The New London area is attempting to battle obesity with the help of the New London Community Health Action Team (CHAT). A 2013 plunge into obesity indicated the community need to address obesity.
Most recently, the City of New London provided community garden beds, thanks to a collaboration among the city, New London Lions Club, United Methodist Church and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church and ThedaCare Medical Center-New London through a $3,000 grant from the New London CHAT. “This is just one other aspect of creating a healthy community,” said Chad Hoerth, director of parks and recreation.
Produce from the gardens are also donated to area food pantries, giving participants more fresh and healthy options. To meet this need, CHAT approved $3,500 to purchase refrigerators for the food pantries of Waupaca, New London, Weymont, Manawa and Clintonville.
Local businesses are also getting on board with the battle against obesity through a new Workplace Wellness Initiative, which seeks to encourage and support local employers to provide wellness initiatives in their individual workplaces. “We feel businesses sometimes don’t understand how to start and sustain an effective wellness program without assistance,” said John Solberg, chairman, noting that employers have the desire but often “wellness falls at the bottom of the priority list. They lack an internal expert, don’t know the return on investment and how to allocate the resources.”
In Clintonville, students are learning the benefits of wellness through the Longfellow Running Club. The club shares the values of promoting health and wellness like the hospital. “We both actively promote healthy lifestyles. We are on the same team,” said Karen Petermann of the running club, which includes runners from Longfellow as well as Clintonville Middle School. This running model is currently being replicated in the New London middle school, with funding provided by CHAT.
