Area counties receive health grants

SPRINGFIELD – More than $3.4 million in We Choose Health health will be awarded from the state Department of Public Health to 60 Illinois counties, including portions of the Sauk Valley.

The grants are being distributed to help fund eight health programs in three different categories – Healthy Eating and Active Living, Smoke-free Living and Health and Safe Built Environment. Local health departments receiving funds include Whiteside County, awarded $210,000, and Bureau County, receiving $74,388.

The Whiteside County funds, for use in Whiteside, Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Stephenson counties, will be used for three programs:

n Baby Friendly Hospitals – helping to adopt the World Health Organization initiative to make hospitals supportive for mothers who want to breast-feed.

n Worksite Wellness – establishing policies to give employees opportunities to be physically active, eat healthy foods and live tobacco-free at work.

n Smoke-Free Outdoor Spaces – supporting policies limiting smoking in outdoor spaces.

Funds for Bureau County will be used in Bureau and Putnam counties. Programs to be funded include Worksite Wellness, Smoke-Free Outdoor Spaces and Coordinated School Health Model, an eight-component program in schools including health and physical education, health promotion for staff and psychological and social services.

Go to www.wechoosehealth.illinois.gov for more information.