Building Good Health in the Summer Heat

July 18, 2009

The heat of summer may actually be the best time to lure people to a We Can!™ leader training… at least in Kentucky.

You can chalk it up to wanting to stay inside where it’s nice and cool if you’d like, but Amanda Patrick, Environmental Education/Outreach Specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery and We Can! site leader for the hatchery, located in Jamestown, KY, likes to think otherwise.

She believes the uptick in registration for two upcoming trainings is because folks are enthusiastic about the low-cost, flexible, science-based, and turn-key aspects of the We Can! Parent Program.

The first training will be in Lexington on July 15 and the second will be at the fish hatchery in Jamestown on July 22. Both free workshops will be led by Anita Courtney, M.S., R.D., We Can! KY Coordinator.

“Needless to say, I am excited AND very grateful to Anita for her willingness to come down and lead this session,” said Patrick. "Right now, we have an amazing mix of outdoor professionals like myself, agents with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, school resource professionals, health education staffers from the area health department, and more coming, so its an amazingly diverse mix of backgrounds, experiences, etc.”

The trainer's time is being sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Public Health, as part of the state’s We Can! efforts. Organizers see these trainings as a great way to also connect different We Can! sites with one another. As Courtney notes, there are “…so many little pockets of activities going on in different places, but sometimes it can be the classic case where you don't know your own next door neighbor.”

Other efforts by We Can! KY include the upcoming launch of a statewide Web site. Stay tuned to this eNewsletter for an update.

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