Healthy Northland works to make the healthy choice, the easy choice. How do we know if what we are doing works? All the work we do has evidence behind it – we only use strategies that have been proven to work. In 2018, we wanted to dig a little deeper to show the impact these strategies are having locally. In... Continue Reading
Offering the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is quite an endeavor for community organizations and healthcare systems. It’s even harder to meet the stringent requirements set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program (DPRP). Achieving full recognition for this evidence-based program is difficult and it is about 2 years process. Only programs with the... Continue Reading
In Duluth, Minn., residents don’t have to look far to find an excuse not to use a bicycle for transportation. Duluth is a city on a hill, with a steep incline facing cyclists on most trips. Nestled along the shores of Lake Superior, the weather is unpredictable and sometimes severe. Because of these perceived barriers, many Duluthians are missing... Continue Reading
Healthy Northland awarded six mini-grants to make breastfeeding easier for employees. Six businesses made improvements by adding or updating lactation rooms, a designated space for women to pump and express milk privately during work. Many of the sites also implemented new breastfeeding policies to support mothers and expanded support and education for employees around breastfeeding. The awardees are: Aitkin County... Continue Reading
A student’s behavior, ability to focus, and academic performance improve simply by eating a healthy breakfast and lunch! Make sure your children get meals at school. For more than 70 years schools have been providing free or low-cost meals to students. Schools are reimbursed through the National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program. Over 30 million students... Continue Reading
Getting to your destination by bike is easier than ever in Grand Rapids, Minn., thanks to a new community bike share. Just check out a bike at one of four locations around the city and take it to your next destination – free of charge. The program debuted in the fall of 2017, and the bikes traveled 240 miles in... Continue Reading
Do you read food labels? Labels can be helpful if you know what you’re looking for. And they can be enlightening when you compare one label to another. For example, did you know that Trix cereal has less sugar than Vanilla Almond Special K? Who would have guessed that? There are 10 grams of sugar in Trix and 12 in... Continue Reading
The average person makes 227 decisions just around food a day! Making decisions is taxing! It can wear us out. It’s no wonder we can loose all control and become impulsive or make unhealthy choices at the end of the day. It even has a name. It’s called “decision fatigue” and it’s exactly what it sounds like. The quality of... Continue Reading
Bike lanes, sharrows and bump-outs became a reality in Cloquet through an Active Places Demonstration Project Grant from BlueCross and Blue Shield’s Center for Prevention. This funding ($5,000) was leveraged through Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) work in Cloquet. The Active Transportation Coalition in Cloquet has been active since 2012 and helped to prioritize the project in hopes to lead... Continue Reading
The application deadline for the grant has passed. The benefits of breastfeeding are extensive. Breastfed babies received added immunity from many illnesses, such as asthma, ear infections, and diabetes. Mothers that breastfeed have lower rates of diabetes, heart disease, and breast and ovarian cancer. But, did you know that breastfeeding benefits workplaces, too? Becoming a breastfeeding supportive business delivers a... Continue Reading