Geary County selected as a Pathways to a Healthy Kansas Community, receives $100,000 grant, access to $400,000 in additional funding

NEWS RELEASE

Geary County is one of eight Kansas communities recently selected as a grantee in the largest community grant program ever funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. The Pathways to a Healthy Kansas program provides community coalitions like Live Well Geary County with the tools and resources needed to remove barriers and engage the community in ways that enable healthy eating and tobacco-free, active living to become a way of life. The funding for Geary County includes a coordination grant of $100,000, with the opportunity to apply for non-competitive implementation and achievements grants amounting to $400,000, for a total of $500,000, during the next three years.

“We envision Kansans living in healthy communities that provide the highest possible quality of life and well-being. As the state’s largest health insurer, we are well-positioned to understand the barriers to good health that Kansans face,” said Andrew C. Corbin, BCBSKS president/CEO. “The Pathways to a Healthy Kansas initiative is an outgrowth of our commitment to more strategically invest our expertise, time and dollars in helping remove those barriers and build healthy communities in Kansas.”

In addition to the grant dollars, Blue Cross is providing Geary County with technical assistance for planning, evaluation, communications and measurement through partnerships with Kansas Health Institute and the Community Engagement Institute at Wichita State University. Additional technical partners include WorkWell Kansas, The Public Health Law Center and Thrive Allen County.

Also, elementary schools in Geary County will have free access to GoNoodle Plus for the duration of the funding period. GoNoodle is a website with interactive games and videos that get children moving throughout the day. The activities are designed to help children channel their physical and emotional energy for good, improving behavior, focus and achievement.

“The intent of Pathways is to help communities create environments where the healthy choice is the easy choice to make, now and for generations to come” said Virginia Barnes, MPH, director of Blue Health Initiatives and developer of the grant program. “We look forward to working closely with Live Well Geary County to inspire long-lasting, community-wide well-being by focusing on strategies that build community engagement and transform the way residents of Geary County stay healthy as they live, work and interact socially.”

During the next three years, members of the Live Well Geary County will lead the community in these efforts with a focus on community policy, resident/community well-being, the food retail sector, health care, restaurants, schools and worksites.

Live Well Geary County is a healthy living coalition that develops community-based strategies to improve the health of its community and residents.

“Live Well was founded in response to a call for countywide coordinated action among health and wellness stakeholders,” said Mike Ryan, Live Well Geary County chair. “We came together in 2014 to address the health needs of the community including nutrition, exercise and smoking cessation. Currently Geary County is ranked as one of the most food insecure counties in the state, which means there is a serious lack of access to reliable, affordable and nutritious food in our community.

“Geary County also has the highest tobacco usage and highest obesity percentage within the state,” he said. “This grant will help us open doors to addressing the needs of our community and provide sustainability for the coalition and its initiatives.”

To receive funding, Geary County went through a thorough application process that included an on-site visit. Eligible communities were required to:

Be located in a semi-urban, densely-settled rural, rural or frontier county, or be a community with a population of less than 75,000 in an urban county.
Have an active coalition or active Community Health Assessment/Improvement Plan work group.
Illustrate commitment from community leaders.
Be within the 103-county service area of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (all Kansas counties except Johnson and Wyandotte).

The eight communities selected for 2017-2020 funding are: the town of Chanute, in Neosho County, along with the counties of Cowley, Dickinson, Geary, Harvey, Lyon, Seward, and the group of Atwood, Bird City, Colby and St. Francis in Thomas, Rawlins and Cheyenne counties. The eight communities previously selected for 2016-2019 funding are: Atchison County, Bourbon County, Crawford County, Franklin County, Hoisington and northern Barton County, Kearny County, Reno County and Wichita County.