Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Health Alliance busy during 2003; plans made for Children's Week

Work is underway for Children's Week, scheduled for April 19-23.

The Prescott-Nevada County Health Alliance is working on several projects for Children's Week, and has reserved the firehouse for April 20-21. This firehouse is a teaching tool. The house is on a trailer and is filled with harmless smoke to help children understand the importance of getting out of a burning building.

The house will be picked up in Camden Tuesday, April 20, and be returned Thursday, April 22. Children will be inside the structure when the smoke starts and instructed on how to safely exit a burning structure.

Members of the PNCHA were updated on the organization's activities during 2003. The year began with the development of new vision and mission statements.

From there, the PNCHA sponsored the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in April, also sponsoring Children's Week April 6-12.

For fun, the PNCHA members held a binder contest where each member was given a plain binder and had to decorate it. Bragging rights went to the best decorated binder.

The PNCHA also wrote and received a grant for $1,450 for prostate screening. This money was used to provide free prostate screenings at the Health-a-Rama in October.

The coalition acted as the "task force" for Walk Across Nevada County. For this event, 105 people participated in the eight-week session, with 4,179.45 miles being walked. The least amount walked during any week was 391.5 miles.

An Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Grant was obtained in the amount of $24,998. The idea behind this grant was to replace the soda and candy vending machines in the Prescott school system, replacing them with healthy drinks and snacks.

A grant was applied for and obtained through the Arkansas Highway Department through its recreational trail grant program to help renovate the walking track behind the Nevada County Health Unit. Work on this should be completed by the end of summer.

The track will be built of low-impact martial, with rest areas and be handicap accessible. It will also be lighted for night use.

In addition, the Health-a-Rama was a success once again. Last year, between 225-230 cholesterol tests were given, along with 37 prostate exams being done. This doesn't include the blood pressure checks of glucose screenings done.

However, the PNCHA hasn't set a date for the 2004 Health-a-Rama yet, though there was discussion about scheduling the event in September. The October date didn't work well for the 2003 Health-a-Rama.