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Outreach and Engagement Awards

Ohio State University Nominated Programs

In 2008, Ohio State had a pool of 34 outstanding programs from which to choose its nominees for the regional Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award and the C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award. The scope and quality of these programs represent the broad spectrum of Ohio State’s partnerships with communities and industry.

Health, Environment, and Safety

• OSU Dental H.O.M.E. Coach
• Home-Bound and Nursing Home Eye Care
• Appalachian Geriatric Dental Program
• Universal Design Project
• Model Preschool Vision Screening Program
• Be Healthy Now
• Optometry Clinical Outreach Services
• Move-Into-Learning
• Farm Safety Round-Ups
• Youth Violence Prevention Advisory Board

 

Be Healthy Now

Ohio State Partners: OSU Extension, Hancock County, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; College of Education and Human Ecology
Community Partners: Blanchard Valley Health System; Hancock County Schools; Findlay City Schools; University of Findlay; Findlay Family YMCA; Findlay City Health Department; Hancock County Health Department; Rowmark, Inc.; Walmart; Meijer’s; Hancock County Commissioners; Help Me Grow; Hancock County Home Builders Association; Createc, Inc.; Youth for Christ; Calvary Baptist Church; Farmer and Yoakam Advertising, Inc.; Century Health, Inc.; WFIN Radio; The Courier; Marbee Printing; Great Scot Supermarket; Whirlpool, Inc.
Link: website

Ohio State University Extension, Hancock County is using effective, creative community engagement to address the critical nationwide increase in obesity of children and adults. The local staff initiated a broad community collaborative to implement the Be Healthy New Challenge to Fitness in January 2008. A total of 3,655 adults (6.5% of the county’s adult population) participated in this team-based weight loss program, and 580 children and youth were involved in nutrition/fitness activities. The program received a 2008 Gold Award from the Ohio Department of Health. Goals of the program are to reduce the number of individuals who are overweight/obese and encourage individuals to enhance their health and lifestyles through fitness and good nutrition. Twenty community leaders were recruited for a steering committee to implement the program, which was based on a similar program in Van Wert County. Engaged partners represented the hospital, health departments, schools, the University of Findlay, business, local government, the YMCA, and the early childhood collaborative. For greater outreach, community volunteers were recruited to work on six subcommittees. Participants formed 665 teams for men’s, women’s, and coed competition. Teams weighed in during mid-January. More than 1,800 attended a kickoff that included a health fair, nutrition/fitness displays, exercise opportunities, healthy cooking demonstrations, and motivational challenges. Twelve weekly educational nutrition/fitness sessions were offered. Each participant received a free 12-week pass for the YMCA. Participants weighed out in mid-April to determine which teams had achieved the greatest percentage of weight loss. Competition, team support and accountability, and education were the winning combination to create a new community atmosphere and continued challenge to fitness and “Being Healthy—Now!” When 3,655 people enrolled in the program, community engagement exploded! Community leaders came to the rescue as follows:

• Session speakers did not charge a fee.
• Two media specialists volunteered to design the logo and develop/maintain the website.
• Local radio station and newspaper donated free weekly time and space for updates.
• A printing business donated printing of thousands of handouts.
• Churches, grocery stores, and parks offered special programs.
• Several businesses gave incentives to employees to enroll in the program and are now using it as part of their wellness plan.
• County Commissioners declared "Eat Well at Work Week."
• Groups stuffed packets, assisted with parking and other tasks.
• Businesses gave cash donations and in-kind support including free passes to the YMCA valued at over $453,000, hundreds of hours of volunteer time donated by nearly 100 volunteers, facilities donated for all events, and cash donations of over $5,000.

3,655 individuals were enrolled on 655 teams. Total attendance at weekly sessions was 3,139. Participants noted that many family members and friends who were not enrolled also lost weight and changed lifestyles. Several counties have planned or are considering initiating Be Healthy Now.

Impact Statements

• Be Healthy Now encouraged 3,655 adults to enhance their health and lifestyles through 12 educational sessions on fitness and nutrition. 3,139 persons attended the sessions and 90% indicated they had gained knowledge and would make a lifestyle change. People need and desire to learn about fitness and health. Education makes a great difference in weight loss and lifestyle changes for individuals and their families.
• Be Healthy Now focused on helping individuals to lose weight. The 901 participants who chose to weigh out lost 9,024 pounds. Of this number, 230 lowered their blood pressure, 91 lowered their blood sugar level, 197 lowered cholesterol levels, and 275 reached their goal weight. Many also reduced or eliminated the use of one or more medications. This helps to reduce health care costs due to weight related diseases and prolongs lives.

The College of Optometry Clinical Outreach Services

Ohio State Partner: College of Optometry
Community Partners: Columbus Public Schools, Select Optical, Access Health Columbus, Prevent Blindness of Central Ohio

The Ohio State College of Optometry’s (OSUCO’s) commitment to community outreach and engagement is evidenced in its efforts to educate optometric students who are prepared and willing to take on the challenges of optometric practice in all aspects of society. In 1995, the OSUCO instituted a Primary Care Externship program geared towards exposing senior optometry students to practice modalities away from the campus in private and group optometric practices. In 2001, that concept was expanded to include outreach facilities that incorporated various community-based optometric settings. These settings currently include a homeless shelter, a mental hospital, nursing homes, “house calls,” the Central Ohio Blind School, and clinics established in underserved communities. Each outreach facility targets special segments of the central Ohio population, often reaching individuals in financial need and those who tend to have difficulty receiving vision care. Over the past 2 years, mroe than 4,500 patients have been examined in the OSUCO outreach clinics. In many instances, examinations are provided at no charge and eyewear is either provided for free or for a minimal fee, thanks to the generosity of Select Optical, a privately owned optical laboratory in Columbus. The profound positive impact of these services is often evident to students, faculty and patients. During the course of an optometric exam at the Faith Mission facility, a homeless patient, suffering from alcohol addiction was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After a neurology referral, successful cranial surgery, and rehabilitation, this gentleman has gone one to be reunited with his family and is currently gainfully employed. Through partnership with Columbus Public Schools, over 675 children have been examined at the South High Optometry Service during the past 2 years. Many of these children have shown significant improvements in their academic and social development after receiving corrective eyewear from the outreach facility. Providing vision care to patients in their residences can be a laborious yet rewarding task. House call and nursing home optometric visits have helped restore functional vision to individuals who have essentially given up and resigned themselves to be poorly sighted captives of their own homes. It has been found that the OSUCO outreach program has significantly influenced the practice patterns of its graduates. A recent survey of OSUCO alumni shows that graduates who completed a rotation through one of the college’s outreach facilities donated 94% more of their professional services to needy individuals within their communities, compared to those graduates who did not have the outreach experiences. Alumni who completed the outreach rotations also overwhelmingly agreed that their optometric education had well prepared them to be comfortable and confident providing care to patients from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic/racial and disability backgrounds and to understand the complexities of health disparities. The Ohio State College of Optometry’s strong history of the establishment, administration, and funding of these valuable community-based settings demonstrates the administration’s commitment to the Ohio State land-grant mission. Reaching out beyond the boundaries of campus walls to bring knowledge to life is a worthy directive that is bearing great fruit.

Impact Statements

• Goal: Foster a sense of civic responsibility in optometry students, encouraging them to provide care to future patients within their communities, from all walks of life. Findings: OSUCO graduates from 2001 to 2006 who were exposed to the Clinical Outreach Program (COP) donated 94% more of their professional services to underserved populations compared to graduates from 1995-2000, who did not have the benefit of the COP. Implications: Clinical outreach is effective in influencing the practice modalities of optometry graduates. Therefore, outreach programs should be encouraged and whenever possible expanded.
• Goal: Delivery of high-quality health care to patients in need and enrichment of optometry students’ clinical experiences, exposing them to more complex health issues. Findings: more than 4,500 patients examined through the COP over the course of the past 2 years. Most of these patients come from underserved populations. Many also have no insurance, which often translates into minimal previous medical attention and unmet vision health needs. Referrals to other health care disciplines are often needed because of histories of previous inadequate health care. Implications: Students are better prepared to understand the complexities of health disparities and the importance of culturally competent health communication. More efforts are needed in expanding referral avenues for underinsured and uninsured patients.
• Goal: Form a collaboration of agencies dedicated to ensuring quality vision care for individuals who cannot afford it. Findings: The OSUCO has established a solid working relationship with community partners such as Select Optical, Prevent Blindness of Ohio, Access Health Columbus, Columbus Public Schools, the Ohio Optometric Association, Ohio State Family Practice, Buckeye Ranch, several drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities, and numerous community health centers. Implications: The infrastructure of interagency cooperation has been established. Continued and expanded efforts will reach more patients, prevent more vision loss, and improve the quality of health of this community.

Move-Into-Learning: A Health and Wellness Initiative at Weinland Park

Ohio State Partners: Health and Wellness, Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine; College of Education and Human Ecology
Community Partner: Columbus City Schools, Weinland Park Elementary
Link: Video with excerpts of Move-Into-Learning session

Move-Into-Learning: A Health and Wellness Initiative at Weinland Park is a flagship of collaborative success between the Ohio State partners the Colleges of Medicine and Education and Human Ecology and community partner, Columbus City Schools. Originally funded by a 2007 Excellence in Engagement grant, Move-Into-Learning has fulfilled its goal of serving the community and conducting the research to expand knowledge about how to better nurture children and families in high-risk neighborhoods. The current economic distress faced by the nation as a whole has an even greater negative impact for those most disadvantaged. Researching health and wellness initiatives that can help this population is warranted and important. Move-Into-Learning is an integrative stress reduction program researching the efficacy of occupational therapy techniques, yoga, and meditation for inner-city elementary children implemented during the academic day, in the classroom. Often children from low socioeconomic areas, who may experience stressful home and family situations, have poor nutritional intake, lack exercise, and experience disrupted sleep. They may also have difficulty with appropriate behavior and attending to schoolwork. Additionally, they may not have access to integrative techniques as compared to their suburban counterparts. Move-Into-Learning attempts to give these children a tool that they can use to manage their own behavior, making the connection between emotional state and how their bodies feel explicit to the children themselves, encouraging a state of calm alertness, conducive to learning. A purpose of this program is to help children to improve coordination, attention, focus, and alertness using a program that can realistically occur within the academic day, enhancing rather than interrupting curricular content. During 2007-2009, three classrooms with a total of 86 second graders were served. They received daily 15-minute instruction in the program from the trained classroom teacher, while OSU faculty and 24 OSU service-learning students conducted 8 weekly 45-minute Move-Into-Learning sessions. Baseline respiration rates were established; then the second graders were taught to count their breaths before and after the weekly intervention, checked for accuracy by the adults ensuring data reliability and validity. A pre/post mixed method design was implemented, measuring on/off task behavior (using a video behavioral time sampling of on/off-task behaviors during classroom lessons). Qualitative interview data from the teacher, OSU students, and the second graders validated that a more relaxed and calm classroom environment incrementally increased during 8 weeks of the study. The children learned first hand that altering bodily function (respiration rate) is related to feeling “more relaxed” (associated with decreased sympathetic nervous system activity) and were able to experience the positive impact this had on their ability to attend and learn in the classroom. Through Move-Into-Learning many of the OSU students were exposed to their first experience with diversity and community research. The service-learning outcomes were of high value to the Education and Pre-Health students who became inspired to serve a population they might not have otherwise considered. OSU faculty, classroom teachers, second graders, and OSU students all benefited immensely from the benefits that Move-Into-Learning affords.

Impact Statements

• The purpose of Move-Into-Learning: A Health and Wellness Initiative at Weinland Park is to help disadvantaged inner-city children integrate their sensory systems to improve coordination, attention, focus, and alertness (Bundy, Lane, & Murray, 2002) via a mind/body integrative program that could realistically occur within the academic day. With curricular demands high in this age of high-stakes testing, Move-Into-Learning is an innovative intervention as it is seamlessly incorporated into the school day, taking advantage of transitions between activities, to augment rather than add to curricular content. After the 8 weeks of daily Move-Into-Learning practice, both the classroom teachers and the students voiced an increased awareness of the mind/body potential for positively affecting both individual and whole classroom behavior and focusing ability. Reduced disruptive activity rates after the weekly sessions and increased on-task behavior have been verified by the video time sampling. The classroom teachers are enthusiastic about the continued use of the program after completing the 8-week research intervention. Implications of these findings indicate the practicality and benefit of low cost, high yield, innovative mind/body techniques that positively affect student readiness to learn. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed academic journals and national presentations as Move-Into-Learning could be easily replicated in classrooms across the nation looking for pragmatic ways to help students manage their own behavior, learn techniques to calm themselves, and to focus on the task at hand.
• Move-Into-Learning was designed to address restriction of movement, breathing, and self-efficacy issues that can affect focusing ability and learning readiness. It uses yoga, meditation, and occupational therapy appropriate for the whole classroom to make explicit the link between yogic movement and meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, and decreased sympathetic activity. By the seventh week of the program, a paired t-test showed a significant decrease (p < .02) in pre/post respiration rate, followed by a significant decrease (p < .049) in week 8 of the intervention. Both the classroom teacher and students reported a more relaxed and calm classroom environment that incrementally increased during 8 weeks of the study. These data demonstrate that second-grade inner-city students were able to learn to count their respiration rate, were able to significantly reduce their respiration rates via the Move-Into-Learning intervention, and that yoga-based programs such as this can be successfully implemented during the school day. Teaching children how to control their own physiological response to stimuli (using calming breath to relax in a heightened state of arousal) is a valuable lifelong lesson that can be applied in a variety of stressful situations. Findings will be presented at national conferences and a manuscript will be submitted contributing to knowledge of the impact of stress reduction on learning readiness and attention to task.
• Move-Into-Learning provided a service-learning opportunity for 24 Ohio State students exposing them to inner-city public education, challenges and opportunities for success. The students’ learning was evaluated using forced choice and open-ended questionnaires at the end of each quarter. The intention is for Allied Medicine and Education students to lead the Move-Into-Learning program and support teachers’ implementation as a service-learning practicum in 2009-2010 and beyond. The relationships built and the reality of interracial health disparities seemed to be the greatest lesson obtained from the OSU students. Evidence of changed behavior by the 5-6 week of the program also affected the students’ impression of low cost, high yield interventions such as Move-Into-Learning. A manuscript detailing the lessons learned will be submitted to the Michigan Journal of Service Learning. Move-Into-Learning is a service-learning template that could be used in any service-learning experience related to health and wellness for the inner city.

Farm Safety Round-Ups: Successful Agricultural Injury Prevention Programs for Ohio Youth

Ohio State Partners: College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences: Departments of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering and Human and Community Resource Development; Ohio 4-H Office; OSU Extension county offices
Community Partners: Ohio Farm Bureau, Our Ohio, Ohio 4-H Foundation, Nationwide, Ohio Department of Health, local fire departments and public safety agencies
Photo: fingerprinting children

In the United States, the agricultural industry is an important sector for the nation’s economy. Within Ohio, it is the number one economic industry and ranks 13th nationally for net income. However, another statistic that is not attractive to U.S. agriculture is that it consistently ranks in the top three of the most hazardous industries in prevalence of morbidity and mortality data. National injury studies have homed in on the youth population involved in production agriculture and have verified the farm as a dangerous environment for young people to live, work or visit. Approximately two thirds of all farm deaths occur to young people under 15 years of age, with the leading injury-causing agents being machinery, water, and animals. Cognizant of the need for injury prevention programs in rural areas, the Ohio State University Extension’s Agricultural Safety Program initiated a community-based day camp program, called Farm Safety Round-Ups. The motto is “Round up the kids for farm safety.” This statewide initiative involves sponsorships and collaborations from organizations including Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio 4-H Foundation, Nationwide, Ohio Department of Health, Our Ohio, as well as local fire and public safety agencies. The mission is to teach youth about agricultural dangers; however, the children do not have to be farm children to benefit from the rural educational topics. Since the program’s inception in 1997, approximately 15,000 young people have participated in 79 camps held in 32 communities throughout the state. In addition, approximately 2,800 adults and teen leaders have volunteered their service to the Round-Up mission. The program celebrated an 11-year anniversary and has been analyzed to determine its usefulness in youth injury reduction. The 2 decades prior to the day camp program (1978-1997) reported 114 youth fatalities, with 47 attributed to tractors. During the past 10 years (1998 and 2007), 37 youth were fatally injured on farms. Tractor fatalities with this age group also declined, with 11 deaths reported from 1998 to 2007. Popular programs taught at the Round-Ups include tractor and machinery, drowning and engulfment, electricity, lawn and garden safety, livestock safety, and ATV safety. These topics are consistent with the most prevalent injury-causing agents affecting Ohio youth. The Farm Safety Round-Ups are comprised of three goals. The first is to create a greater awareness of safety and health hazards by youth ages 3–19 in order to mitigate exposure to hazardous agents/environments. The second goal is to use hands-on demonstrations to teach prevention strategies to avoid injury. Educational topics are specific to the camp’s audience and change between communities depending on the type of agricultural emphasis. The third goal is to foster community coalitions on local planning committees between public health, agricultural, and community organizations in the spirit of outreach safety education. Camper evaluation data supports the success of this collaborative program. Overall, 75.0% of campers were satisfied with the program and looked forward to attending future safety camps; 76.2% gained farm safety knowledge; and 71.2% learned information that was relevant to them and could be put to use.

Impact Statements

• The Farm Safety Round-Up Program has played a key factor in reducing youth fatalities on Ohio farms from 114 to 37 in the past 10 years of prevention/intervention programming.
• Farm Safety Round-Ups are multidisciplinary programs that encourage community agency collaborations to design, implement, and evaluate a safety day camp for at-risk youth populations. Such collaborations tailor the community camps to specifically address the appropriate and relevant risks in that geographic region, and are reflected in positive student evaluation data that report 71.2% of campers learned information that was relevant to them and could be put to use. The success of these coalitions have established long-term relations in the fact that communities offer camps in subsequent years as based on student feedback, where 75.0% of the campers reported they would attend another safety camp if offered.
• The Farm Safety Round-Up Program is a public safety initiative that focuses on enhancing the quality of life of rural youth, as well as other youth who live, work or visit a farm. To date over 15,000 children have participated in a Round-Up and have reported a positive experience learning about safety topics. From a public health perspective, enjoying a safety topic is the first step toward engaging youth in educational growth and encouraging positive behavioral change.

Youth Violence Prevention Advisory Board

Ohio State Partners: Human Development and Family Science, Center for Learning Excellence, College of Education and Human Ecology; Communications, Sociology, Ohio State Newark; College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; College of Public Health; College of Humanities
Community Partners: Columbus Police Department, Ohio State Police Department, Columbus State College Public Safety, Community Properties of Ohio, Africentric Personal Development Shop, Huckleberry House, Ohio Department of Youth Services, I Know I Can, 4Asafecommunity, YMCA, YWCA, Strategies Against Violence Everywhere, Columbus Public Health Department, Grina Technologies, Weinland Park Civic Association, JCP Planning, Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, Franklin County court, Juvenile probation
Links: Related research story

The Ohio State Youth Violence Prevention Advisory Board was established in May 2007 to serve as a forum for dialogue to improve research translation. With funding from the National Institute of Justice, Dr. Deanna Wilkinson, Associate Professor at Ohio State, recruited representatives from many sectors within the criminal and juvenile justice system as well as the social service and community agency sectors. The original mission was to solicit feedback from practitioners on the research findings and academic writing coming from the National Institute of Justice-funded project with the goal of improving its relevance to the field. The research project explored the nature and processes of urban youth violence using data gathered from 416 urban male youth with histories of violent behavior. The results of the study underscored the complexity of the youth violence problem and the young lives of men involved in violence. The study reaffirmed the need to think about how community violence has far-reaching consequences across multiple systems requiring a multisystemic interdisciplinary approach. Initiatives with the potential to reduce youth violence in urban communities require the individual and coordinated efforts of a wide range of stakeholders. Building such an initiative requires a new model of collaboration that can be aided when researchers effectively communication and understand the positions of all stakeholders. Over the past 18 months, the group has met six times. They have provided invaluable feedback and have allowed researchers to gain a better understanding of the gaps between research and practice. With the original mission fulfilled, we are now in the process of redefining our goals and setting the stage for collaborative projects, developing statements/recommendations for policy, and continuing to strengthen our partnerships. We have published two issues of our eNewsletter, From Research to Practice: Bridging the Gaps through Collaboration. The first issue introduces the Community Safety Knowledge Center and provides brief summaries of key findings from the NIJ-funded study (“Event Dynamics and the Role of Third Parties in Youth Violence”). The issue also includes a photo and some information gleaned from the group about how researchers could do a better job of translating their work for practice. The second issue includes an executive summary of the main results from the NIJ-funded study. Feature issues are planned. We have invited youth to participate as well. We have also created an online discussion forum for the group and any visitors who wish to engage in discussion about youth violence prevention and community action. The public is invited to join the group: http://groups.google.com/group/osu-youth-violence-prevention-advisory-board. With seed funding from Ohio State’s Criminal Justice Research Center, Wilkinson and her colleagues, working in partnership with community stakeholders, are currently conducting a survey study of community agencies that provide services to youth and their families in the designated East Columbus target area. Other research projects are planned including a refined geographical community asset and crime pattern study of the neighborhood. Each of these projects will provide considerable material which will be used to inform the development of prevention, intervention, and evaluation studies in the future.

Impact Statements

• Goal: Fostering practical solutions from research. Group met 6 times. Group members engaged with Ohio State researchers to discuss new research findings on the urban youth violence problem toward identifying prevention and intervention strategies. Several new collaborative projects were born in 2008 including the Community Capacity Building study. The main implications of this work are that bridging the gap between research practice requires time, effort, and relationship building skills.
• Goal: Dissemination of research findings to practitioners. We wrote and distributed two eNewsletters, From Research to Practice. The eNewsletters were distributed electronically to community leaders, politicians, law enforcement, and education professionals in U.S. cities of 75,000 or more. Limited print copies were also distributed. Additional distribution is planned. We also created a Google groups discussion forum that is in its early stages. We currently have 20 members on the site. In addition, the research team has made 20 presentations to local, state, national, and international audiences through conferences. In terms of implications, we have learned that if you build it you also have to advertise and you have to make sure that audiences know what you expect from them. People won’t volunteer feedback without some type of prompting.

2009 O&E Awards: Health, Environment, and Safety page 1
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