Rice County Public Health Receives SHIP Grant to Boost Local Wellness Efforts

Launched in 2008 as part of Minnesota’s bipartisan health reform effort, SHIP works to help Minnesotans live longer, healthier lives while building healthy, vital communities.  SHIP encourages healthy eating, active living and avoiding tobacco through its work with schools, communities, workplaces, and healthcare facilities to make healthy choices easier.

The 2013 legislature supported SHIP with $35 million for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, thus SHIP funding will be available statewide once again. When SHIP began four years ago, it was implemented statewide; however, in 2012 and 2013 SHIP received a 70 percent cut and SHIP funding was available to only about half the state.

“We are excited that we can continue our work on policy, systems and environmental change, to help improve the health of individuals and families in Rice County,” says Public Health Director Deb Purfeerst.  Rice County Public Health will be able to begin new projects across the county, while continuing its existing community health improvement work, such as: supporting employers in offering comprehensive workplace wellness programs, working with communities to encourage biking and walking, educating child care providers on best practices in healthy eating and activity for Rice County’s youngest residents, and ensuring better access to healthy fruits and vegetables by supporting community gardens and farmers markets.
 
“We know from research that to really make a long-lasting change in the rates of physical activity, healthy eating and tobacco exposure and use, we need to help communities make it easier for their people to succeed,” says Michelle Larson, Interim Director for the Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives, the home for SHIP at MDH. “That is why working with communities has been a cornerstone of SHIP since its inception.”

The Rice County Community Health Board received an “implementation” grant, allowing Rice County Public Health to build on its existing health improvement work. “We are thrilled to continue the work we started four years ago. SHIP has meant a lot to our community, and we know we have only just begun,” says Rice County SHIP Coordinator, Bonnie Story.

For more information on SHIP, go to healthyricecounty.org or health.state.mn.us/ship.

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