142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

305878
Grimes County Physical Activity and Community Engagement (PACE) Project: Increasing Access to Physical Activity in Rural Populations

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Billie Castle , Center for Community Health Development, Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
Whitney Garney, MPH , Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Monica Wendel, Dr.P.H., M.A. , School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, TX
Angela Alaniz, BA , Center for Community Health Development, School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
Monique Ingram, M.P.H. , Center for Community Health Development, Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
Vicky Jackson , Grimes St. Joseph Health Center, Navasota, TX
Lara Meece , Grimes County Health Resource Commission, Navasota, TX
Background: Grimes County, a small rural county in central Texas, has an overweight/obesity rate of more than 80 percent of the population. In addition, in a recent health assessment residents identified access to safe places to be physically activity (23.7%) and lack of recreational activities (22.8%) as two of the top ten community issues in the county. Methods: To address these issues, the Grimes County Health Resource Commission partnered with the Center for Community Health Development, a Prevention Research Center at Texas A&M Health Science Center, to initiate the Physical Activity and Community Engagement (PACE) project. The project created a workgroup of local community-members to plan and implement activities to increase access to physical activity. Results: The workgroup  implemented three activities: 1) coordinate current physical activity resources in the county; 2) link programs with venues within the county; and 3) increase the number of exercise opportunities available for seniors. As a result, Zumba classes were expanded to different venues with the community, lay leaders were trained to deliver the evidence-based program Texercise, and two Texercise classes were implemented with senior populations. A total of 30 participants were reached throughout the workgroup’s efforts. Conclusion: The presence of the PACE workgroup has encouraged local residents to get physical active, brought recognition to current physical activity options available, and locally sustained its activities.

Learning Areas:

Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
Describe how a rural community organized to address the local issue of obesity through increasing physical activity options. Describe a sustainable plan that promotes community ownership of an intervention. Discuss a community’s approach to bringing a lasting change.

Keyword(s): Physical Activity, Community Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am co-investigator on the project. I also had the opportunity to complete my practicum (internship) with the Grimes County Health Resource Commission, so I lead the planning, implementation, collection and interpretation of data. This project is assisting in my interest of observing community capacity.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.