Introduction
Wellness is an active, lifelong process of becoming aware of choices and making decisions toward a more balanced and fulfilling life. Healthy People 2010 is a national agenda for reducing the most significant preventable threats to health. It challenges all of us to take the first step to enjoying good health and a long life. It aims to reduce the major health burdens created by obesity, diabetes, asthma, cancer, heart disease and stroke. It addresses related lifestyle choices of poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and tobacco use, as well as youth risk-taking behavior.
Rural Healthy People 2010 focuses on the health challenges faced by rural Americans. The primary goal of this project is to identify and address the priority health concerns of rural America.
Poor diet, physical inactivity, and tobacco use are the major preventable causes of death in the United States. With the increasing health problems related to poor lifestyle choices, there is an emphasis on wellness programs and disease prevention. Wellness and disease prevention are particularly issues for rural areas, which have higher rates of elderly individuals, higher poverty rates, and limited access to health care facilities to provide care and health education.
Tools
Active Living by Design
Web site
Is a national program that establishes innovative approaches to increase physical activity through community design, public policies and communications strategies. Is funding 25 community partnerships across the country to demonstrate how changing community design will impact physical activity.
Foundation Funding Guide: Adolescent Health, Positive Youth Development
Web site
Lists state and national foundations with an interest in adolescent health and youth development.
Foundation Funding Guide: Child and Adolescent Nutrition and Physical Activity
Web site
Lists state and national foundations with an interest in child and adolescent nutrition and physical activity.
Healthfinder
Database
Has been recognized as a key resource for finding the best government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet. Links to carefully selected information and web sites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.
Healthy People 2010
Web site
Healthy People 2010 is a set of health objectives for the Nation to achieve over the first decade of the new century. It can be used by many different people, States, communities, professional organizations, and others to help them develop programs to improve health.
Healthy People 2010 Toolkit
Web site
Provides guidance, technical tools, and resources to help states, territories, and tribes develop and promote successful state-specific Healthy People 2010 plans.
MedlinePlus: Healthy Living
Web site
Contains a variety of wellness resources including latest news, overviews, screening, health check tools, nutrition, and related issues.
Rural Health Research: Health promotion and disease prevention
Web site
Provides summaries of current and completed rural health research projects and related publications addressing the topic of health promotion and disease prevention, produced by the Office of Rural Health Policy's funded rural health research centers.
Rural Healthy People 2010: Volumes 1, 2, 3
Web site
Includes links to the publication including Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Volume 1 contains brief overviews of the top rural health priority areas as well as associated Models for Practice. Volume 2 contains in-depth literature reviews for each of the top rural health priority areas. Volume 3 contains overviews, literature reviews, and accompanying models for practice for new focus areas.
Steps to a HealthierUS
Web site
An initiative that advances the HealthierUS goal of helping Americans live longer, better, and healthier lives. Through the CDC, the Steps initiative operates a cooperative agreement program office that provides funding to 40 communities nationwide to support evidence-based community interventions.
Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Around the Country: California Dancing to Deter Diabetes
Author(s): Hope Hanson
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Discusses the Reach Out Program in rural Lake County, California which uses exercise and dancing to help promote diabetic education.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08 / 2005
Corporate Wellness Makes a Bottom-Line Difference: The Cost Benefit of Worksite Wellness
Sponsoring organization: Wellness Councils of America
Describes specific examples of the cost benefits of corporations which have worksite wellness programs.
Creating Healthy States: Actions for Governors
Sponsoring organization: National Governor's Association
Identified three important venues including communities, worksites, and schools where wellness programs can influence the nation's health. State governors can facilitate healthy choices in communities, implement model programs and policies at public and private worksites, and use the public education system to improve child nutrition and physical fitness.
Date: 2006
Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity? Examining the Evidence
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Discusses the role of the built environment, including buildings, roads, parks, and other structures that physically define a community, in physical activity.
Date: 01 / 2005
Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 2007: Recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Provides recommendations on screening, counseling, and preventive medication topics and includes clinical considerations for each topic. Recommendations are organized for quick reference and easy searching.
Date: 09 / 2007
Healthy America: Wellness Where We Live, Work and Learn
Sponsoring organization: National Governor's Association
Highlights the simple yet specific behavioral and lifestyle changes necessary for sustainable long-term health and wellness for children, teenagers, adults and seniors.
Healthy Community Design: Success Stories from State and Local Leaders
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Discusses the role community leaders can play in supporting active living. Includes profiles of successful community, state and regional efforts that encourage exercise.
Date: 12 / 2004
Healthy Schools for Healthy Kids
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Identifies opportunities for increasing children's physical activity and healthy eating in schools nationwide. Includes an investigation of relevant policies and programs.
Date: 2003
Lessons Learned: Promoting Physical Activity at the Community Level
Author(s): Janet Heroux
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Examines 25 projects funded by RWJF to promote walking, biking and other activities and offers 12 lessons learned.
Date: 09 / 2005
Making Places for Healthy Kids: An Environmental Scan of Places Designed for Children to be Active
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Examines eight efforts to make changes to the built environment that create opportunities for children to be more physically active in their daily lives, such as completing sidewalks for safe routes to school, building parks conducive to children's play and planting urban gardens to promote regular exercise and healthy eating.
Native American Kids 2000: Indian Child Well-Being Indicators
Author(s): Charlotte Goodluck, Angela Willeto
Sponsoring organization: National Indian Child Welfare Association
Discusses the needs of Indian children through the National Indian Children's Alliance.
Date: 12 / 2000
Prevention 2000: Moving Effective Prevention Programs into Practice
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Identifies a range of conclusions and recommendations compiled at an October 2000 symposium focusing on advancing the prevention of alcohol, tobacco and other drug problems in the United States.
Date: 09 / 2001
Preventive Care: A National Profile on Use, Disparities, and Health Benefits
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Report demonstrates that there is significant underuse of effective preventive care in the United States, resulting in lost lives, unnecessary poor health, and inefficient use of health care dollars.
Date: 08 / 2007
Resource Guide for Nutrition and Physical Activity Interventions to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Resource guide for nutrition and physical activity programs to prevent and control obesity and other chronic diseases. Topics cover obesity prevention and control, increased physical activity, improved nutrition, and reduced television time.
Rural Healthy People 2010: Educational and Community Based Programs in Rural Areas: A Literature Review
Author(s): Larry Gamm, Graciela Castillo, Lisa Williams
Sponsoring organization: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Detailed literature review of rural health issues associated with the Healthy People 2010 focus area on educational and community-based programs.
Date: 01 / 2005
Rural Healthy People 2010: A Companion Document to Healthy People 2010. Volume 1
Author(s): Larry D. Gamm, Linnae L. Hutchison, Betty J. Dabney, Alicia M. Dorsey, eds.
Sponsoring organization: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Brief overviews of the top rural health concerns and objectives associated with Healthy People 2010 focus areas, references to key literature about these concerns, and descriptions of models for practice that rural communities can draw upon to achieve key Healthy People 2010 objectives.
Date: 2003
Rural Healthy People 2010: A Companion Document to Healthy People 2010. Volume 2
Author(s): Larry D. Gamm, Linnae L. Hutchison, Betty J. Dabney, Alicia M. Dorsey, eds.
Sponsoring organization: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Detailed literature reviews and associated references for the top rural health concerns addressed in Vol. 1 of Rural Healthy People 2010.
Date: 2003
Rural Healthy People 2010: A Companion Document to Healthy People 2010. Volume 3
Author(s): Larry D. Gamm, Linnae L. Hutchison, eds.
Sponsoring organization: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Addresses several rural health concerns and objectives not covered in Volumes 1 and 2 of Rural Healthy People 2010. Includes overviews, literature reviews, and accompanying models for practice for four rural health topics.
Date: 02 / 2005
Rural Kids Need Message that Smoking Isn't so Popular
Rural teenagers smoke more than their city cousins, but a new survey of Iowa seventh-graders suggests that keeping small-town and farm kids from first lighting up may hinge on teaching parents to send anti-smoking messages to their kids.
Date: 07 / 2003
State Employee Wellness Initiatives
Sponsoring organization: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
An issue brief which highlights wellness and prevention programs that several governors have implemented in their states in the last few years.
Date: 06 / 2005
Taking Steps to Restore Tribal Fitness
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Discusses the Enhancing a Community Through Physical Activity project at the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Reservation Tribal Wellness Center near Plummer, Idaho.
Journal citation: Advances Issue 1 Pages: 8
Date: 2004
Violence and Rural Teens: Teen Violence, Drug Use, and School-Based Prevention Services in Rural America (Executive Summary)
Author(s): Michael D. Mink, Charity G. Moore, Andy Johnson, Janice C. Probst, Amy Martin
Sponsoring organization: South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
Describes a study which had three main purposes: (1) to explore the prevalence of violence-related
exposures and drug use among rural teens, (2) to investigate the effects of race and gender on the
risk of exposure to violence and drug use, and (3) to compare the policies and mental health care
services of rural and urban schools.
Date: 03 / 2005
We Walk Many Together
Author(s): Leonard Wells
Sponsoring organization: National Resource Center on Native American Aging
Discusses a voluntary walking and exercise program for Elders with the White Earth Band of Ojibwa.
Journal citation: Native Aging Visions Volume 4 Issue 2 Pages: 2
Date: 11 / 2004
Organizations
Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Nationwide initiative dedicated to improving the health and educational performance of children through better nutrition and physical activity in schools. Provides tools and resources to support healthy schools.
American Public Health Association (APHA)
National organization
Works to influence policies and set priorities in public health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Federal government
Lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people at home and abroad. Work includes disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.
National Rural Health Association (NRHA)
National organization
Promotes leadership, ideas, information, communication, education, research, advocacy, and methods to improve rural health. Composed of individual and organizational members who share a common interest in rural health.
Wellness Councils of America (Welcoa)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Was founded in 1987 as a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting healthier life styles for all Americans, especially through health promotion initiatives at the worksite.
