A $1.8 million grant to help lower obesity numbers has been awarded to six counties in Kentucky, including Lewis County.
According to Lewis County Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent Sally Mineer, the grant, which comes from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, will allow for counties to put together programs in their area to promote a more healthy living.
"At first we'll probably work with an existing coalition, like the Lewis County Wellness Coalition, in order to begin putting together programs, but eventually we will have our own coalition," Mineer said.
Mineer said the grant was awarded to counties with at least 40 percent obesity among its population and Lewis County is at 41.6 percent. The aspects of the grant, such as how much money each county will receive and what programs will be created, is still being decided.
"We do hope to be able to lower the obesity numbers through the programs created from this grant, though," Mineer said.
According to the University of Kentucky, the program will be administered by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is the first time the CDC has directly funded a Cooperative Extension program,” said Ann Vail, director of the UK School of Human Environmental Sciences and principal investigator on the project. “The grant will support building and strengthening collaborations between extension and public health personnel at the university, community and state levels.”
Mineer said she believes the program will start around the beginning of 2015, once all the planning has been finished.
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