2007 - Alabama Department of Public Health

ureau of health promotion and chronic disease
Steps to a Healthier Alabama
In 2007, Steps to a Healthier Alabama completed
the third year of a five-year program funded by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services Steps to a
Healthier US initiative.
The program works to reduce the burden of diabetes,
obesity, and asthma and their related risk factors of
poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and tobacco use
and exposure through funding community-based
interventions in two regions of the state.
Using the concept that small lifestyle changes over
time can yield lasting health benefits, the Steps Program
is designed to promote efforts that encourage people to
make small changes to reduce the burden of these leading
chronic diseases and risk factors. In addition, program
initiatives target policy and system changes that will
make it easier for people to maintain healthy lifestyles.
The Steps River Region program is organized by
the Montgomery Area Community Wellness Coalition
and includes Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, Macon, and
Montgomery counties. The Steps Southeast Alabama
Region is led by the Charles Henderson Child Health
Center and includes Pike and Barbour counties.
Activities in 2007 included:
• Schools completing the School Health Index, a selfassessment
and planning tool for healthy schools,
focused on nutrition, physical activity, and asthma
prevention
• Worksites developing wellness programs - including
the Healthy Steps Challenge and policy changes
related to nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco
• An asthma care coordination pilot project with
the department’s Patient First Program, Alabama
Medicaid, and physicians in Southeast Alabama
• Asthma education in schools – Open Airways,
Asthma 101, and an Asthma Safari in Pike County
where young children learned to recognize and
manage their asthma symptoms and triggers
• LifeSkills Training (a personal development and
substance abuse training curriculum) in Barbour
County School System classrooms
• Wellness advocates supporting persons throughout
the River Region to make healthy lifestyle changes
and to access and use health and social services as
needed
• Implementation of a VERB Summer Scorecard
program to promote physical activity in youth
throughout the River Region
• Training for physical education teachers using a
new electronic system of student physical fitness
testing
• Technical assistance to school systems developing
and implementing local wellness policies
• A summer workshop conducted by faculty at
Auburn University Montgomery for classroom
teachers, physical education teachers, and student
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