Meetings across the state sponsored by K-State Research and Extension brought together more than 250 representatives of nonprofit organizations, government agencies and extension agents and specialists to discuss better coordination in efforts to improve Kansans’ health. Pictured at the Olathe site are: (l.to r.) Crystal Futrell, K-State Research and Extension health and food safety educator in Johnson County, Ashley Kucera, extension SNAP-Ed nutrition educator, and Karen Hanson with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. | Download this photo.
Extension boosts efforts to make Kansans healthier
K-State brings state agencies, nonprofits and others together to pool resources
April 5, 2018
OLATHE, Kan. – For many years, K-State Research and Extension educators in communities across the state have taught classes and spearheaded programs focused on getting and keeping Kansans healthy. Now they’re upping their game.
“We can do for Americans’ health what we did for agriculture in the last century,” said Paula Peters, assistant director of family and consumer sciences with K-State Research and Extension.
In a series of meetings Kansas State University organized across Kansas in late March, extension agents and specialists came together with community partners including health departments, nonprofit organizations and other agencies to discuss health-related needs in communities, resources available and how they can work together to boost Kansans’ health.
“We are already doing a lot of nutrition and physical-activity programming,” Peters said of extension programs offered at many local extension offices around the state, such as Walk Kansas, Stay Strong Stay Healthy, and Dining with Diabetes. By focusing on needs-based educational programs and helping ensure people are aware of the resources often already available, the extension system can play a role in making Kansans healthier. Via the use of video-conferencing technology, she spoke to more than 250 participants at seven sites over the two-day period.
Peters noted that the extension system nationwide was started more than 100 years ago to support farmers and their families who grew the nation’s food supply. At that time, more than 50 percent of the U.S. population lived in rural areas and 30 percent were engaged in farming. The result, she said, was successful, and the United States now has agricultural production second to none and working primarily through land-grant universities such as K-State, continues to be supported by extension across the country.
The idea, she said, is to build a culture of health across the state following the path plowed by agricultural leaders over the last century.
Starting down that path, discussions at the state-spanning health meetings ranged from a lack of access to health providers in some communities to obesity, suicide rates, the opioid crisis and a lack of sidewalks in some neighborhoods which limits walking and other exercise.
“We are living in a time when we can no longer expect our children to live longer than their parents,” Peters said of the need for an increased emphasis on health initiatives.
Fifteen percent of adults in Kansas reported being in fair or poor health, just under the national average of 16 percent, according to a report, “2018 County Health Rankings for Kansas: Measures and National/State Results” by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin. Seventeen percent of adults in Kansas were smokers, the same as the national average, and 32 percent of adults in Kansas were obese, above the national average of 28 percent.
Deanna Esmiller, who attended the Salina meeting, said she feels the urgency to meet health needs “right now – probably because I am a retired teacher and am a school board member and I see a lot of change in the schools that are affecting the community because of education.” Esmiller serves on the boards of the Cottonwood Extension District and USD 428 in Great Bend. “There are health needs that are not being met and that have changed in probably the last five years,” she said.
Peters said the word “health” brings to mind physical health, but it’s really much broader than that.
The Robert Wood Johnson report showed the average number of mentally unhealthy days in Kansas at 3.3, compared with 3.8 days nationally in the 30 days prior to the study. The ratio of population to mental health providers was 560-to-1 in Kansas compared with the national average of 470-to-1.
“More and more we’re learning that it’s not just about public health professionals coming up with solutions to public health problems,” said Daniel Craig, tobacco cessation program coordinator with the Central Kansas Foundation. He attended the meeting in Salina. “It’s really about engaging the entire community, both in identifying what the needs are, as well as identifying the solutions to those problems.
“Everyone wants a community where it’s easy to make healthy choices, so if you’re engaged in that process, as Kansans grow up, the healthy choice is going to be the easy choice,” he said, adding that the use of technology used at the meetings was beneficial in bringing people together from across the state.
To be able to come together, hear different perspectives from other communities and pool time and resources is more effective in reaching common goals than different programs or individuals can accomplish alone, he said.
With its existing programs and with an office in each of Kansas’ 105 counties, K-State Research and Extension is well positioned to lead this effort to facilitate coordination and cooperation among many organizations that are all seeking to bolster the health of the people of Kansas, Peters said. She cited areas where K-State is already working, including nutrition and physical-activity education, safe and adequate water and food, social and emotional development in relationships, personal financial education, community emergency preparation, health insurance education and others.
The next steps, Peters said, are for local extension educators to work with their community partners over the next few months to develop a local plan and in some cases, identify where additional funding could be beneficial.
