Now it becomes a waiting game concerning Blue Zone application

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

The 48-page Blue Zone application has been submitted, and now it?s just a waiting game to see if Mt. Pleasant makes it past the next hurdle and qualifies for a site visit.

?It?s been a tremendous amount of work,? Linda Albright told the Healthy Henry County Communities board on Tuesday afternoon.

Albright said they will find out Feb. 10 if Mt. Pleasant has qualified for a site visit. The site visits would be taking place only eight days after the announcement of who qualifies is made, so plans for the visit need to be underway long before that.

?They are encouraging us to go ahead and prepare for site visits as though we have been selected,? said Kelly Carr, HHCC coordinator.

For a site visit, a team of 15 people would be coming to town, and a team from Mt. Pleasant has to present on why the city should be chosen to be a Blue Zone community.

?Our team has to present why we are the best community to be chosen,? said Albright.

?They want our team first to do a 45-minute presentation on our community, and then they?re going to do breakout sessions,? said Carr.

Both Carr and Albright stressed the importance that there is representation from throughout the community, including city council, the chamber, the school superintendent, etc., if there is a site visit.

?A lot of the people who have been involved up to this point need to be there that day,? said Albright. She noted that although they may have written the application, the team wants to know that the entire community is involved and excited about becoming a Blue Zone community.

This also means getting more people to show their support either through text messaging BZP to 772937 or by registering online at www.bluezonesproject.com.

Carr said that currently only eight percent of the population has pledged its support, and she?s worried that only eight percent of the population is not showing enough excitement. She noted that when pledging, it is important to enter Mt. Pleasant?s zip code of 52641 so that you are signed up to support Mt. Pleasant.

In preparation, there have been co-chairs signed up for the 14 different community initiatives involved in being a Blue Zone community.

?People just jumped on it,? said Albright. ?We didn?t have to twist anybody?s arm. They were excited, and that?s a great thing to hear.?

Even if Mt. Pleasant is not selected for a site visit, Carr said that the work that has been done and the committees that have been formed can still be used to implement the Blue Zone initiatives county-wide.

?The whole idea behind the Blue Zones is that the amount of time that we?ve spent in getting our community together, getting the leaders together to talk about all of this, that regardless of whether or not we?re picked, we?re still going to implement it,? said Carr.

She noted that these initiatives can also be implemented county-wide, instead of just in Mt. Pleasant.

?This can provide direction for Healthy Communities moving forward,? said Carr.

Three cities will be selected as Blue Zone communities for the first year. They will then proceed to phase in more cities to reach a total of 10 communities.

In other business, the board voted to put the entirety of the $10,000 Enhance Henry County Communities Foundation grant towards the newborn home visitor program. HHCC had applied for grants in four different areas ?Newborn Home Visitor Program, Daddy Boot Camp, Distracted Driving programs and marketing (updating the website) ? but then learned that there can only be one application per organization. The foundation awarded $10,000 and told HHCC that the money could be spread out among the four areas they applied for.

However, the board voted to use the entirety of the grant for the Newborn Home Visitor Program in order to keep it running, as the program has recently received a funding cut and is in danger of disappearing.

?We?re still piece-mealing that program together,? commented Albright, noting that the program has been running for several years now with several different funding sources. In all, it takes about $22,000 to run the program. The Henry County Board of Health has also requested a $10,000 budget increase from the board of supervisors to help fund the program.