Karen Daniels’ husband used to fly airplanes and would sometimes remind her that velocity is irrelevant without direction.
Daniels, vice president of nursing services at Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapids, references this principle in describing her community’s past efforts at improving the health and well-being of its residents.
It distresses the people of Halifax County to be ranked 99th in the state for health outcomes (ahead of only Columbus County) in the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation’s 2014 County Ranking’s & Roadmaps. People were doing good things. Halifaxians have always been eager to help one another out, Daniels said, and a number of organizations and clusters of citizens were taking their own measures toward improved community health.
Getting area young people thinking and feeling healthier is the focus of a collaboration between two Roanoke Valley entities wanting to better the community.
Hoping to help community health leaders reach youth and influence their eating and activity habits more effectively, officials with the Roanoke Valley Community Health Initiative are partnering with Youth Empowered Solutions to host a free training program for adults who work with youth. Youth Empowered Solutions is a Raleigh-based organization that aims to create positive changes in communities by working with area young people and adults.
The goal of the program is to motivate youth groups to get involved with area health initiatives and bring their ideas to the table on how to promote healthy habits among their peers, according to Aidil Hill, team lead at Youth Empowered Solutions.
Efforts to reduce childhood obesity and improve the overall health of Halifax and Northampton county residents continue with the added component of a new initiatives that encompass a wide cross-section of the areas.