FDOH-Escambia 2020 Wellness Programs

Wellness Programs

Wellness Programs focus on preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Many of our programs promote healthy behaviors such as quitting tobacco products, eating a balanced diet, and being physically active. FDOH-Escambia has a team of subject matter specialists consisting of health educators, nutrition educators, and registered dietitians working to create informational materials and deliver presentations to the community.

Staff provide screenings, education, interventions, referrals, and other support services for individuals and families. Services are aimed at reducing risk factors and modifying behaviors to prevent chronic disease and promote optimal health for all residents. These programs, aimed at early detection and prevention of common health problems, serve people throughout each life stage, with special services for pregnant women, infants, and children.

Health Information (HI) Network

The HI Network aims to improve the health of our community by providing residents with evidence-based information on factors that can affect health. Faith-based organizations play a key role in improving the health of their congregation members as well as community residents through health promotion and disease prevention. Since 2016, HI Network program staff provide faith-based organizations important health information in the form of toolkit modules, featuring educational presentations, print materials, and short messages to share with members via social media, email, or church bulletins.

47 HI-NETWORK PARTNERS

7 COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS

Heath Educators at Reimagine Outreach on October 17, 2020. From left to right: Frankie Walker, Skye Owens, Tanisha Thompson, and Kaili Calasso.

Diabetes Prevention Program

The PreventT2 Lifestyle Change program began in 2016 and is part of the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), which has been proven to help people make modest lifestyle changes and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 50 percent. The program’s goals are to reduce participants’ body weight by at least five percent and for participants to reach a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-to-intense physical activity per week. FDOH-Escambia’s program achieved full recognition through the CDC in 2018, which signifies that, on average, the participants who enrolled meet the program goals of regular attendance, physical activity, and weight loss.

For the third consecutive year, FDOH- Escambia has earned CDC Full Recognition for the diabetes prevention program, PreventT2 Lifestyle Change Program. This designation is reserved for programs that have effectively delivered a quality, evidencebased program that meets all of the standards for CDC recognition. PreventT2 is part of the National Diabetes Prevention Program, led by the CDC and proven to help people with prediabetes prevent or delay development of type 2 diabetes. This continued achievement demonstrates the success of the lifestyle change program, with a commitment to reducing the preventable burden of diabetes within the community and nationally. Since January 2020, 25 participants enrolled and attended at least one session.

Planning to Pilot Virtual DPP

In December 2020, FDOH-Escambia obtained approval to begin offering the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) completely online in January 2021. To facilitate the program online, FDOH- Escambia’s DPP cohorts will be utilizing the Health and Lifestyle Training (HALT) Diabetes software platform, provided by the ProVention Health Foundation, in partnership with the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD). The platform includes the CDC-approved National DPP video-based curriculum, participant and coaching dashboards, mobile apps, photo food-logging, and data collection and reporting functionality. This new platform allows our organization to continue offering the program safely to the community at a distance.

37 SESSIONS HELD

25 PARTICIPANTS

69.9 POUNDS LOST

5-2-1-0 Healthy Escambia!

As part of our local chronic disease prevention efforts, the 5-2-1-0 Healthy Escambia! Program actively promotes daily healthy behaviors of 5 fruits and vegetables, 2 hours or less screen time, 1 hour of physical activity, and 0 sugary drinks in various community settings, reaching audiences of all ages.

1,919 PEOPLE RECEIVED 5-2-1-0 EDUCATION AT 18 EVENTS, OUTREACHES, AND PRESENTATIONS

School Health Education

School Health education helps children, families, and school personnel increase physical activity, improve nutrition, prevent the spread of infectious disease, and reduce teen pregnancy. Our team of Registered Nurses deliver presentations on a variety of topics to elementary, middle, and high school students in Escambia County. FDOH-Escambia School Health nurses taught 760 health education classes during the 2019-2020 school year.

School Health implemented our 5210 Healthy Escambia! Education program at Kingsfield Elementary School for all children in Kindergarten – 5th grade. School Health also returned to schools we had presented the 5210 Healthy Escambia! Program in years past and taught their Kindergarten students. The 5210 Healthy Escambia! Program actively promotes healthy behaviors of eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables every day, 2 hours or less of screen time per day, 1 hour or more of physical activity per day, and 0 sugary drinks! This program is also promoted in various community settings, which allows us to reach audiences of all ages.

School Health nurses also assisted the Escambia County School District in meeting their mandated Kindergarten and 7th grade immunization record review requirements by completing 5,740 record reviews. This helps assure students are up-to-date with their immunizations and allows the students to be in school and ready to learn. FDOH-Escambia School Health nurses also transcribe out-ofstate immunization records for new students throughout the school year.

FDOH-Escambia School Health nurses collaborated with the Escambia County School District to administer Flu-Mist vaccine at 20 elementary schools. They were able to vaccinate 615 students this year which demonstrates FDOH-Escambia’s dedication to protecting children in our community from vaccine-preventable diseases while also helping the state of Florida reach statewide immunization goals.

School Health COVID-19 Response

In March of 2020, FDOH-Escambia School Health nurses began assisting the Epidemiology program with positive COVID-19 cases. This required numerous trainings on how to use the Merlin program, notify positive cases, contact tracing, and answering calls from the public. Additionally, School Health worked closely with our local schools (public and private) to confirm positive cases of COVID-19 amongst students and staff. School Health nurses assisted in identifying close contacts of positive cases who needed to quarantine to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. School Health nurses also ensured a safe and effective reopening for the Fall of 2020 and continues to support schools daily by confirming positive cases, assisting with contact tracing and assuring that the schools are aware of any new updates from the CDC.

Tobacco Free Florida Escambia

The Tobacco Free Florida in Escambia County (TFF-Escambia) program encourages tobacco use prevention and behavior change through media and marketing, policy change, group counseling, community presentations, and activities that engage youth. Amid the global pandemic, TFF-Escambia switched to a virtual based work plan and adapted to changes in COVID-19 protocols. Staff have continued to work closely and diligently with Pensacola State College (PSC) to increase education on the importance of a tobacco free campus. TFF- Escambia is now one step closer to helping PSC achieve a tobacco free grounds policy with the establishment and continuation of the tobacco free task force.

Students Working Against Tobacco

Since January 2020, TFF-Escambia has reached 35,000 youth via social media campaigns, marketing ads throughout the county, or virtual meetings and trainings. A Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) regional training was held at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat from February 29-March 1, 2020. Two Escambia County youth attended the regional training, providing them with up-to-date information on Electronics Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), Tobacco Free Observances, media advocacy, and public speaking. In October 2020, two SWAT youth attended a virtual training. Through the use of technology and the student’s willingness to participate, 9 SWAT meetings were held virtually via Zoom and GoTo Webinar.

Association of Smoking and COVID-19

TFF-Escambia was able to reach 30+ farmers and immigrant workers (Spanish speaking population) to educate on the association of smoking and COVID-19. This was a new initiative as a result of additional funding to focus on COVID-19 and tobacco prevention.

Store Assessment

Tobacco companies unreasonably target specific demographic groups such as youth, racial and ethnic minorities, and those of low income or education. Marketing of tobacco products is purposely designed to recruit smokers at an early age and maintain current smokers. While practicing measures in accordance with CDC guidelines, TFF-Escambia staff was able to assess over 50 retailers in Escambia county to verify safe tobacco marketing practices.

SWAT youth, Nakyah Phillips (left) and Kristen Harris (right) completed the “Truth Initiative” trivia portion of the Region 1 SWAT Retreat. This group answered the most difficult questions correctly and were rewarded with Tobacco Free swag.

Healthy Start

The Healthy Start program aims to reduce infant mortality, reduce the number of low weight babies, and improve the health and developmental outcomes for all Florida babies. Care coordinators provide education, support, and guidance to pregnant and postpartum women, women who have experienced a loss, and women who have a child under age three. Program staff also works to connect families to community resources. Any woman can elect to be screened by their OB provider, or can self-refer for eligibility during pregnancy, at the time of delivery, or before their child reaches age three. The confidential screening helps to identify women and infants who may have a greater risk for poor health outcomes.

1,028 PRENATAL/POSTPARTUM WOMEN AND INFANTS/CHILDREN RECEIVED SERVICES

Healthy Start Services

Since January 2020, Healthy Start has provided services to 608 prenatal/postpartum women and 420 infants/children, with a total of 8,434 direct services provided. These services include care coordination, education, support, and guidance. Healthy Start also made 1,171 referrals to community resources to help meet our aim of reducing infant mortality and reducing the number of low-weight babies.

Safe Sleep Environment

Healthy Start continued the mission to help prevent sleep-related infant deaths by educating parents and caregivers on the importance of practicing safe sleep. The Healthy Start Program and the Healthy Start Coalition collaborated to provide 82 pack and play cribs and safe sleep kits to families at no cost, allowing these families to provide safe sleeping environments for their infants. Healthy Start Care Coordinators provided noncontact deliveries to the client's home and used text links to demonstrate pack and play crib set-up and safe sleep education. The program aims to reduce sleep-related deaths.

Healthy Start Cribbettes and Safe Sleep Kits.

Adapting Services Amid COVID-19

The Healthy Start program was able to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic by making virtual and telephonic visits with clients instead of home visits. The Healthy Start program was able to make a comprehensive plan that allowed staff to telework while continuing to provide Healthy Start services. Additionally, Healthy Start nurses were able to distribute the Healthy Start Coalition’s donation of diapers, wipes and formula to our clients. This donation helped clients who had lost homes and/or jobs from Hurricane Sally and the COVID-19 pandemic.

WIC

The WIC program serves pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age five. Each participant is counseled by a registered dietitian, or other trained nutrition staff, and provided an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card to purchase prescribed healthy foods. Foods are selected based on individual needs and include milk, cheese, juice, eggs, fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads and pasta, brown rice, yogurt, and baby food and infant formula. Participants may use the EBT cards at local participating grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

Face-to-face services were limited due to COVID-19 in 2020. FDOH- Escambia continued to provide WIC nutrition counseling, breastfeeding counseling, and certifications via telephone and email.

7,655 AVERAGE WIC ENROLLMENT

6,423 BREASTFEEDING COUNSELING CONTACTS COUNSELED

668 BREASTPUMPS PROVIDED

Community Baby Shower on January 25, 2020. From left to right: Elsena Lamar, Kharrie Patton, Ashley Majors, and Natalie Steingruber.

Breastfeeding Support

Every pregnant woman enrolled in WIC receives information regarding the benefits of breastfeeding. Peer counselors are assigned to women who express an interest in ongoing support. Counselors remain with these women throughout pregnancy and during the first few months following birth. Breast pumps are loaned to nursing mothers who return to work or school or have an infant in the hospital. Staff also work with businesses and child care centers on how to develop breastfeeding-friendly policies and support nursing women in their organizations.