Purpose
Health promotion programs focus on keeping people healthy. The goals of these programs are to engage and empower individuals and communities to choose healthy behaviors and make changes that reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and other morbidities. Wellness is related to health promotion. Wellness is defined as the attitudes and active decisions made by an individual that contribute to positive health behaviors and outcomes.
Health promotion activities involve:
• Communication: Raising awareness about healthy behaviors for the community. Examples of communication strategies include public service announcements, health fairs, mass media campaigns, and newsletters.
• Education: Empowering behavior change and actions through increased knowledge. Examples of health education strategies include courses, training, and support groups.
• Policy, Systems, and Environment: Making systematic changes – through improved laws, rules, and regulations (policy), functional organizational components (systems), and economic, social, or physical environment – to encourage, make available, and enable healthy choices.
Community Involvement
• Purple Power Play
• Bike Month Events
• Riley County Health Fair
• Riley County Flu Clinics
• Manhattan Farmers Market
• Riley County Okt-FLU-ber Fest
• Flint Hills Wellness Coalition
• Food and Farm Council
• Various advisory boards pertaining to health and wellness in our community