The Scoop...May 7, 2012

President Courtney called the meeting to order at 11:46 a.m. Rotarian Rita Brown provided an invocation and lead the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

President Courtney invited the members of the public attending today’s meeting to view the Lima Rotary display that was set-up in the room.  Mention was made of Michael and Pam Ayers receiving the Small Business of the Year Award at the recent Chamber of Commerce presentation.  He noted that the Lima Rotary Foundation Board will meet next week.

He stated that the Pioneering Healthier Communities (PHC) initiative of the national YMCA had selected Lima as one of ten American cities to participate in this new health initiative.  The PHC Leadership Team was introduced and included several Lima Rotarians.  In addition to several governmental leaders in attendance, representatives of the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Transportation and several school representatives were introduced.

Rotarian Mike Swick introduced a short video which noted that our culture faces the possibility that the life span of our children might be shorter than our generation if the issue of obesity isn’t addressed.  Several statistics noted included the following:

• Our nation spends $4.8 Billion annually treating obesity;
• 28.8% of our population are now obese and 77.7% of adults are obese;
• In 1990 the percentage of obese persons totaled 14%--in 2020 it will be 30%;

Following the video, Mark Fenton, a public health, planning, and transportation consultant was introduced.  He believes that where people live, work and play affects their health.  He also believes that to fight the obesity epidemic that we much change our physical and food environments to provide more opportunities for people to eat healthy foods and to be physically active on a daily basis.

He noted that if trends continue that 1/3 of kids will have type 2 diabetes.  He recalled that our culture no longer has “free range kids” which walk to school or play outside.

He sited three numbers which were crucial we need 30 minutes of daily physical activity, that only 20% of adults meet that daily requirement and that there are 365,000 annual premature deaths in America due to physical inactivity and poor nutrition.

He said how scolding people to change will not work but that we must rebuild our communities so we have daily physical activity.   He identified five elements of a

Healthy Community Design:

• Destinations—mixed commercial and residential buildings;
• Several modes of moving—bike lanes and paths as well as transit systems;
• Improved site design—to allow bike racks and pedestrian traffic;
• Safety features—which will allow increased pedestrian traffic and decreased accidents;
• Food systems—such as farmer’s markets and community gardens.

In bringing these elements to fruition we must look at the social, safety, education and environmental aspects of our public actions.  He encouraged the attendees to Speak Up, Act Up and Step Up.  It was noted that President Jerry will even be biking to work sometime soon so drive carefully.

The meeting adjourned at 12:59 p.m.