Wednesday's Internet Edition, September 08, 2010.
$4.5 million grant
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By JIM COOPER
Editor -
Roane County is among several counties that could benefit from $4.5 million in federal stimulus funds dedicated to promoting community wellness.
The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Dept. was awarded the grant as part of a program called Communities Putting Prevention to Work.
“This is the largest competitive grant awarded to West Virginia,” Dick Wittberg, executive director of the MOVHD said during a press conference Friday at Bicentennial Park in Parkersburg.
Counties in the MOVHD service area – Roane, Calhoun, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt and Wood – will benefit from funds that support public health initiatives. Those include reducing obesity, increasing physical activity, improving nutrition and decreasing smoking.
The money will be spent in the six counties over a two-year period, equaling just over $16 per person.
Wittberg said plans include using the funds on wellness activities and the institution of policies such as menu labeling.
The MOVHD and W.Va. Dept. of Health and Human Resources will work with grocery stores, farmers markets, schools and booster organizations to promote wellness policies relating to physical activity and nutrition.
About two dozen new jobs could be created through the programs, according to the MOVHD. The positions are expected to include the addition of some physical education teachers in schools.
The local grant is among 44 nationwide sharing $372.8 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
“Our most important goal is to use the money to create a lasting change,” Wittberg told The Parkersburg News.
