"Customers" are the people whose lives are affected -- for better or worse -- by the actions of the program or strategy.

Customers:

• The general Polk County community, which grows connected through our interventions
  • Will gain knowledge of healthy behaviors, awareness of and referral to relevant services or locations, and form stronger bonds with fellow community members through sharing in community activities and better exercise/diet practices
• Individuals with pre-existing conditions, or classified as being in ill health
  • Will learn new ways to improve their health through everyday behaviors, and may be referred to services or resources of which they were not previously aware
• Culturally diverse or marginalized individuals, who may be less likely to seek care from the clinical space
  • Will develop connections with the larger community, learn culturally-sensitive ways to improve their health through everyday behaviors, and may be referred to services or resources of which they were not previously aware

The partners for this Community-based social support strategy include:

What is It?

This strategy is tailored from the evidence-based strategy, "Community-based social support for physical activity" (County Health Rankings and Roadmaps), to include both physical activity and nutrition. Community-based social support merges social support and exercise or nutrition opportunities in order to strengthen connections, foster resource sharing and resource accessibility, and encourage mutual support among Polk County individuals. Examples of community-based social support may include exercise group or buddy systems or community events catered to improving physical activity and nutrition outcomes.

Considerations and Activities

An analysis of the central concerns in the Healthy Eating and Active Living categories, or "What's Hurting," revealed transportation barriers, existing habits (including cultural habits), and lack of knowledge of available services as impeding progress. Proposed activities within this strategy that may help us circumvent these concerns include:

• Hosting/attending events: to provide resources, education, and referrals to services, groups, and physical fitness locations. Community events could include new events hosted by the Health Department or other health-related organizations, or supporting/reviving existing events, such as festivals, farmers' markets, and tailgating markets. These events are spread throughout the county, and will allow us to build the referral system and strengthen the community's knowledge of available nutrition and exercise supports.
• Offering schools as a location for exercise: Acknowledging the issue of accessibility of exercise spaces, we aim to form joint agreements with Polk Schools locations so that school grounds are open to the public for exercise. Schools are centrally located in communities, including our most distant or marginalized communities; they serve large populations; and they offer safe and publicly accessible activity spaces, such as tracks or open fields. Individuals are more likely to reach nearby schools than exercise facilities that require transportation.
• Hosting education courses and cooking demonstrations within community-based organizations: The evidence-based strategy proposes that interventions may also include education. Knowing that community events may not be sufficient to provide education about healthy eating/active living, another activity within the strategy will include cost-free exercise courses, nutrition courses, and/or cooking demonstrations. In this case, a HEAL Committee member and qualified Exercise Instructor or Nutrition Educator will teach these courses, which will be based at community-based organizations (E.g., the Senior Center, Blue Ridge Health Clinic) and offered to the general public or to groups with specific health concerns (E.g., those with diabetes)

In a rural area like Polk County, where individuals may be more likely to reference their peers or social networks for health guidance and support than to attend a clinical setting for guidance, these community-based social supports may be more widely supported and slowly encourage behavioral changes through a combination of community outreach/education and facilitated opportunities for practicing healthy behaviors. Community-based social support may also complement clinical strategies, while also maintaining cultural relevance. Our ultimate aim is to establish a wraparound strategy package, whereby we simultaneously promote physical activity and healthy diets from both the clinical space and the community space.

• Annual Progress: Though Polk County community partners were able to attend community events individually, we are still in the early stages of action as a larger committee, and therefore have not been able to host a HEAL-specific event as of August 2025. However, our nutrition and fitness instructors continue to offer classes in healthy eating and active living, cost-free, to a range of ages and backgrounds. HEAL is also proud to partner with community-based HEAL groups such as the "Stroller Rollers" walking group for new parents, hosted by Polk HHSA's Breastfeeding Peer Counselor.
• Missing Data: The Polk County Senior Center is a central location where we consistently offer fitness/active living and nutrition courses. However, due to the center flooding in June and being closed through August, we were unable to provide as many opportunities for active living for our aging population. 

We will continue to report monthly on our progress with this strategy, and offer a wider progress view in the  2025 SOTCH.