2007 - Alabama Department of Public Health

ureau of professional and support services
In 2007, the first Scale Back contest involved 5,000
teams. The teams consisted of three to five participants
who competed to see who could lose the most weight on
a percentage basis. This program reached approximately
20,000 people on the teams, but the potential of having
reached co-workers, family members, and others is an
even larger achievement. Forty-six of the 67 counties
participated, which is approximately 68 percent of
the state. The final weigh-in had 2,100 teams that
participated, losing over 78,000 pounds in 10 weeks.
The Nutrition and Physical Activity Division staff
continued to provide training and materials from the
following evidenced based youth curricula: CATCH
Kids Club; Media Smart Youth: Eat, Think and Be
Active; and SMART. CATCH Kids Club helps children
adopt healthier dietary and physical activity behaviors
by positively influencing the health environments of
recreation programs, schools, and homes. An analysis
of 34 respondent surveys found statistically significant
increases in healthy eating attitudes and intentions
to decrease screen time behaviors such as watching
television and playing computer games.
Kidfit is a program designed to help elementary school
children to become healthier by making better decisions
about fitness and nutrition. Through the KidFit program,
DVDs with a 30-minute program were distributed to
children. Alabama is the first state to adopt the KidFit
program for students. Sponsored by Alabama Power
Company and the Alabama Power Foundation, over
380,000 DVDs were distributed. The program was
aired on broadcast stations in the major markets. The
program is hosted by recording artist Randy Owen and
Alabama’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries,
Ron Sparks. The division provided technical assistance
in selecting the topics covered, reviewing scripts for
accuracy, and developing an Internet evaluation survey
for parents to complete.
In addition to the youth programs, the staff also
provided resources for parents through the Body Works
and We Can! curricula.
Upon receiving a seed grant of $2,500 from the
Association of State and Territorial Public Health
Nutrition Directors, the division and the University
of Alabama at Birmingham were able to begin the
development of a comprehensive state wellness plan.
Developing the state wellness plan began by forming a
state wellness coalition. The coalition included key leaders
representing a diverse group with wellness interest
from various health related task forces/councils, public
health, academia, health care, education, businesses, and
community groups. The group was challenged to write a
state plan that was realistic, yet used visionary methods
to sustain a cultural change in which people want to and
are able to make healthy lifestyle choices to promote
wellness.
Action for Healthy Kids is a nonprofit organization
formed specifically to address the epidemic of
overweight, undernourished, and sedentary youth by
focusing on changes at school. The Alabama Chapter is
organized through the Nutrition and Physical Activity
Division. The Alabama Action for Healthy Kids hosted
the Alabama Healthy Schools Summit on February 2007
in Montgomery. The summit, with over 300 school and
health professionals in attendance, addressed a variety
of topics including coordinated school health, quality
physical education, after school programs, and what is
working in Alabama schools.
Pharmacy Division
The Public Health Pharmacy Division continued its
primary responsibility of establishing dispensing policy
for all county health departments and oversight of policy
implementation.
The Pharmacy Division continued to coordinate
state agencies accessing the Minnesota Multi-State
Contracting Alliance, a voluntary group purchasing
organization operated by the State of Minnesota and
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