves As Incubator For State's Efforts To Battle Weight Problems, With Some Good Results
PE teacher Sharon Williams, right, leads morning exercises before classes start at Bells Elementary. (The State photo by Tim Dominick)With nearly two-thirds of South Carolina deemed overweight or worse, lucky Colleton County got picked to be a test case...
- Volunteer State Becoming Salad State? Cdc Report Shows Tennessee Is Getting Less Obese, Leaving U.s.'s Top 10
It can be done. A determined state can move the needle on its obesity numbers. Heidi Hall of The Tennessean reports that widespread efforts to change Tennesseans? diet and exercise habits mean that the state?s percentage of obese residents have dropped...