Community Wellness Task Force History

2005-2006
The Community Wellness Task Force’s county-wide, all-ages activity program--so flexible it fits everybody's lifestyle--called Washington Walking™ continued as it served to support two major wellness initatives in Washington County. One initative was the Washington Employees Living Longer (WELL) program, started on June 7 and 8. The other initative was The Washington Hospital’s Apollo Program’s 5k Run/Walk for the Health of It, held on June 17.

The Washington Walking™ website, www.washingtonwalking.org, is designed to increase people's physical activity by providing support for members to track their miles walked (or jogged), calories burned, and pounds lost. A brochure describing how to register on the website was developed and continues to be distributed throughout the county in health centers, hospitals, libraries, senior centers, schools, and workplaces.

Finally, during the strategic planning process, it was adopted to split the task force into two separate task forces--one called Disease Manangement and the other called Health Promotion. These task forces will be created in the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

2003-2004
The Community Wellness Task Force continues to monitor the WellLife™ Program and supported Monongahela Valley Hospital’s Lifestyles of the Fit and Healthy™/Choose to Lose™ Programs. In addition, the task force has decided to create a county-wide, web-based walking program called WashingtonWalking™ scheduled to start in April 2005.

2002-2003
During March and April, the task force held two lifestyle modification programs called WellLife™ in Canonsburg and Washington. Forty-four people participated and all completed the eight-week program. The task force will support two more programs this fall, one being Monongahela Valley Hospital's Lifestyles of the Fit and Healthy™ and the other a WellLife™ program tailored to the African American population.

2002 Community Health Assessment Findings
The task force agreed that diet, exercise, and stress still need to be addressed since the percentage of survey respondents was similar to the Pennsylvania Department of Health's (PA DOH) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) percentages (see Figures 2 and 3) and far short of the State Health Improvement Plan's (SHIP) goal of 20% Physically Inactive Adults and 8% Overweight Adults by 2010. The task force recognized that the WellLife™ program focuses on the correct root causes.

In addition, the task force noted surgical treatment for obesity, childhood obesity, and eating disorders are on the rise. Environmental factors were thought to play a part as more families eat out, healthy foods are not readily available in fast food, and serving sizes have increased absurdly.

2001-2002
The Community Wellness Task Force reorganized this year and submitted an application for funding to the Highmark Foundation. The three-year grant from Highmark Foundation was received in June 2002 to hold lifestyle-modification courses in three locations in Washington County. Planning for the courses (which will be held beginning January 2003) will occur this Fall.

1997-2000
The Heart Disease task group (the predecessor to the Community Wellness Task Force) conducted a cardiovascular risk identification program for community residents. More than 200 residents participated. Risk factors were found in a number of individuals. The Community Wellness Task Force developed a twelve-week health and fitness course in September 1999 to teach 40 participants how to create personal health and fitness programs. A second course, named WellLife™, was launched in January 2001 with 56 participants for seven-weeks. Several participants were identified as having serious, previously undetected health issues (diabetes and high blood pressure) and about 45% of the participants who completed the course eliminated at least one lifestyle risk factor.

1995-1996 Community Health Assessment Findings
Washington County had a higher rate of cardiovascular disease deaths per 100,000 population than that for the state and the nation. Between 1989 and 1991, there were 208 cardiovascular disease deaths for every 100,000 people versus 196 for the state and 185 for the nation. The household survey showed that many of the younger and middle-aged residents had poor diets and exercised infrequently. These were working parents with children who did not feel that they had enough time to devote to exercise. Throughout the areas covered in the household survey, each was found to be affected in some way by stress, lack of parenting and stress management skills, peer and societal pressure, family histories of alcohol/drug abuse and lack of recreational outlets for teens and adolescents. In one area, 17% of the residents mentioned that a family member had been treated for an emotional or mental health problem. One zip code reported unusually high levels of stress and anxiety in the household. This same area also reported one of the highest rates of driving under the influence of alcohol. Over 12% of the residents in another area reported driving under the influence, one of the highest ever seen by the study consultants.

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