Obesity Prevention and Treatment: Community

Obesity Prevention and Treatment: Community Agency

Identify the agency, its role and structure.

The Rutgers University Cooperative Extension (RCE) of Rutgers University's agricultural college strives to promote health in the state's various communities by expanding personal and institutional knowledge of science, health, and wellness. Its goals, according to its website are to "Ensure healthy lifestyles; provide productive futures for youth, adults, and communities; enhance and protect environmental resources; ensure economic growth and agricultural sustainability; and improve food safety and nutrition."

Include the population served

Rutgers University Cooperative Extension has partnered with a number of NJ-based agencies in an anti-obesity effort. "The Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program in 2005 delivered behaviorally focused, outcome-based nutrition education classes to 4663 adults (2494 of whom attended 6 or more classes) and 7787 youth" (RCE, 2010). Recently, the agency partnered with the New Jersey Human Services Advisory Council and received administrative support from Cape Counseling Services to create an anti-obesity campaign specifically designed to address the health challenges of Cape May County, NJ.

The seaside community of Cape May's unstable sources of employment and lack of access to healthcare made it a priority of the RCE. Cape May County has only one hospital and one primary mental-health counseling provider. The county also has a demographic profile that makes it at high risk for obesity-related prevention efforts. More than 22% of the county's total population is made up of children under 18 years old, and 20% of the total population is aged 65 and older. Almost 9% of adults and 12% of children live below the poverty level, much higher than the state average (Rochford & Kaminsky 2004). Thus the RCE has attempted to treat both rural and urban-based poverty that can foster the conditions of obesity.

Preventive services

Budget constraints made it necessary to use grants and volunteers to staff the Cape May initiative, but by working within the community, RCE was able to create an effective campaign: for example, walking was stressed, given the low income and the need for affordable exercise amongst community residents. The community also began a collective dialogue to improve the quality of nutritional and physical education support within the large juvenile population.

Discuss overall community efforts to resolve this problem

RCE stresses the need for communities to help themselves. By staging conferences and working within the community, it strives to tailor its programs in a highly specific fashion. New Jersey is a densely populated state with many budgetary challenges: its geographical diversity, spanning rural areas in the south and urban areas in the north demands a targeted effort to effectively address community obesity.