June 2019

Report: few locals eat enough fruits, vegetables

Most adults in the Finger Lakes region do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, and that tendency is harming their health, according to a new study of the area’s food and health landscape.

Only 1 in 10 adults in the nine-county Finger Lakes region eats the recommended daily amount of fruits, and 1 in 5 adults reports not eating any fruits or vegetables at all on a daily basis, according to the study, Food and Health Connection. The report is the culmination of a two-year study involving Common Ground Health, Foodlink and the S2AY Rural Health Network.

Learn more.

Making walking and biking the easy choice

Could crosswalks, protected bike lanes and other traffic safety features combat chronic illness, control weight and improve mood?

The data says yes.

“There’s good evidence we should be active, and we aren’t,” says national public health, planning and transportation consultant Mark Fenton, citing a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic that only 23% of Americans get enough exercise. “Telling people to exercise doesn’t do it. What does seem to matter is changing the environment, and active transportation seems to be an instrumental piece of that.”

Learn more about active transportation here.

What underlies Gates Medical's unusual high blood pressure success?

Common Ground Health's high blood pressure registry shows that Gates Medical Associates has achieved excellent control rates for African Americans and patients from low-income neighborhoods, two groups that experience higher rates of high blood pressure.

“It’s not easy to achieve such impressive hypertension results when your practice serves patients who are more at risk,” says Howard Beckman, MD, a consultant for Common Ground Health, which tracks hypertension control rates in nearly 200 practices across the Finger Lakes.

For staff at the University of Rochester Medical Center practice, the secret lies in multiple strategies for improvements. Learn more.

Partner spotlight:
Interdenominational Health Ministry Coalition

Kudos to the Interdenominational Health Ministry Coalition (IHMC) for connecting people of faith to health improvement.

The coalition helps congregations develop effective ministries for physical and mental health that offer everything from blood pressure checks to church gardens.

“IHMC’s work is deeply transformational,” said Common Ground Health CEO Wade Norwood, who is also a minister. “It is embedding health as a spiritual matter into the fabric of congregations, showing that health cannot be confined to a physician’s office. We have to support health where people live, play and pray.”

To learn more about IHMC’s work, view this new video.

Kids played games and learned about summer educational and recreational opportunities at the Spring Into Summer: Summer Meals Fest on June 8 at Frontier Field. At the event, kids sampled summer meals menu items to give feedback on what they liked and didn't like. To see where kids can get free, healthy meals all summer long throughout the city of Rochester, visit www.summermealsroc.org.

Upcoming event

Nearly 50 Rochester locations will be participating in the community-wide play day PlayROCs Your Neighborhood 2019. Held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 13, the event advocates for safe and accessible play spaces for children. Healthi Kids is recruiting volunteers to help support sites. To volunteer, contact Joe at [email protected] or 585-224-3127. Learn more.

We're hiring

Common Ground Health is seeking a systems administrator, a communications specialist for Healthi Kids, and an administrative assistant.

In the headlines

Hornell Evening Tribune Steuben prioritizes substance abuse

Rochester Business Journal Complete Streets Makeover winner announced Related: Spectrum News, WXXI News

June 2019 Common Ground Newsletter