Letters to the Editor 5-14-15

Earth Day and Wellness
Editor: The Windsor Wellness Partnership is a Windsor-based community collaborative supporting the vision of Health Action: Sonoma County will be the healthiest county in the state by the year 2020. Some of our projects include: finding partners and opportunities to ensure that every Windsor resident has access to affordable healthy food; expanding school gardens and nutrition programs that encourage youth to eat well and exercise; and encouraging adults to avoid preventable illness by monitoring their state of health.
We recently participated in the Earth Day and Wellness Festival on the Town Green. We talked to residents about resources and services in Windsor that support healthy eating habits. Eager gardeners were able to purchase seedlings in support of the school’s nutrition program. But it was the Food Wheel that caught everyone’s eye; adults and children alike enjoyed spinning the wheel and when it landed they were asked to list three ways they liked to eat that particular fruit or vegetable; their prize was a pack of seeds. We discovered that parents are doing a great job encouraging their children to eat healthy food although our favorite response of the day was: My favorite way to eat a carrot is to put it in my mouth!
It takes partners to build a healthy community and we appreciate the Healdsburg District Hospital for stepping up to help with the Windsor Wellness Partnership’s Know Your Numbers campaign. At the Earth Day event they provided educational materials and free health screenings in blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index. Over 350 separate health screenings were given but the most significant number for the day was 49—that was the number of people with abnormal results who were advised to see their physician. A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who gave the health screenings that day. We also wish to thank Donna Legge and the Town of Windsor for their support of the Windsor Wellness Partnership and to the Alliance Medical Center for being our fiscal sponsor.
Cheryl Scholar
Windsor