Johnson Memorial Health Services (JMHS) was excited about the participation of the third Annual Live Well Be Well Healthy Community challenge. This year the challenge was administered by the Lac qui Parle Health Network and included the Madison, Appleton and Dawson communities. The Lac qui Parle Health Network received a Community Capacity research grant from the University of Minnesota to see how the challenge could impact the health of a rural community.
The grant allowed the Lac qui Parle Health Network, which consists of Johnson Memorial Health Services, Madison Lutheran Home and Appleton Area Health Services, to provide participants with free tests including, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose as well as including educational sessions on cardiac health and diabetes. All participants also received a Live Well Be Well t-shirt.
The challenge consisted of Dawson with19 teams, Madison with 20 teams and Appleton with 7 teams totaling 184 people!
Teams could accumulate points by working out, volunteering, donating to the food shelf and giving blood. Each team member filled out a tracking sheet detailing points earned each week. If the tracking sheets were received by Monday at noon the participants were entered into a weekly drawing. Participants had an opportunity each week to gain bonus points by completing the weekly healthy challenge. These included drinking 64 ounces of water, eating 5 fruits and vegetables and planting a garden.
Kristyn Wicht, Community Relations for JMHS said “We were very pleased with the participation of our third challenge. Dawson contestants donated 580 pounds to the food shelf, lost 209 pounds, gave blood 30 times and volunteered 114 times.”
Congratulations to Slim Possible the team of Melissa Anderson, Val Olson, Kacey Streich and Tricia Hunt for taking first place and winning $1,000! Second place winners with prize money of $500 were the Crockpots which included B.B. Billiet, Mary Berglund, Misty Nelson & Peggy Harms. Third place team winning $250 were Ain’t Nobody Got Time Fo Phat which included Lindsay Perkins, Amy Plessner, Ashley Sandven and Peggy Peterson.
On behalf of the Lac qui Parle Health Network, JMHS would like to thank the Dawson Co-op Credit Union, Healthland, Minnwest Bank, Madison Bottling Company, Klein Bank, Q92 FM Radio and United Prairie Bank for your sponsorships. We would also like to thank all the participants for making the Live Well Be Well Healthy Community Challenge such a fun and rewarding event. The wrap up with final tallies from each community will be coming out next week! For more information please visit www.lqphnmn.org