FAQs

What is GetUp Montgomery County?

GetUp is a community-wide effort to help our kids live healthier lives, especially when it comes to making smarter food choices and participating in healthy activities. It’s about driving a culture change in Montgomery County where community partners make it easier for kids and families to live healthier lives.

What do you mean by driving a culture change?

There are many facets of the community that need to come together to make it easier for kids and families to make healthier choices. Parents, caregivers and teachers are critical, of course, but it’s also important to include everyone that can influence a child’s choices or their environment. That may mean grocery store owners, school administrators, daycare programs, summer camp programs, parks administrators, recreation center leaders, city planners, politicians, faith-based leaders and many others.

GetUp wants to make sure that families know they are supported and that we are working together community-wide to ensure the resources they need are there to help. As a community, we must be creative and encourage an environment where healthy living is a priority.

Who is involved in GetUp?

Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County (PHDMC) began collaborating with the Montgomery County Family and Children First Council’s (FCFC) Healthy People Outcome Team in 2006 for the initial development of this initiative. Key community partners currently providing strategic direction include PHDMC, CareSource, The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, the Montgomery County Commission and Wright State University Center for Healthy Communities. These five entities are referred to as the GetUp Montgomery County “hub.”

However, multiple sectors are involved in implementation, including hospitals and health care providers, schools, child care centers, community groups, faith-based organizations, county and city governments, businesses, academia, neighborhood health centers, individuals and families. As of June 2010, nearly 130 partner organizations are part of the GetUp community-wide initative.

What is the role of Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County?

PHDMC serves as the lead “hub” partner to create a framework for implementation, recruit and link partners, mobilize community action, focus on sustainability and outcomes, ensure consistency and sound practice among all community partners, and create a culture of health.

Why do we need this program?

A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that Ohio is the 13th fattest State in the nation for adults, and our children are right behind - now weighing in as the 15th most unfit kids in the nation!

Locally, a Dayton Children’s survey of parents in 2008 found that at least 24 percent of our kids are overweight. The 2008 Ohio Family Health Study found that one in every three children in Ohio ages 10-17 is overweight or obese. That translates to about a half a million kids right here in Ohio – and that’s not counting the increasing numbers of overweight kids under age 10. Children who are overweight or obese have much higher risks for diabetes, asthma and other long-term health issues. Being unfit not only sets them up for dealing with a lot of emotional issues, but there are rising costs involved for their life long care.

How is this initiative being funded?

The Montgomery County Human Services Levy Council has provided base funding for the initiative and a CareSource Signature Grant provides salary and office space for the project manager for the first two-years. Long-term sustainment, however, will require additional funding.  We encourage everyone to support the proposed renewal of the Montgomery County Human Services Levy in November 2010!

What do you hope to accomplish through GetUp Montgomery County?

Our long-term vision is to have a healthier Montgomery County with the healthiest children. Ultimately, that means improving overall childhood wellness. Our strategic objective is for Montgomery County’s children to be healthier, with less overweight or obese children per population than current local averages.

GetUp Montgomery County intends to accomplish this long-term vision and objective by creating a culture throughout our community in which children and their families have the motivation, ability and opportunity to lead healthier lives.

We want Montgomery County’s children to make healthier lifestyle choices by increasing physical fitness, improving nutritional intake and consuming an appropriate number of calories daily.

Our objectives include:

  • Increasing neighborhood and after-school active play opportunities
  • Promoting family nutrition and fitness to parents and kids
  • Improving in-school, after-school and summer camp nutrition
  • Reaching the greatest number of children possible [in the shortest period of time] with the most efficient and sustainable use of resources.
  • Developing and supporting sustainable policies, practices and behavior changes in places where children live, learn and play

Meeting these objectives will require community engagement and participation, and commitment on behalf of all partners to achieve long-term strategic outcomes.

What are the major intended outcomes of this initiative?

Childhood obesity is not an issue that can be resolved overnight. All parties involved recognize that even the initial two years of start-up funding is an optimistic time frame for truly moving the needle when it comes to the population-wide numbers of overweight and obese children in Montgomery County.

The long-term outcomes for GetUp include:

  • Greater recognition and awareness of the relationship between unhealthy lifestyles and
    obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes
  • Improved opportunities for active play for children and families
  • Better access to healthy foods and beverages and less access to unhealthy choices
  • Improved coordination of policies and resources aimed at obesity prevention
  • Decreased numbers of children in Montgomery County who are overweight or obese and a reduction in related diseases and overall health costs.

Why are kids today more unfit?

Despite what we may think, childhood obesity isn’t an overnight phenomenon. This has been developing for the past 40 years. In that time, we have changed significantly as a community and a nation.

For example, many parents no longer feel safe sending their kids outside to play, so they keep them indoors, often glued to the TV or video games. We eat out more and cook less. Thanks to technology, even the chores we do around the house don’t cause us to exert much physical activity. We’re busy and we put exercise on the bottom of our priority list. We rely on fast food more and we expect larger portions for our hard-earned dollars. When you combine a lack of physical activity with a poor diet, the result is an unhealthy lifestyle.

Who are you targeting with this initiative?

Our focus is on children ages 2 to 12, their parents or caregivers and teachers of children pre-K through 6th grade. We are working with many partners, including area school districts, after school programs, summer camps and daycare teachers.

What is the message you want to tell kids?

GetUp will encourage kids and families to adopt four simple steps, called 5-2-1-Almost None. That easy-to-recall behavior ‘prescription’ stands for getting 5 fruits and vegetables a day; committing to no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time (meaning non-school related computer use, electronic games and TV); getting 1 hour of active play (even if that’s four 15 minute periods throughout the day) and drinking almost no sugary beverages. Put down the pop and drink water or milk.

GetUp community partners will help deliver the message. They will also help assess what barriers exist that might make it hard for a family to make those choices. For example, we have to make sure every family has access to fresh produce and that they know how to incorporate it into their meals.

How did you determine 5-2-1-Almost None as the message?

There are several versions of this message successfully deployed around the country. GetUp Montgomery County adopted the 5-2-1-Almost None behavior prescription from a similar program and message used by the State of Delaware through Nemours Health and Prevention Services.