Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Children's Week April 4-8

Plans for Children's Week are pretty much in place.

Children's Week will be observed the first week in April, with activities planned for area children each day.

Prissy Traczewitz, event chairman, said this year's Children's Week is shaping up to be the best one ever. "We'll have a wonderful science day," she told members of the Prescott-Nevada County Health Alliance Friday, March 11. "There will be eight learning centers." Of these, five will be from state parks across the state, two will be from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and James Cannon, with the Prescott High School agri department, will open the greenhouse. In addition, the fire safety house will again be at PHS to help teach children about fire safety.

In addition, she Traczewitz said, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AG&FC) will be bringing its aquarium down. The aquarium will be in town Tuesday, April 5, by the Prescott-Nevada County Library. There will be three different events at the library. These include the aquarium, story time and a puppet show. Children will rotate through each event.

Children's Week will culminate with a parade at the old gym at PHS Friday, April 8. The PHS Wolf Pride Marching Band will perform during the parade.

The theme of this year's Children's Week is "Learning Through the Day with Play".

Friends of the Library and the Department of Human Services will put goody bags together. These will be handed out Monday of Children's Week. The bags will include a schedule of events for the rest of the week.

Once Children's Week is over, the PNCHA will begin work for the annual health fair, which is normally held in September. Changes have been discussed for the event, including giving it a new name and bringing in more pro-active displays and demonstrations.

Sarah Sutton, with the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), talked to the group about worksite wellness. the idea, she said, is to impact adults where they work, as this is where they spend about half of their waking hours.

This is part of Healthy Arkansas, a statewide initiative launched by Gov. Mike Huckabee. It's purpose is to reduce obesity, tobacco use and physical inactivity in the state. The main target populations are state employees, Medicaid recipients and the general public.

Strategies include utilizing worksites as health promotion venues, reaching adult residents to create a culture of health and changing unhealthy behaviors.

It's also to establish a state-level clearinghouse of model worksite wellness programs. Community resources are to be used to assist businesses interested in developing such a program, and supporting the businesses in their attempt.

Heart disease and stroke are the number one and three main causes of death in the state. About 30 percent of adult Arkansans have high blood pressure, and the state ranks second in stroke death in the nation. The state is also 22nd in diabetes cases nationwide.

In addition, 10 percent of children under the age of five are overweight, while the state is 17th in America in obesity. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System of 2001, 14 percent of high school students are overweight, with 16 percent at risk of becoming overweight.

Sutton said the ADH has PowerPoint programs available for businesses interested in developing workplace wellness programs.

Susan Rumph, with the Region 11 Prevention Resource Center, said there were six counties involved in getting a grant for $6,000. The money will be used to hire the group "Straight Way" to travel to schools in the area and put on shows about alcohol and drug abuse prevention.

Straight Way, she said, is a group of young people out of Texas who are either recovering from drug or alcohol abuse or have family members who are. "They've performed all over Texas. They're clean and wholesome."

The group will be at Prescott and Nevada high schools on April 11. The target audience is students in grades 6-12.

Barbara Keaton, with the DHS, said foster parents are still needed in Nevada County. However, she added, not everyone can be a foster parent, but most can still help work with young people.

Keaton said those who aren't foster parents can be mentors or tutors or just be friends with the children.

On April 21, she said, DHS workers will host a coffee for Child Abuse Prevention Week. They will also gather at the intersection by the Post Office to hand out information on preventing child abuse.

In addition, she said, the DHS will have a booth at the Chicken and Egg Festival seeking foster parents. "We need people to keep teenage boys and girls. We'd like to keep the kids in this area."

The next meeting will be held at noon Friday, April 8, at the library. The Nevada County Health Unit will provide the lunch.