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Cooper County Healthy Lifestyles (CHeLI) The Cooper County Healthy Lifestyles (CHeLI) group meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the Cooper County Health Department meeting room. The campus URL for the statewide program is: http://extension.missouri.edu/healthylife/ . What is the Healthy Lifestyles initiative? For years, health agencies, organizations, and institutions have worked to improve the health of individuals and communities by delivering programs that focus on changing peoples’ behaviors. While these programs have had positive short-term results, they haven’t been able to fully address increasing rates of obesity and related chronic diseases. There is a growing movement to move beyond programs and develop comprehensive, sustainable approaches to address preventable health issues. They are bringing the entire community together to talk, share resources and begin planning community-wide health initiatives. They are also focusing their efforts on finding ways to change the policies and environments that influence peoples’ day-to-day activities. Cooper County received a $4000 University of Missouri grant to support the Cooper County Healthy Lifestyles Initiative. Initial leadership for this effort came from the Boonslick Heartland Y and Cooper County University Extension. The first meeting was held March 10, 2010. Membership is open to all individuals and organizations committed to being active participants in this process. The first 18 months will be spent developing a data base on local programs and views (possibly including a survey) before initiating local programs.
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