Adam Crum
For the Cordova times
Athletics and group activities were a huge part of my life growing up in Homer. The thrill of success for your team and your teammates was regularly celebrated with high fives, chest bumps and huddles – all of which required closeness and nothing of physical distancing. So, for Alaska’s children who struggled during this pandemic, when their sports teams stopped training, I felt they missed games and lost opportunities to play together.
Summer as a kid meant fishing halibut with my family and filling the boat with salmon. I know many Alaskans suffered the disappointment last summer of canceling special family trips and overnight or day camps.
We know the importance of playing together, staying active, and feeding our families with healthy meals – but that doesn’t mean it has been easy last year. The pandemic has made it much harder for many Alaskans to make the healthy choices we all want for our families. When the Alaska Department of Health and Welfare surveyed families during the pandemic, seven in ten families said their children became less physically active, and six in ten said their family’s mental health was suffering.
To support families, my department is organizing efforts to make it easier and more affordable for Alaskans to be active and buy fruits and vegetables at lower costs. We partner with grocery stores, farmers markets, and government programs. For example, Alaska’s Women’s, Infant, and Children’s Program will use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to help families increase their WIC benefits to buy more fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables. This is in addition to the vouchers some WIC registered families already receive to buy local produce at farmers markets. These efforts will benefit Alaska’s families, farmers, and local businesses.
This pandemic year has increased the value of health. Across the country and our state, we have found that it was much harder for people to fight COVID-19 when their general health was already negatively impacted by smoking or chronic illnesses. Chronic illnesses include type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other conditions that can last for a long time and often do not go away completely.
Two in three adults in Alaska have chronic illnesses and related behaviors that can be prevented and treated. The good news is that physical activity, choosing healthy foods and drinks, maintaining a healthy weight, and quitting smoking all reduce the chances of developing chronic diseases.
Physical and mental health are related. Healthy choices can often improve both. Eating fruits and vegetables helps prevent chronic diseases and has also been shown to help us fight off immediate diseases like COVID-19. We could make it a priority to go out, play outside with our kids, or go to the gym every day because it’s good for our bones, muscles, and heart health. But it’s also important to our mental health. Being active helps us feel less anxious and depressed. Just one activity session can improve sleep that night.
Over the summer, I hope the Alaska children can get back to the activities they missed. On May 12, the Pfizer vaccine was approved for use and recommended for children ages 12-15. We have enough vaccinations to fully vaccinate all 40,000 of them now. Once fully vaccinated, children can play sports and be active and no longer need to be quarantined if exposed to someone with COVID-19. Vaccination means that gambling doesn’t have to stop this summer.
These are just a few ways we are investing in Alaskan families to make it easier for them to take healthy actions that will help them feel better now and for years to come. It will also lower their long-term health care costs and, in turn, can lower the cost of the Medicaid system, which pays more than half a billion dollars each year to treat Alaskans with chronic diseases.
We will continue to work with partners across the state and the legislature to ensure that incoming federal stimulus dollars are used to improve the health of all Alaskans through new initiatives that help them stay active, eat nutritious foods, and lead healthier lives to lead.
Adam Crum, MSPH, is the commissioner for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/commentary-this-summer-lets-eat-healthy-and-get-active/
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