Chippewa Valley counties promote health through Summer Activity Passport
Jun. 13—EAU CLAIRE — A new program gives Chippewa Valley residents the opportunity to win prizes while improving their health, exploring the area's natural resources and having fun.
What's not to like about that?
The Chippewa Valley Summer Activity Passport program, created by Chronic Disease Prevention Action Teams in Eau Claire, Chippewa and Dunn counties, seeks to encourage individuals and families to take steps toward improving their health by participating in activities and visiting the area's many parks and trails.
"This program encourages positive choices such as increased physical activity, eating fresh produce and having fun — all of which reduce stress, are action steps to better health and play a role in chronic disease prevention," said Sandy Tarter, FoodWise nutrition coordinator for the three counties.
With obesity and chronic disease management identified as concerns in recent Community Health Assessments in Eau Claire, Chippewa and Dunn counties, organizers decided the attraction of outdoor activities in warm weather would make summer an ideal time to launch the program and promote setting health goals to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Tarter said she hopes people learn they can feel good about improving their health as long as they're enjoying themselves and learning more about the Chippewa Valley's outdoor attractions at the same time.
As an extra incentive, the three counties are holding random drawings for participants offering prizes such as farmers market tokens, kubb sets, yoga mats, bike helmets, water bottles and passes to parks, trails and pools.
Program participants are asked to snap photos of themselves doing activities and visiting local parks and trails, and then to upload the photos to the Summer Activity Passport website hosted by Visit Eau Claire. Each photo counts as an entry to win a prize, so people improve their odds of winning by completing more activities.
The website offers a host of ideas and links to activities and sites in the Chippewa Valley such as trails, parks, playgrounds, Frisbee and traditional golf courses, tennis and pickleball courts, farmers markets, orchards, swimming pools and museums.
"Each of our communities has amazing resources with endless activities to try and places to explore," said Eau Claire Healthy Communities Chronic Disease Prevention Action Team co-chair JoAnna Bernklau. "The Chippewa Valley Summer Activity Passport was a natural fit for our chronic disease prevention action teams to work together on to increase awareness of those resources and connect the importance of physical activity to chronic disease prevention."
