By Bob Brown, editor
The CVPost
The leaders of Eau Claire County’s Healthy Communities coalition were so pleased about presenting their first Communities Champion award last April that they’ve decided to double their pleasure this year.
Last April, the inaugural Communities Champion award went to Ned Noel, Eau Claire’s associate city planner. Noel was honored for his efforts to incorporate health-related considerations into city planning, such as including things like bike paths and green spaces in the design of construction projects whenever possible to encourage physical activity by residents.
During its annual celebration Thursday at Chippewa Valley Technical College, Healthy Communities will present its second individual Communities Champion award. And this year a second award will be presented to recognize outstanding health-related efforts by a local organization.
“We really want to recognize that there are big entities putting forth a lot of effort and saying that health is important,” says Gina Schemenauer, community health educator with the Eau Claire City-County Health Department. “Everybody’s doing such great work, and they need to be recognized in the community.”
Earlier this year, Healthy Communities put out a call for nominations for its Communities Champion awards, and outstanding suggestions in both the individual and organizational categories rolled in, says Rebecca Baader, the health department’s community health liaison.
“We definitely noticed that the award we presented last year really seemed to inspire action,” Schemenauer says, noting that the judges had a tough time choosing this year’s award winners.
But those winners have been chosen and notified, and they will be at Thursday’s celebration to receive their awards, Baader says. But the rest of the community must wait until then to find out who the winners are.
Thursday’s event is free and open to the public. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Casper Conference Center on the first floor of CVTC’s Business Education Center at 620 W. Clairemont Ave. in Eau Claire.
The two-hour event will begin with food – healthy, of course, but tasty too, Baader promises – and welcoming remarks by Healthy Communities co-chair Jan Porath.
A short video highlighting the successes of Healthy Communities’ various “action teams” will precede the presentation of the Communities Champion awards.
Later a small-group activity focusing on “Developing Your Persuasive Message” will be led by Kate Konkle of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Konkle is a community coach for the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/about-project)
While Konkle’s presentation will focus on health-related issues, “I think everybody has something to gain from the training,” Schemenauer says. “I mean, who doesn’t want to be more persuasive?”
Healthy Communities describes itself as “a broad-based coalition that promotes the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities of Eau Claire County through collaborative and focused action.”
And Thursday’s event is designed to recognize the efforts of all those involved in carrying out that mission.
“This is a way to really celebrate what we’ve done so far and to keep the community excited about what we’re doing,” Schemenauer says. “The celebration is kind of that energizer.”
Healthy Communities partners with healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and local businesses to promote better community health practices. Further information is available by e-mail from healthycommunities@co.eau-claire.wi.us or by calling 715-839-2869.