Pitt County’s Kids in Parks TRACK Trail Program Kicks Off!
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- Last Updated on Friday, 23 January 2015 19:07
During the fall of 2013, Pitt County Health Department, Vidant Medical Center Community Health Programs and Pitt Partners for Health were selected to participate in the Community Health Improvement Application (IMAPP) pilot. Pilot sites assisted the Center for Public Health Quality and the Center for Healthy NC with refining the IMAPP resource to assist community partnerships with the selection and implementation of evidenced-based interventions to improve health in their communities.
Through monthly webinars and homework assignments, this long-time Pitt County partnership formed the “Pitt County IMAPP Team” and utilized information learned through the IMAPP project to select the Kids in Parks TRACK Trail evidenced-based intervention to further reduce the burden of chronic disease in Pitt County. This intervention, developed by the Blue Ridge Parkway / National Park System, was well aligned with the County’s 2011 Community Health Assessment, which identified heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and contributing risk factors such as obesity and physical inactivity as priority health focus areas.
The Kids in Parks program aims to increase access to areas for physical activity in a community. The program accomplishes this by turning existing outdoor trails into kid-friendly hiking trails. In addition, the program offers incentives and organization supports to encourage outdoor activities such as hiking and disc golf. The program targets community partnerships that already have control over pre-existing hiking trails. Once a location is selected, the program’s templates are modified to fit the needs of the site. For example, each trail has self-guided brochures. Trail participants can also register on the Kids in Parks website to log their adventures and earn “prizes” that are designed to be used during future trail activities. Since the program utilizes pre-existing resources and partnerships, only modest additional resources are needed to sustain the program. For more information on Kids in Parks, go to: http://centertrt.org/?p=intervention&id=1183.
After researching the Kids in Parks TRACK Trail program, the Pitt County IMAPP Team consulted with Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation staff and discussed the feasibility of incorporating this intervention into the existing Alice F. Keene District Park. Staff members embraced this idea and during the spring of 2014, Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation staff submitted a grant application to the NC Recreation and Park Association/ Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to support Kids in Parks implementation materials and signage. Pitt County’s Alice F. Keene District Park ended up being one of 10 locations in Eastern North Carolina selected to receive these grant funds. Following funding notification, the IMAPP Team and Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation staff began meeting to discuss implementation materials and promotion of the TRACK Trail to the community.
On a cold, windy day in December, the ribbon cutting was held at the Alice F. Keene District Park to launch the new TRACK Trail. In addition to the IMAPP Team and Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation staff, the event was attended by numerous community members, elected and appointed officials, local media, and 2nd and 3rd grade students from Wintergreen Primary and Intermediate Schools. These students were the first to utilize the Alice F. Keene District Park Kids in Parks TRACK Trail.
Pitt County is proud to be the home of the Alice F. Keene District Park which is comprised of over 30 acres and hosts a multitude of activities for thousands of individuals each year. Thanks to all of the hard work by the above partners, the trail now features a Kids in Parks TRACK Trail sign and accompanying brochures (“Hide and Seek”, “Birds of the Piedmont”, “Animal Athletes”, “The Need for Trees”) to encourage families to become more physically active while enjoying various wildlife and plant life. Pitt County’s TRACK Trail is also listed among all TRACK Trails on the National Kids in Parks website http://kidsinparks.com/ helping to attract visitors and encourage them to also utilize the Park and TRACK Trail.
This intervention is a great example of a collaborative effort to implement an environmental enhancement designed to increase participation in strategies that can improve health outcomes. For more information about the Kids in Parks TRACK Trail at Alice F. Keene District Park, visit: http://kidsinparks.com/alice-f-keene-park.
For more information about the Pitt County IMAPP Team and partnership with Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation, contact Pitt County Health Department at 252-902-2426.
