2. Overview
• Iowans Fit for Life
• Healthy Iowa Worksites toolkit & other
worksite-specific efforts in place
• Worksite wellness in schools
• Healthy Iowa Awards

3. Iowans Fit for Life
• Iowans Fit for Life is a joint statewide initiative between
the Iowa Department of Public Health and its partners
that promotes increased opportunities for physical
activity and healthy eating for Iowans of all ages.
• Iowans Fit for Life’s primary focus is to create policy and
environmental changes that will improve the health of
places where Americans live, work, learn, and play.
• Iowans Fit For Life is funded through the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Physical
Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity (DNPAO) .
• Iowa is one of 25 funded states.

4. www.eatplay521.com
Online pediatric obesity prevention toolkit for
health professionals & their patients.
• Provider tools: free online continuing education module on motivational
interviewing, decision support tree, readiness ruler, open-ended questions
guide, brochures on NPA for patients and a health contract.
• Community Resources: information on connecting patients to community
resources available related to NPA, including “find a dietitian.”
• Link for patients and families to get tips on healthy cooking, picky eaters,
family meals and no cost physical activity ideas.

5. Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Vending (NEMS-V)
www.nems-v.com
 Developed to assess workplace vending machines
 Based on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) nutrition standards for
schools
 Intended to have an easy to use coding system: red, yellow and
green
 NEMS-V Tools Tutorial: 15 minute online demonstration on how
to complete a NEMS-V assessment
 NEMS-V Healthy Choices Calculator Tutorial: 5 minute online
demonstration on how to use the Healthy Choices Calculator to
determine red, yellow and green food/beverage choices
 Individual Machine Graphic: Tracks the number and products to
record for each machine.
 Food & Beverage Recording Sheet

6. NEMS-V Features: Report Card and Awards
www.nems-v.com
Provides an award certificate for
each machine and the location
Bronze award - if at least 30% of the food or
beverage choice are yellow or green;
Silver award if at least 40% are yellow or green;
Gold award if at least 50% are yellow or green and
without unhealthy advertising
Provides a checklist of action steps for making healthier
choices available in vending machines

7. Walking with a Purpose
A tool created to assist communities as
they assess walkability. The tool was
developed specifically to help schools
and children identify ways that their
route to school could be more
walkable. The tool gives ideas on
where to complete the assessment,
community members to invite to the
assessment, a walkability checklist,
discussion questions, what to do after
the walk, potential class projects to
consider, and resources.
In the spring of 2010, 15 community
wellness grantees and BASICS
contractors utilized the Iowans Fit for
Life Walking with a Purpose walkability
assessment tool. Read their success
stories on the Iowans Fit for Life Web
site!

8. Low-Cost Ways to Make Your
Community Healthier
Developed by the Community
Workgroup of the Iowans Fit for Life
partnership, this document is a
community’s quick and easy reference
for easy and cost-effective things that
can be done to improve the health of
its residents. Ideas are categorized as:
• Extremely Easy
• Will get by with a little help from
your friends
• May require an organizational
approach

9. Community Asset Mapping
Nutrition and Physical Activity Asset
Mapping can be used to help
community coalitions identify
strengths and areas for improvement
for nutrition and physical activity.
An Asset Mapping Guide , a Physical
Activity Mapping Guide, and a
Nutrition Mapping Guide are available
for download on our Web site.

10. What’s Going on with
Worksite Wellness in Iowa?
• Small Business Qualified Wellness Program Tax
Credit Plan
• Iowa Healthy Communities Initiatives Grants –
several projects have a worksite focus
• Key Partners with a similar focus – Wellness
Council of Iowa, Healthier Workforce Center
for Excellence (funded by NIOSH), Live Healthy
Iowa, Iowans for Wellness & Prevention,
insurance providers, and many more…

11. Why Focus on Worksites?
• Adult overweight/obesity rate in Iowa is 67.2%
• Childhood obesity rate is 11.2%
• Working Iowans spend more than 40 hours/week
on work & work-related tasks
• Health care costs are increasing at an average
rate of 13.0% across all employers
• More than 91,000 small businesses in Iowa –
many do not have employee wellness programs

12. Healthy Iowa Worksites Toolkit
• Provides practical, user-friendly, and in many
cases, FREE ideas and resources for you to
use when starting or enhancing an employee
wellness program.

13. What’s in the Toolkit?
• Foreword submitted by former IDPH Director, Tom Newton
• Why Worksite Wellness?
• Gaining Support
• Forming a Wellness Team
• Assessing Needs and Interests
• Develop an Annual Work Plan
• Program Planning
• Marketing Your Program
• Implementing Your Program
• Evaluating Your Program
• Appendices – disease-specific information and samples

14. The Future of the Toolkit
• Toolkit pilots currently being conducted
• Making minor revisions
• Gathering interested partners/stakeholders for
a workshop or something similar next spring
• Train-the trainer workshops?

15. Why Focus on Schools?

16. Why Focus on Schools?
• According to a survey done in 2010, nearly 2/3 of
Iowa schools have no staff wellness program.
• Students benefit! Teachers & staff are more
energetic and absent less often.
• Teachers are better equipped to handle stress,
which is a top health concern.
• A healthy staff does a better job of teaching &
creates a better working & learning environment.

17. Making Worksite Wellness
Work at Your School

18. What is working?
• Flu shots and cholesterol screenings
• Access to weight room
• Stress management education
• Individual building activities
• Healthier food in the staff lounge
• Wellness fairs
• Lunchtime or in-service workshops on wellness
related topics
• Educational e-mails about nutrition/fitness
December 9th, 2010 Webinar: Taking School Wellness to the Next Level

19. Healthy Iowa Awards
• Started in 2009 and honor the healthiest schools,
organizations and individuals in Iowa.
– Healthy Iowa Community
– Healthy Iowa College
– Healthy Iowa K-12 School
– Healthy Iowa Visionary Leader or Emerging Leader

20. Questions?
Amy Liechti, CHES
Worksite Wellness Coordinator
Iowans Fit for Life
Iowa Department of Public Health
amy.liechti@idph.iowa.gov
515-281-3623
http://www.idph.state.ia.us/iowansfitforlife/default.asp