WILTON – The Healthy Community Coalition has been awarded a $200,000 federal grant to address the problem of obesity in Greater Franklin County.
Leah Binder, vice president of the coalition, was pleased to learn of the award.
“We’d been looking for ways to address the problem of obesity” in the county, she said Thursday. The money will be used to expand the coalition’s strategies for promoting nutrition and physical activity, she explained.
The goal is to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obese residents in greater Franklin County, she added.
Partnering with the Franklin County Health Network, Franklin Memorial Hospital, Pine Tree Medical Associates, HealthReach Community Health Centers and University of Maine at Farmington, the grant will help fund support groups, medical practitioner education and educational materials and software pertaining to obesity prevention.
It will provide more focused interventions for physicians, offering them more tools they can use with obese and overweight patients, Binder said.
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, was pleased with Maine’s allocation of health and human services grant money, which totaled more than $1 million and also included grants to Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor and Islands Community Medical Services in Vinalhaven.
“Unfortunately, rural health care services are often not up to par with health services available in urban areas,” Snowe said Friday through a spokeswoman. “It is imperative that we target funding to these areas to increase both the availability and quality of health care for residents.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, also speaking through a spokeswoman Friday, praised the coalition’s work.
“I commend the Healthy Community Coalition for helping to meet such an important need in Maine and I am very pleased that it has been awarded these grant dollars.
Binder said, “We have some major health challenges particular to rural people. This grant will take us a step farther in addressing these issues.”
For more information on the coalition, visit the Franklin County Health Network’s Web site at www.fchn.org.
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