What Is It?

The Elevate 828 Wellness Program was identified by the Healthy for Life Action Team as a strategy, that when combined with other actions in our community, has a reasonable chance of making a difference in physical activity, nutrition, and obesity prevention in our community. This is a new program in our community. Originally, the Healthy for Life Action Team was planning to introduce a community-wide wellness program for all Jackson County residents, where they would participate in monthly nutrition, physical activity, and stress management challenges, as well as attend a free pre- and post- biometric screening and take part in a lifestyle questionaire. The start date for this program was slated for August 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program had to be altered to fit with the current public health restrictions and recommendations.

A soft launch of the Elevate 828 program was created in response to the pandemic, and is simply called Elevate. The program is completely virtual, 6 months in length, and open to all Jackson County Government and Jackson County Public School employees. Participants complete monthly nutrition and stress management challenges and also a 3 month physical activity portion called Move Around Jackson County. They are required to participate in a pre, mid, and post virtual survey where they enter lifestyle and health information for progress to be measured.

The priority population/customers for the Elevate program are Jackson County Government and Jackson County Public School employees. The program aims to make a difference at the individual/interpersonal level. Implementation will take place in Jackson County, in a completely virtual manner.

We are hopeful that the Elevate 828 program will address health disparities in the future, as we plan to provide free biometric screenings to any Jackson County resident, and will set up the screenings across the county at varied days and times to allow for easier access to the screenings. Participants can then participate virtually through an online platform (or by submitting points by phone or in-person for the facilitator to enter). We want to reduce as many barriers as possible so that all have a chance to participate and receive the free screenings, encouragement and health behavior lessons through the monthly challenges, and be in the running for monetary incentives based on progress and improvement.

Partners

The partners for the Elevate 828 and Elevate program include:

Agency	Person	Role
MountainWise	Shaina Clark (Regional Project Director)	Collaborate, Support, Provide Funding
Jackson County Government	Janelle Messer (JCDPH), Kathleen Breedlove (Human Resources), Darlene Fox (Finance)	Lead, Collaborate, Support, Represent Target Population
Harris Regional Hospital	Chelsea Burrell (Wellness Manager)	Lead, Collaborate, Support,
Jackson County Public Schools	Laura Cabe (School Nutrition Director)	Collaborate, Support, Represent Target Population
Healthy for Life Action Team of Healthy Carolinians	All members	Collaborate, Support, Represent Target Population

Work Plan

The first table represents the original timeline for the Elevate 828 Program.

Activity	Resources Needed	Agency/Person Responsible	Target Completion Date
Project creation and branding	Assistance from Formation, LLC from Asheville, NC	Healthy for Life Action Team	3/1/2020
Create promotional materials	Assistance from Formation, LLC from Asheville, NC	Healthy for Life Action Team	5/1/2020
Purchase screening materials	Funding through Great Smokies Health Foundation, MountainWise, and Jackson County Government	Michele Garashi-Ellick, Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer, Kathleen Breedlove, Darlene Fox	6/1/2020
Plan screening events and timeline, arrange for volunteers	Adequate space in each community, collaboration with WCU for volunteers	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer, WCU Nursing Students, JCDPH and Harris Regional staff	8/1/2020
Host all screening events	Screening materials and locations	Healthy for Life Action Team and Additional Volunteers	9/10/2020

Activity	Resources Needed	Agency/Person(s) Responsible	Target Completion Date
Create program guidelines and planning	Challenge Runner, Survey Monkey, and Run Sign Up platforms	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer, Shaina Clark, Kathleen Breedlove, Heather Baker	9/1/2020
Participant Sign Up	Challenge Runner, Survey Monkey, Run Sign Up, Email blasts to all employees	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer, Shaina Clark, Jackson County Government IT Dept	9/15/2020
Program Kick-Off	Challenge Runner, Survey Monkey, Run Sign Up, Email blasts	Chelsea Burell, Janelle Messer, Shaina Clark	10/5/2020
Review participant health scores	Survey Monkey and Excel	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer	11/1/2020
Promote monthly challenges, Move Around Jackson County, and pre, mid, and post assessments	All platforms listed	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer	Monthly November 2020 - March 2021
Review participant data after each month and determine improved health scores for incentives	All platforms listed	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer, Shaina Clark	Monthly November 2020 - March 2021
Notify participants of incentives, seek participant evaluation and feedback, review health behavior change data	All platforms listed	Chelsea Burrell, Janelle Messer, Shaina Clark	April 2021 - June 2021

Evaluation and Sustainability

Evaluation Plan:

We plan to evaluate the impact of Elevate 828 and Elevate through the use of Results-Based Accountability^TM to monitor specific performance measures. We will be monitoring How Much, How Well and/or Better Off Performance Measures. Our evaluation activities will be tracked in the Work Plan table, above.

Sustainability Plan:

The following is our sustainability plan for Elevate 828:

Ensure ongoing effectiveness and demonstrate successes to funders and other key stakeholders
Communicating and engaging diverse community leaders and organizations
Identifying champions who strongly support the program
Establish a consistent financial base for the program
Increase community awareness regarding importance of health and success of the program
Demonstrating the value of the program to the public

Updates

2020 Updates

Elevate 828 was branded and planning began in early 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all outreach and screenings related to Elevate 828 were suspended, and instead, a soft-launch was planned. "Elevate" was developed for Jackson County Government and Jackson County Public School employees to be a 6-month, fully virtual wellness program. The program kicked-off on October 5, 2020 and runs through March 31, 2021. There are 161 participants total, and the average participant age is 41 years. Below is data from the pre-survey

Reporting they meet ACSM guidelines for cardio activity - 26% of the County and 18% of the School

Reporting they drink at least 8 cups of water per day - 53% of the County and 42% of the School

Reporting they eat healthy food - 19% total eat 2-3 cups of vegetables per day and 19% total eat 1 - 2 cups of fruit per day

Reporting they handle stress positively and are generally happy - 48% of the County and 32% of the School

Below is an example of monthly challenges (each month there is 1 nutrition challenge and 1 stress management challenge)

Data Holes

Data for the improvement of health scores will be available at the end of January 2021 for the mid-assessment and at the end of March 2021 for the post-assessment. Health Scores will be evaluated at that time.